(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Biden offered Ohio ‘anything you need’ after train derailment. Why isn’t DeWine asking for anything? [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-15 Gov. DeWine and other Republicans are sort of unwilling to take any responsibility and, in fact, are playing pretty dumb about most things. DeWine told reporters that “This train apparently was not considered a high-hazardous material train. Therefore, the railroad was not required to notify anyone here in Ohio about what was in the railcars coming through our state." It seems nobody in the press reminded him that it was the railway lobbyists, with the support of Republicans like Sen. John Thune, who got everything besides crude oil off of the “high-hazardous material list” in the first place. But fine, maybe DeWine spent the past decade with his head stuck in his ass. How do Republicans govern during a disaster that directly affects the people that voted for them? When asked about getting federal help to handle the environmental impact of this terrible event, Gov. DeWine said: Not looking great “Ohio EPA works with the U.S. EPA. … The federal government is conducting an investigation to determine why this wreck occurred. This crash occurred. We await that. And certainly will be interested in seeing what, what's going on. You know, look, the president called me and said ‘anything you need,’ I have not called him back after that, after that conversation. I will not hesitate to do that if we’re seeing a problem or anything, but I'm not seeing it.” Meanwhile, the Republican Party is trying to figure out how to place the blame on labor and “wokeness.” That’s not snark. You have another Ohio Republican, freshman senator and pedestrian author J.D. Vance, saying that we need some kind of very vague “regulation,” but that the Democratic Party is too busy doing “woke” things. A reminder: The derailment took place on Feb. 3, and the controlled demolition took place three days later. Vance released a statement on Feb. 13. Doing my advanced math, that adds up to, “Where the F have you been, senator?” It is hard to be as cowardly and craven as J.D. Vance is, and even more impressive to have no shame about projecting your own shortcomings onto everyone else. x JD Vance heated: "The media complex and the leaders of this country have decided to disregard the people of East Palestine." pic.twitter.com/59HfMqAGEj — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 14, 2023 Maybe he was busy manicuring his beard? It’s got to take quite a while every morning to make that whole thing look as crisp as it does! Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has the mind of over-boiled mashed potatoes, blamed Pete Buttigieg for worrying about hiring practices and not train safety. Now, as we have already explained, while I do agree that the Biden administration and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg need to step up here and force some meaningful updating of transportation safety, the fact of the matter is the Republican Party and people like Greene are exactly why the trains are behind in that department. They pushed back on the Obama Administration’s safety regulations and then rolled back those small compromises altogether when Donald Trump came into office. Asked about whether or not the governor himself thought it was safe enough to move back into a home in East Palestine, DeWine responded, “I think I would be drinking bottled water, and I would be continuing to find out what the tests are showing as far as the air. But yes, I would return home.” I guess it’s a good thing for the governor that he doesn’t have to live on top of a railway line. RELATED STORIES: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin demonstrates how Republicanism works in one awful stroke Natural gas is 'green energy' to Ohio Republicans desperate to boost fossil fuels [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/15/2153144/-Biden-offered-Ohio-anything-you-need-after-train-derailment-Why-isn-t-DeWine-asking-for-anything Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/