Democratic responder to Bush, Kansas Gov. Sebelius, lacks credibility, is a hypocrite

We don't usually comment on matters of national interest, preferring instead to concentrate on what's going in the Bluegrass State. But the rank hypocrisy of the Democratic response to President Bush's state of the union address last night causes us to make a rare exception.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius tried a novel approach, claiming the response was not by the Democrats, but by Americans. However, she has no credibility whatsoever and no moral authority at all to claim the bipartisan high ground after statements she made last year after a tornado leveled the Kansas town of Greensburg.

The situation made waves in political circles but never really got noticed in the mainstream, but in a nutshell, here's what happened: After the tornado struck, Sebelius blasted President Bush, saying that personnel and equipment from the Kansas National Guard had been sent to Iraq and therefore the Guard wasn't able to respond to the tornado site in a proper manner. After she made the statements, she called Republican Kansas Sen. (and at the time, a presidential candidate hopeful) Sam Brownback to apologize for the comments. Sebelius told Brownback that she had basically been ordered by Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean to make those comments to take political advantage of the situation and use the opportunity for yet another anti-war statement.

Sebelius is viewed as a rising star among the Democrats and some in Greensburg speculated that she was jockeying for a vice-presidential slot when she allowed Dean to pull her strings. If Democrats really want America to believe they are looking for bipartisan solutions, they'll have to do better than the hypocrite Sebelius to carry their message.