Nearly 100,000 Americans don’t have access to clean water. Upwards of 8,600 children under the age of 6 may have been exposed to lead in Flint, Michigan. In addition to “skin lesions, hair loss, vision loss, memory loss, depression and anxiety,” exposure to lead can have life altering damages: It “can affect a developing child’s IQ, resulting in learning disabilities.”
The gravity of the Flint water emergency cannot be understated. Yet, none of the Republican candidates will criticize Governor Rick Snyder or put out any kind of plan for how they would handle the horrific crisis. Instead, the GOPers on stage have refused to comment, pretended to know nothing about the crisis, and even called Snyder “a problem solver.”
The GOP candidates refusal to recognize the weight of Flint is just one more way they fail the commander-in-chief test:
- Donald Trump said, “I shouldn’t comment on Flint.”
- John Kasich called Gov. Snyder “one heck of a governor” and a “problem solver.”
- Ted Cruz delayed a bipartisan bill that would have helped Flint, sending the town $220 million to build new infrastructure and pipes.
- Marco Rubio dismissed Flint, saying, “That’s not an issue right now that we’ve been focused on.”
Published: Mar 3, 2016