Try as they might, liberals and other media personalities haven’t been able to make anything stick against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
It’s not for lack of trying but perhaps for lack of substance and a target that does not back down and is always ready with a quality rebuttal. You don’t have to look much further than 2005 and Hurricane Katrina to watch political finger-pointing at its finest. The media was quick to blame the disaster on former President George W. Bush and provide cover for the incompetence of local Democratic leaders in the city of New Orleans. In the end, the federal response had little to do with the immediacy of the local failures.
In Florida, Hurricane Ian laid waste to many parts of the Gulf coast around the Fort Meyers area, especially the outlying islands. As a friendly reminder to would-be looters, Gov. DeSantis highlighted Florida’s respect for the Second Amendment and put out a stark warning:
What was so wrong about reminding would-be looters that Florida residents have a right to defend themselves and their property? Nothing to the average person with a modicum of brain cells. It’s a basic right granted by the constitution.
As you can imagine, however, asserting individual, constitutional rights is not a sentiment that sits well with the left. The quickest reaction came from MSNBC’s Joy Reid who immediately labeled DeSantis’ comments racist:
“When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”—segregationist Miami sheriff Walter E. Headley, 1967
Didn’t take DeSantis long to return to form.https://t.co/8FJKyzQY1G https://t.co/uS5jbrx29S
— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid ? (@JoyAnnReid) October 1, 2022
Asserting a right to protect personal property is now racism? That’s the message of Democrats heading into the midterms to people who just had the roofs torn off their homes and would like to prevent further damage to their personal belongings. This is the type of attack that falls flat before the punch even lands. Joy Reid has never been one to be known for deep, well-vetted thoughts.
Beyond the Second Amendment comment, publications like the Washington Post have now started the drive to criticize the timeliness of evacuation orders in Lee County, the area that includes Fort Meyers. As for that line of attack, the National Weather Service, FEMA, and other agencies were still predicting a Tampa-area landfall as late as Monday last week:
Criticism has grown over Lee County, which includes Fort Myers and Sanibel Island, waiting to issue an evacuation order until Tuesday, about one day before the Category 4 hurricane made landfall on the edge of the county.
“They were following the data,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Saturday.
“And you remember, people were looking initially at the Panhandle on Sunday, then Monday came and people were thinking maybe north of Tampa Bay. When we went to bed Monday night people were saying this is a direct hit on Tampa Bay, worst case scenario for the state,” he continued. “As that track started to shift south and the computer models, the next morning they called for the evacuation, they opened their shelters and they responded very quickly to the data.”
Lee County’s comprehensive emergency management plan indicates officials should issue evacuation orders for areas closest to water when there is a 10 percent or greater chance of a storm surge surpassing six feet.
Hurricane Ian’s projected path did shift south in the days leading up to the storm, but the National Hurricane Center’s forecast as early as Sunday night suggested Lee County could see a peak storm surge of as much as seven feet.
Hindsight in disaster preparedness is 20/20, of course, and there could be changes in the future to how these types of situations are handled. It’s a lot to order a mandatory evacuation of an area that’s not forecasted to be directly impacted. Many people will scoff and call the order an overreaction given the lack of data.
In other words, there is no “there” there to be attacking. DeSantis and the rest followed the advice and guidance of the National Hurricane Center, an arm of the federal government.
The real underlying channel for attacks is to damage DeSantis in his upcoming election and heading into the presidential cycle next year. Handling a hurricane response is a trial by fire for Florida governors seeking higher office and this storm is no exception.
Despite the immense damage, there hasn’t been much to criticize. DeSantis is holding regular updates and keeping people informed. All state resources have been mobilized and power is being restored as fast as humanly possible. Making order out of chaos takes time and effort.
This isn’t a time for politics but it quickly drifts in that direction considering the upcoming midterm elections and the way the media tends to operate.
No storm response is perfect but DeSantis is putting on a seminar on how to handle hostile media and stay focused on the objective which is helping his state recover as quickly as possible.
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