In last week's podcast I offered some coverage of the hurricane that was lashing Florida and the Carolinas. I started off with the observation that

Natural disasters like this don't give opinionators much to opinionate about unless relief efforts are badly managed, which so far they don't seem to be, thank goodness.

They still don't seem to be, but there may have been some intent in the administration that they should be badly managed, or at least very unfairly managed.

A video clip has been going round the internet of Vice President Kamala Harris in an interview saying that, quote:

It is our lowest-income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions. And impacted by issues not of their own making.

The interviewer, who was female (Indian actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas)—in fact the interview was done at the Democratic National Committee Women's Leadership Forum last Friday—interrupted to say, "and women."

The Vice President replied, quote:

Absolutely. And so, we have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity. Understanding that we need to fight for equality but also equity. Not everyone starts out at the same place. And sometimes, we have to take into account those disparities, and do that work.

That sounded as though blacks and women should get priority in hurricane relief. The media have been out in force arguing that is not what the Veep meant.

Reuters, for example, said the clip was taken out of context. Here's the verdict of the Reuters Fact Check team:

Harris was addressing a lengthy question about how to tackle extreme weather events broadly when commenting that resources should be distributed in a way that is equitable. The comment was not made specifically about relief post-Hurricane Ian.

Fact Check-Clip of Kamala Harris on hurricane relief and equity taken out of context online, October 4, 2022

Sorry, Reuters, no sale. Wouldn't the category "extreme weather events broadly" include hurricanes, and in particular hurricane Ian?

On the bright side here, the fact that the Democratic Party's media lackeys are working hard to neutralize Harris's gaffe suggests that if the administration was indeed planning to preferentially help blacks and women, they're now having second thoughts.