Say Anything Blog

WASHINGTON - President Bush defended American generosity Wednesday, even as his administration figures out how to pay for more help beyond the $35 million it has already promised to tsunami victims in Asia.

In his first remarks since the weekend disaster that so far has killed more than 76,000, Bush --� like some in his administration previously --� took umbrage at a U.N. official's suggestion that the world's richest nations were "stingy," and indicated much more is expected to be spent to help the victims.

"Well, I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed," Bush said from his Texas ranch. "We're a very generous, kindhearted nation, and, you know, what you're beginning to see is a typical response from America."

Bush noted that the United States provided $2.4 billion "in food, in cash, in humanitarian relief to cover the disasters for last year. " That's 40 percent of all the relief aid given in the world last year."

America leads the world in providing foreign aid to countries in need and we will no doubt lead the world in providing relief to those harmed by this disaster as well.

But some on the left have decided to try and make some political hay out of this "stingy" issue by pointing out how much money private donors have provided to Bush's inauguration celebration (around $40 million by most estimates) in contrast with the $35 million (and growing) amount Bush has pledge to tsunami relief.

Lets use our heads here.

The money being used for Bush's inauguration is privately donated cash from Bush's supporters given to the cause long before this tsunami disaster occurred. It is just plain stupid to criticize Bush for not making his pledge for disaster relief proportionate to the the donations received for his inauguration. What does one have to do with the other? Are we really expecting the President to sit down and consider the price of his inauguration celebration before pledging disaster aid to foreign countries?

And I'd also point out that private U.S. donations to tsunami relief are likely to double what the government itself is giving if the rapid fire donations going on at Amazon.com tell us anything.

Update:

If we're going to accuse people of being stingy how about focusing some attention on France, which has pledged a grand total of $135,000 U.S. to tsunami relief.