Democrats want you to know that they believe Republicans are responsible for the tragic train crash this past week that killed 8 and started a conversation about safety in Amtrak’s most heavily-traveled corridor.
During a recent press conference with House Speaker John Boehner, IBT’s senior political writer Ginger Gibson made the mistake of playing into that narrative—and got more than a little embarrassed.
Watch:
From MRC TV:
“Are you really going to ask such a stupid question? Listen, you know they started this yesterday, ‘it’s all about funding, it’s all about funding.’ Well, obviously it’s not about funding. The train was going twice the speed limit. Adequate funds were there. No money’s been cut from rail safety, and the House passed a bill earlier this spring to reauthorize Amtrak and authorize a lot of these programs. And it’s hard for me to imagine that people take the bait on some of the nonsense that gets spewed around here.”
Boehner had good reason to lash out. Earlier in the week Democrats in Congress were making hay with the story, officially accusing Republicans of letting safety standards slide in favor of a more palatable bottom line:
On Wednesday during a House Appropriations Committee meeting, Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) blamed GOP lawmakers for failing to make “safety a priority” and bringing up the Amtrak tragedy he said, “Last night we failed them. We failed to invest in their safety.”Mike Simpson (R-ID) shot back, “You have no idea, no idea what caused the accident, and to use that as a means of supporting the last amendment… don’t use this tragedy in that way, it was beneath you.”Reports in the NY Times and WSJ contend that funding was not an issue in the crash.
This is refreshing. Even as the press corps is hitting back at the White House, there’s still a measurable bias radiating out of the mainstream media—especially when it comes to juicy ledes like lethal safety failures. I wish Republicans in Congress would do this more often; the MSM has proven time and again that they’ll go as far as they can to back conservatives into a corner, and they deserve to be called out on it.
Bravo, Mr. Boehner. Now do it again!
The FBI is launching an investigation into evidence that a projectile hit the front of the train moments before it derailed near Philadelphia. Officials discovered damage to the lower left hand corner of the train’s windshield, prompting questions about what may have been the real cause of the train’s derailment.
We’ll keep you updated as the story progresses.
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