Asked about Ron Paul’s call to sap funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Sen. Joseph Lieberman opted for a couple different “I” epithets.
“Ron Paul’s statement is taking an ideology to an illogical and really unproductive extreme,” Lieberman said. Lieberman’s comments came in response to a question about Paul’s criticism of FEMA–and Gov. Dannel Malloy’s remarks on CNN this morning calling Paul an “idiot.”
Lieberman didn’t say whether he agreed with Malloy’s assessment or not. But he strongly defended FEMA, an agency that he oversees as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Lieberman was among those who pushed for an overhaul of FEMA in the wake of the agency’s failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina.
“I think they’ve really got their act together now,” he said. “I know we’re in a time of anti-government feeling… and believe me I understand why. But if there’s one thing I would guess that an overwhelming majority of American people want is help when a natural disaster strikes…. It would be terrible loss for anyone to try to cut it back or hurt it now.”