Yesterday I posted a link to a great Denis Boyles piece on the tornado-ravaged town of Greensburg, Kansas, and the politicization of the relief effort by Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Denis concluded his piece with:

In Greensburg itself, a “slow” relief effort certainly isn’t quite what people are seeing. “I’m very impressed,” Deborah Factor, one of the few homeowners in Greensburg to still have a home, told me by phone yesterday. “There are Guardsmen everywhere — picking up, cleaning up, shoveling stuff. And there’s food everywhere. I have not found one single person from Greensburg with a complaint. We’re grieving our losses, but most of us are grateful for friends and family and glad to be alive.” Factor didn’t want to cast a political stone — “we’ve got other things on our minds,” she said. Instead, she simply described National Guardsmen out on the high school football field clearing it of tree branches and FEMA people working in the streets, asking townspeople how they can be of help. “I’m just amazed at how quickly everybody — local, state and national — have been with this.” I talked to several other area residents who were unsure why Sebelius had used Greensburg as an excuse to attack the White House. Two state employees spoke to me on condition of anonymity. “Our governor is using this incident to take cheap shots at the war in Iraq,” said one. The other was more puzzled. “I don’t know why she didn’t ask for help if she needed it,” he said. “That’s her job, isn’t it?”

And in a 180 degree reversal from her attitude last May, here’s what she had to say about the tragedy in yesterday’s SOTU response:

Sitting with the first lady tonight was Steve Hewitt, the city manager of Greensburg, Kan. Many of you remember Greensburg — our town [was] nearly destroyed by a tornado last year.
Thanks to Steve’s efforts, and hundreds of others in our state, and across the country, Greensburg will recover. Folks rolled up their sleeves and got to work, and local, state and federal governments assisted in the effort.

She went from “Not having this [National Guard] equipment in place all over the state is a huge handicap” to “Folks rolled up their sleeves and got to work, and local, state and federal governments assisted in the effort.”