IS IT HYPOCRISY IF YOU DON'T SEE THE CONTRADICTION?

From the Huffington Post:

Oklahoma Senators Jim Inhofe, Tom Coburn, Have Shaky Records On Disaster Relief

As frantic rescue missions continued Monday in Oklahoma following the catastrophic tornadoes that ripped through the state, it appeared increasingly likely that residents who lost homes and businesses would turn to the federal government for emergency disaster aid. That could put the state's two Republican senators in an awkward position. 

Sens. Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, both Republicans, are fiscal hawks who have repeatedly voted against funding disaster aid for other parts of the country. They also have opposed increased funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers federal disaster relief.

Late last year, Inhofe and Coburn both backed a plan to slash disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. In a December press release, Coburn complained that the Sandy Relief bill contained "wasteful spending," and identified a series of items he objected to, including "$12.9 billion for future disaster mitigation activities and studies." 

In 2011, both senators opposed legislation that would have granted necessary funding for FEMA when the agency was set to run out of money. Sending the funds to FEMA would have been "unconscionable," Coburn said at the time.

More here.

We saw the same kind of hypocrisy very recently when conservative politicians in Texas with a similar record on disaster funding requested federal relief after the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas.  But this is nothing new in the Sooner state.  The above linked article goes on to observe that Inhofe and Coburn have already ridden this merry-go-round: they were clamoring for federal disaster aid in Oklahoma only a few years ago, before their opposition to relief for Sandy on fiscal grounds.  That is, when they were taking their principled but asshole stand, they were already on the dole.  It didn't at all trouble them.  So it's very likely that they will sense no irony when they go to Congress with their hats in hand this time around.  Can you call it hypocrisy when you don't see the contradiction between your stated principles and your on-the-record actions?

These Tea Party types have taken Orwellian doublethink to astounding new heights.

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