Politifact: Maureen Dowd Insisted Ron Paul said FEMA Should Be Shut Down

[LisaNY]

Well Well, it's pretty clear Maureen Dowd misrepresented Dr. Paul's FEMA position in a New York Times article dated 8/30. Yet Politifact rates her statement true??? Can someone help me out here?



Commenting on the federal response to Hurricane Irene, New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd wrote Aug. 30, 2011 that Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul’s scorn of government is "so great that he doesn’t even want it to coordinate (relief) in natural disasters."

Dowd’s column says next that the Texas congressman insisted the Federal Emergency Management Agency, "which (Paul) calls ‘a giant contributor to deficit financing,’ should be shut down."

Paul has long advocated less dependence on government. But does he want to fold FEMA, the agency entrusted with coordinating disaster response?




http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/sep/03/maureen-dowd/maureen-dowd-says-ron-paul-insisted-closing-fema/

[RM918]

Uh, doesn't he? Eventually at the very least.

[freeforall]

If she stated that he "doesn't even want to coordinate (relief) in natural disasters" I believe she is false because he would use the national guard.

[Rudeman]

None of those quotes insisted that FEMA should be shut down, point out that it's ineffective or the issues with subsidizing insurance does not equal to calling for FEMA to be shut down.

Now that may be what Paul believes would be ideal but that's an entirely different than insisting that it should be shut down imo. Really, at best it's half true imo.

[brushfire]

Ron Paul explicitly stated that it would be something he would like to see go away eventually. This is his standard response for programs like Social Security and the Fed. He is clear about being sensitive towards abruptly ending these types of programs. He goes further to suggest that ending the wars would bring back national guardsmen who would be able to help augment FEMA, as FEMA is currently the most inept of government agencies.

[Rudeman]

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/09/03/ron-paul-i-didn-t-say-fema-should-go


"I haven't called for the immediate abolishment of FEMA," Paul told Fox News on Saturday.