John Fray – 10/26/06

This page was last updated on October 26, 2006.

The epitome of crassness; John Fray; Beaver County Times; October 26, 2006.

The last time we heard from Mr. Fray, he attempted to defend the honor of Jimmy Carter.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“On Sept. 4, 2005, as the New Orleans flood waters were invading the attics where some residents of that town had sought refuge in a futile attempt to escape the Hurricane Katrina deluge, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum uttered the crassest remark I have ever heard from a representative of the people.

“Standing piously outside of what I believe was a church and wearing a light-colored summer suit, Santorum said, ‘I mean, you have people who don’t heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.’

“My reaction was, and still is: Senator, have you no humanity? At the minute you spoke, precisely when some of those attic-trapped victims were spending the last moments of their lives before gulping the wretched waters of that horrible storm, when you were not making even a token effort to assist in the efforts to rescue those victims, could you at least have refrained from uttering such a crass remark?”

[RWC] What was crass about the comment? When you are told to evacuate and do not, you deserve to be criticized. As Sen. Santorum noted, people who ignore evacuation orders put the lives of rescue workers at risk when they have to come and save you. I guess Mr. Fray missed all that video of Coast Guard rescuers dangling beneath hovering helicopters while they rescued people from their rooftops.