Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Angle in 2005: I would have voted “no” on Katrina relief funds

I have previously wondered how many Angle tapes are out there to compete with the jobs/Social Security/slush fund/Government is not God classics. I know the answer is: A lot. But I am starting to think there may be one a week (or more) floating around in the cyberspace ether, some of which Angle took off her website after the primary. (But nothing on the Internet is ever really gone, is it?)

Case in point: On today’s fifth anniversary of Katrina, a Democrat supplies a tape of Angle during her 2006 bid for Congress talking about how she would have opposed the $62 billion in relief that only 11 House members opposed (no one in the Senate voted no). The federal version of “41 to Angle,” perhaps.

During an interview on conservative KLAV radio in 2005, which she once had up on her site, Angle invoked Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, who she claimed said he was voting "no" because the Katrina money was not carefully accounted for. The truth is Pence actually wanted the money to be offset – Human Events was so proud of him, it gave Pence “Man of the Year” in 2005.

But Pence actually voted FOR the $62 billion. His “yea” is right there in the congressional record after someone named Pelosi.

The day after the Sept. 8, 2005, vote, even House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told The Wall Street Journal: “It's too important to play politics with. It's too important to second-guess."

Contemporaneous news stories indicate Pence the budget hawk was taken to the woodshed by Speaker Dennis Hastert and Delay, presumably because his demands for offsets were not so politically wise in his leaders’ minds. Pence and his Republican Study Committee continued to push for offsets after the vote, pointing out ballooning deficits and angering many with their talk of cuts.

This kind of stuff is right in Angle’s wheelhouse, and judging by her more recent position on unemployment benefits – that they spoil the unemployed, even if they are offset – it’s reasonable to assume that Angle would have voted "no" even if any offset had been approved. But listen to what she said – I have posted the audio at right – and make your own call. This is the classic debate – are there times when relief, to hurricane victims or unemployed folks, takes precedence over deficit-reduction, at least in the short run?

The Republicans can and will keep airing Harry Reid uttering his infamous “war is lost” remarks. But most of his controversial, 30-second-ad-ready comments are not on tape. Almost all of Angle’s are. Her problem is she keeps creating so many recent ones that the Democrats haven’t had to use as many of the old ones.

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