Ohio Governor Takes Back Refugee Remarks

[Judi Lynn]

Ohio Governor Takes Back Refugee Remarks
By Associated Press

February 20, 2007, 3:27 PM EST

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Gov. Ted Strickland said he would welcome Iraqi refugees to Ohio, clarifying his comments last week were meant to express frustration with President Bush instead of the people displaced by the war.

The Democrat told The Associated Press last week he was not inclined to accommodate any refugees because doing so would help bail out the president.

"I am sympathetic to the plight of the innocent Iraqi people who have fled that country," he said. "However, I would not want to ask Ohioans to accept a greater burden than they already have borne for the Bush administration's failed policies."
(snip)

"It's one of those incidents out of many (when) I've said something inartfully and conveyed something that I did not wish to convey," said Strickland, elected Nov. 7 and sworn in last month. "I guess it means that when you're a governor, people seem to be interested in what you say, which is fine, but I think everything has a context."
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ohio-governor-iraq,0,3767119.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[David Dunham]

1. A lot of Americans are not going to want to have Iraqi refugees here.

[tanyev]

2. Especially all the freepers who thought this war was was such a glorious idea.

[Journeyman]

3. I remember when all the Vietnamese refugees came here in the mid-'70s. . .

President Ford assured the nation they would be equitably distributed throughout the States, showing yet again his near-total miscomprehension of the nation and what "freedom" means. That was in early Spring, when most of the refugees were housed on Camp Pendleton, the massive Marine base near San Diego, California. At that time, their main complaint was that it was "very cold" in South California. Oh, yeah, I remember thinking, those lucky few who get "equitably distributed" to Minnesota are going to just blend right in. Of course, given a choice -- and freedom to settle where they please -- many of those refugees settled in California and Texas, with a mix moving across the nation but the majority staying in the warmer climes. And who can blame 'em? Given a choice, I'd take California -- oh, I did.

So I have no illusions where the majority of the Iraqi refugees will settle. They'll seek out areas of the country similar to where they lived before, among an enclave of similar background. It's what first generation immigrants have done in this land for Centuries.

[BayCityProgressive]

4. Don't want the people

of Ohio to have a burden? They still have houses, even though they voted for the killer twice. Taking refugees is the least the US could do.

[AnOhioan]

7. Not all of us voted for the shrub....

Please do not lump me in with the wingnuts downstate.

[OhioChick]

8. I never voted for the "killer"

As a matter of fact, it seems rather questionable that he even won here in 2004 the last time I checked.

[Canuckistanian]

5. I remember that one of the reasons for the Iraq war was "the people"

Those poor people, having to live under the oppressive boot of Saddam.

At the the time, I also remember a distinct lack of giving a shit about what happened to those people afterwards.

Where were the Republican charity drives for the "poor Iraqis"? No church bake sales for the victims of the Ba'ath party. No clamoring for the innocent children of Iraqis to spend time in a loving, welcoming Republican household.

No siree, those Iraqis had better pull themselves out of darkness themselves, now that we "liberated" them. No excuse for laziness.

But, like I said, there was another reason the next week. Whew!

[seriousstan]

6. Columbus, Ohio has taken over 60.000 Somalia refugees. Tell me about your city.

Crickets.