Gov. Dannel P. Malloy burst onto the national scene Wednesday for sharply criticizing Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, calling him an idiot.
Malloy was being interviewed on CNN regarding the power outages and the fallout from Tropical Storm Irene when the subject turned to Paul, the outspoken U.S. Representative from Texas. Interviewer Christine Romans noted that Paul had criticized FEMA, which helps states and municipalities to recover from national disasters, and she asked Malloy for his opinion.
"I think he's an idiot," Malloy responded. "We are spending $900 million a week in wars, and he is arguing about whether we should spend some amount of money? FEMA now has currently a $900 million budget available to it. This is a ridiculous conversation. I really don't understand what he is talking about, and I'm not sure he does."
Romans seemed taken aback by Malloy's use of the term "idiot'' and responded, "That's blunt.'' She added later, "I hear a frustrated Democratic governor of Connecticut.''
"Without this system of response, we would not be standing here with as few people who have died in this massive storm," Malloy added. "For someone in Texas to be talking about FEMA perhaps being defunded really does rise to idiocy and hypocrisy. ... This is pure politics playing out across individuals' misery."
