The Editorial Board, NOLA.com
The Times-Picayune

People who suffered through Hurricane Katrina and the levee breaches in 2005 have gotten used to far-flung politicians saying inane things about us: that we didn’t deserve help, that we brought the tragedy upon ourselves.

The cluelessness from some people in public life over the past eight and a half years has been astonishing. But the latest example comes from a candidate for U.S. Senate in Mississippi. You’d think that someone who wants to represent that state, which was slammed by 28-foot storm surge in Katrina, would understand the level of devastation. Apparently not.

In a Politico story published Wednesday, state Sen. Chris McDaniel hedged on whether he would have voted for Katrina aid in the aftermath of the disaster. “I would have to see the details of it. I really would,” he told the reporter. “That’s not an easy vote to cast.”

Voting for aid for your own people after one of the worst disasters in U.S. history would be a tough decision? Really?

Sen. McDaniel’s bio says he is a lifelong Mississippian, born in Laurel — which is a little more than 100 miles from the coast. Jones County, where Laurel is located, was hit hard during Katrina.

The morning after the Politico interview, Sen. McDaniel’s campaign spokesman contacted the reporter to “clarify that Chris would’ve been a yes vote on the disaster bill,” according to the article. Someone in the campaign must have decided that being against Katrina aid might not be a winning strategy.

Sen. McDaniel, who is backed by the tea party, is promising Mississippi voters that he won’t “do anything for you.” On the other side in the GOP primary, incumbent Republican Sen. Thad Cochran was instrumental in getting billions of dollars in aid for the Gulf Coast after Katrina. That’s quite a contrast.

To read the full article, .

Seems uncertainty reared its head in Mississippi’s Republican U.S. Senate primary last week. But the depth and degree of uncertainty — if one wants to call it that — between the two candidates really defines the race and points up the choices facing Mississippi voters.

Supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s U.S. Senate campaign were absolutely apoplectic when U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran wryly told a Jackson television station, “The tea party, you know, is something I don’t really know a lot about.”

In response, McDaniel told The Associated Press that Cochran’s statement was proof that the he was “out of touch” and offered up a web ad with the glib response to Cochran, “Perhaps it’s time for an introduction.”

But before Club for Growth and the rest of the super PACs backing McDaniel’s bid could make too much political hay with Cochran’s remarks, McDaniel was facing intense criticism for his own moment of uncertainty on a far more relevant topic than knowing the complexities of the tea party’s secret handshake.

Before an audience in Oxford, McDaniel said he would promise nothing to constituents: “I’m not going to do anything for you. I’m going to get the government off your back, then I’m gonna let you do it for yourself.”

Cochran was in a helicopter surveying the damage to the Gulf Coast on Aug. 31, 2005. As a reporter, I was in another aircraft flying over the Mississippi Gulf Coast shoreline and saw what he saw.

The sight was unambiguous. The view was of utter devastation. Caskets washed out of cemeteries and mausoleums were hanging in the trees. There was death and misery and suffering. Mississippi needed immediate help and a massive amount of it. By Oct. 7, 2005, Cochran delivered that massive, unprecedented aid package to Mississippians and the rest of the Gulf South. The Senate approved it 97-0 and the conference report got a 93-0 approval.

The bill provided grants to displaced homeowners, federal assistance for local law enforcement, water and sewer improvements, highways, restoration of marshlands and oyster reefs, workforce training, federal facilities in the state, and operational funding for battered educational facilities from K-12 to community colleges to universities.

While Cochran was passing perhaps the most important piece of federal legislation in Mississippi’s history in 2005, the Mississippi tea party had yet to be founded — so Cochran couldn’t ask them if they approved of the help he led the federal government to provide Gulf Coast residents.

The questions confronting Mississippi voters are whether they want a senator who knows destruction and devastation when he sees it and actually has both the power and the influence to bring unprecedented aid and help with all deliberate speed — and most importantly, does he have the willingness to do so?

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After that speech, a Politico reporter asked McDaniel if he would have supported the 2005 federal Hurricane Katrina relief legislation that brought $5.5 billion to Mississippi. McDaniel first said, “I would have to see the details of it. I really would.”

Pressed on Katrina relief, McDaniel then said, “I probably would have supported it, but I don’t know enough about it. That’s just it.”

Later in the week, McDaniel expanded that answer on social media: “Just to be perfectly clear, I support disaster relief efforts for massive tragedies like Katrina, and I’ve told the media that on several occasions. However, fraud, waste, abuse and misspent funds must never be allowed.”

So let’s talk about uncertainty. Are you more offended by Cochran’s uncertainty over the intricacies of the tea party movement or by McDaniel’s uncertainty over whether he would have supported a Hurricane Katrina relief bill that passed the U.S. Senate 97-0 on Oct. 7, 2005, and later saw the conference report pass the Senate 93-0 on Dec. 21, 2005?

Today, U.S. Senator Thad Cochran released the following statement in response to questions regarding Katrina relief:

“I was fortunate to be in a position to help us recover from Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in our state’s history. Our delegation worked together in a bipartisan manner to make sure Katrina relief legislation was passed. I was very pleased to have been a part of the successful effort, which was supported by our colleagues across the country. As I look at how local and state officials have used this money I am proud of what we did. Natural disasters can strike at any moment, and it is critical that Mississippians can count on their elected representatives to help them in times of crisis.”

U.S. Senator Thad Cochran’s campaign released its first web video with Mississippians showing their support for Thad’s leadership, his work to fight Obamacare, and his conservative principles.

In this new web video, Mississippians are highlighting reasons they are supporting Thad – in their own words – because they know now more than ever we need Thad Cochran’s leadership in the U.S. Senate.

Water is a hot commodity. It moves by the caseload at supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide. Its sales soon could overtake those of soda.

A colorfully designed, recyclable plastic bottle with water from some mountain spring or a purified version of what comes out of the tap has become essential equipment for getting through the day. But what about good, old-fashioned but out-of-fashion water from the public supply?

The National Rural Water Association held its annual Great American Water Taste Test on Wednesday, and it turned out that the best-tasting drink in the house came from Curtis, Neb., which has a population of 935.“There’s no treatment whatsoever,” Mike Stanzel of the Nebraska Rural Water Association said of his gold medal-winning water. “It’s right out of the ground, right into the tower and right out of the sink.”

The silver medal went to Stansbury Park, Utah, and the bronze to Fulton, Mo.

What makes a good-tasting rural water? As with wine, clarity, bouquet and taste.

“When they say bouquet, it should have no bouquet,” said one of the judges, Jacki Ponti-Lazaruk, an administrator who’s responsible for water and environmental programs in the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Rural Development office.

Other judges came from the USDA, as well, and from the White House Office of Management and Budget. The contenders had all won state competitions. After a day of sampling and more sampling, five finalists emerged.

The event was the climax of the water association’s annual Rural Water Rally, which began Monday, drawing members from 49 states. They advocate for small, rural towns, whose sizes belie the responsibility they share for large portions of America’s food and energy production capacity. Water is their lifeblood.

“Water and wastewater infrastructure is critical to promoting public health and economic growth,” Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) said in a statement after meeting with members of the Mississippi chapter of the water association. “The rural development provisions in the farm bill acknowledge this problem and offer tools to help overcome these challenges.”

Indeed, the group cheered passage of the farm legislation last week, which included $150 million in mandatory funds to address a crucial service backlog, as well as extensions of grant programs for water facilities and services.

Among them is the circuit rider program, which aids towns that are short of resources in running water systems. Circuit riders travel their states, providing managerial and technical assistance, and they prove vital in emergencies and natural disasters, when water service is crucial.

As for how water should taste, Ponti-Lazaruk put it this way: “You want it to be as clean and crisp as possible. You know good water when you taste it.”