The rest of the story?

A couple of days ago I wrote about a statement that was made by the governor of Kansas in wake of a killer tornado. A couple of days later, a Democratic candidate for President used that tornado to bash the President on his deployment of the National Guard in Iraq. Now it is being reported (unconfirmed at this moment) that the governor's remarks were made at the behest of the DCN and Chairman Howard Dean in order to gain cheap political points on the President and the Republicans. At first I was hesitant to believe that this could be the case, but then I found this editorial from the Topeka (KS) Capital Journal.

"Taken at face value, there was nothing about party politics in Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ recent comments that the war in Iraq was sapping the National Guard’s ability to respond to natural disasters.Viewed through even a thin layer of skepticism, though, an image emerges of a politician seizing a chance to score points at the expense of the Bush administration....But Sebelius, like anybody else, knows there are inherent political implications in a Democratic governor raising concerns about a Republican president’s military management. And it wouldn’t take a huge leap to conclude Sebelius considered those implications before she spoke out.Sebelius works without a carefully crafted game plan about as often as Ashton Kutcher finishes a novel. She’s calculating and cautious, which is a big part of why she’s won two terms as governor in a Republican state.The timing of Sebelius’ remarks also gives rise to skepticism. After drawing a stinging response from the White House, where press secretary Tony Snow said equipment was available but Sebelius didn’t follow procedures to get it, Sebelius’ office said equipment shortages weren’t an issue in Greensburg.“We are doing absolutely fine right now,’’ said the governor’s spokeswoman, Nicole Corcoran. “What the governor is talking about is down the road.’’

Down the road???? Let's go back and revist the governors remarks from Monday.

" A shortage of trucks, helicopters and other equipment -- all sent to the war in
Iraq' has hampered recovery in a U.S. town obliterated by a tornado, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said on Monday.

"There is no doubt at all that this will slow down and hamper the recovery," Sebelius, a Democrat, told Reuters in Kansas where officials said the statewide death toll had risen to 12 on Monday." (emphasis added)

These are not forward looking statements....these are here and now statements! Now back to Mr. Anderson.

"Why, then, was the issue brought up so early? This is the time for rebuilding, healing and grieving, not for politics.Too bad Sebelius’ remarks have already steered the tragedy in that direction."

Why indeed Governor Sebelius? There may indeed be more to this story than first blush would lead us to think. This bears close scrutiny - but then again we will never see this out of the Star Tribune.....

UPDATE - my friend Joni sent me this.

"XM Radio’s Quinn & Rose made the allegation that DNC Chairman Howard Dean called Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius early Sunday morning and instructed her not to request federal assistance in recovery from the Greensburg tornado, and to lie about the federal response to date, on their show, The War Room, today. After I discussed the story via phone with both Quinn and Rose today, here’s what they sent me.
PLEASE NOTE: The following is information we have received from a reliable source. We have never been misinformed by this person in the past.
It seems that, on Sunday, a few hours after Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, made her remarks about Bush sending all their National Guard Members and Resources to Iraq, she made a call to Brownback
Sebelius, was calling to apologize to the Senator for making the Political statements that she did. She explained that she did not believe them and that they actually had too many National Guardsmen show up.
Governor Sebelius explained “Sam, you know how political everything is right now and we’re not allowed to let an opportunity like this just pass.” She continued “I made sure not to blame you or Pat (Senator Roberts?) or anybody outside the White House. With his (Bush’s) numbers, you can’t really blame me for usin’ that.”
Then Sebelius explained the path to her comments. After Brownback told her that he was very disappointed in her, She pleaded “You know me Sam, I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t have to.” She declared “Howard (Dean) called me around 5 o’clock (in the morning) and told me not to ask The White House for any help or make any statements until I heard back. Dick (Durban?) called me an hour or 2 later and that’s when he told me we needed to use this ‘n’ said to talk about the Guard all bein’ at war.”
She then explained the thinking; “Speaker and Harry got so much heat on them from both sides over this damn war, ‘n’ they need to get the press on somethin’ else. I didn’t think it was right to use it like this either, but I didn’t see’s I had much choice in this climate, Sam.”
She the[n] apologized a few more times and promised that she’d try to move away from the comment when she and Brownback were to meet up later and tour the damage, but she had to so it without disappointing Dean and Pelosi.
I asked them to characterize their source, and they replied that she or he would be in a position to have knowledge of the conversation between Sen. Brownback and Gov. Sebelius and has never misinformed them before. Sean Hannity has called Sen. Brownback’s office to either verify or debunk the story, but so far the senator has done neither. There is word that the senator may attempt a “limited hangout” strategy this weekend, in which he acknowledges that the conversation took place but won’t remember the Dean angle. Such a strategy, if that’s what Sen. Brownback does, might be an attempt to maintain comity in what has until now been by all accounts a smooth relationship between the Democratic governor and Republican officials in Kansas. Comity shouldn’t come at the price of truth, however.
At this point, I have no way of verifying whether DNC Chairman Howard Dean called Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and instructed her to lie about the federal response to Friday’s devastating tornado. But I will make some calls and see what I can find out. Quinn & Rose’s story does fit the timeline and does fit the Democrat M.O. of late, in which they find a way to blame every single thing under the sun on Bush and on the war in Iraq. Other Democrat governors have pre-emptively blamed the lack of response to disasters that haven’t even happened yet on Bush and the war in Iraq. So on its face the story strikes me as very plausible."

Stay tuned kids.....it could get interesting!