Hannity falsely suggests Obama has ignored Tennessee floods

Written by Tom Allison

Published

Sean Hannity falsely suggested that President Obama is ignoring the floods in Tennessee. In fact, the administration declared a disaster days ago, and the governor of Tennessee has praised the administration's response.

Hannity falsely suggests Obama is ignoring “massive flood in Nashville”

Hannity: “We have a massive flood in Nashville” and Obama “has yet to comment on it.” From the May 6 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

HANNITY: This was a bad week, I think one of the worst weeks for the press. We have this massive flood, and we're going to get into this in a special report we're going to do on the program tomorrow night. We have a massive flood in Nashville, the president, as of now, has yet to comment on it. I mean, loss of life, devastation, financial ruin.

Obama declared Tennessee a disaster area days ago, and Tennessee's governor praised the administration's response

Declaration provides federal aid. In a May 4 release, the White House stated that Obama “declared a major disaster exists in the State of Tennessee and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area” affected by the April 30 storms. The statement said that aid includes “grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.” [Whitehouse.gov, 5/4/10]

Fox News.com: Tennessee governor said he has “never seen this kind of response.” Hannity's own network reported that Gov. Phil Bredesen stated: “I've never seen this kind of response ... and we've had our share of tornadoes and so forth.” Bredesen reportedly further stated, “FEMA and the White House could not have been more helpful in this thing.” Fox also reported that Obama spoke with Bredesen on Monday before the disaster declaration and that FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate has been to the state twice since the weekend's storms. [FoxNews.com, 5/6/10]

Bredesen: “The President was on the phone to me before the sun came up practically on Monday morning.” In another White House statement, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs posted Bredesen's description of the federal response:

I have to say that FEMA and the White House have been absolutely supportive. Very quickly FEMA was on the ground here before the raindrops started falling. ... The President was on the phone to me before the sun came up practically on Monday morning. Slightly after it came up, other people from the White House had called and checked in with us and helped. ... I've never seen this kind of a response to things that have happened. We've had our share of tornadoes and those kinds of things. ... I'm very, very pleased with the response we've gotten from the administration. [5/6/10]