I know it's wrong in a way, but it's hard not to look at things in political terms. After all, these are our leaders, right? At least, one of the senators as well as the governor of LA are Democrats (women too, actually). The senator might be a too conservative, but if we are thinking politics, that is something. Seriously, where did this disaster come from? I know people say it was predictable, but like wow. Blam! Anyway, the second post was just too precious ... the first underlines that even those who support him know he's a dweeb.
...Doesn't he realize that more people may have died from this storm than died on September 11? I don't expect him to say he's gonna get Katrina "dead or alive" for what she's done to America. But for crying out loud, can he put off the laundry list of all the things his wonderful bureaucracy has done so far until the end of the speech and begin by addressing the pain we all feel as this tragedy is unfolding in slow-motion on live TV? We're talking death on a massive scale, and within 2 minutes he's thanking Texas for housing refugees (way to perpetuate that "I'm all about Texas" stereotype).
And don't get me started about how the first image of Bush coming back to Washington as thousands have died in a tragedy was him walking down the stairs of Air Force One with Barney tucked under his arm ... that was a pathetic performance and I agree with what Byron wrote about his vacation. And I'm with you: Bring in the troops. Lead! Don't tell me that the federal government will be working "with" state and local governments...
-- Letter to National Review.
Many of the always "sensible" voices of the left and center have cried out in unison that we should not "politicize" the tragedy unfolding in New Orleans and other parts of the South. I can only think of one answer. Bullshit. It already is political.
Remember these were the very same orifices that intoned about the same thing after 9/11. Don't ask questions. Stand by our leader. Yada yada yada.
"There is no such thing as a nonpolitical speech by a politician." That is what Richard Nixon once said. And everything is politics to our current White House Placeholder-in-Chief, which is why he was concentrating on selling Iraq and not the impending disaster in New Orleans. ...
Yet, once again, we had a president who didn't interrupt his vacation (oh sorry, he did, after the fact, a whole two days early), when we all knew this was coming in some shape or form last week, because he was busy "getting on with his life." There is a lot of bike riding and lying about Iraq to be done in Idaho and Utah, after all, and you gotta go visit the only two states that still give you a higher approval rating than amoebic dysentery.
And so once again, Americans are paying the price for putting a man in office who is not qualified to run the checkout window at Wendy's. Osama bin Laden determined to attack. Cool, let's clear some brush and think hard about stem cells. A tsunami has devastated South Asia--no reason to leave the ranch immediately and like, say anything intelligent. And a warning that a Category 5 hurricane is about to level a major American city, ain't no thang.
-- Post of somone who does not "love President Bush"
Also, it seems that FEMA -- no thanks (blame, yes) to those currently in power -- is going downhill. I guess the best thing is to hope that the truly harsh death toll predictions are overblown, so that only serious lost of property and weeks of perhaps hundreds of thousands not being able to go home is the only thing to be concerned about. And, all the other problems. Seriously, this is the sort of thing that will happen ... we need to be able to handle this sort of thing relatively smoothly.
The fact it is a "natural disaster" does not change things -- in the long run, those things affect more people in many ways than random terrorist attacks. I think again how my former mayor would be a good person to have in charge -- Rudy not only handled 9/11, but thrived on a major snowstorm and the like. I did not like some of his politics and he was sort of a bully, but in various ways one knew he was qualified. These people are the worst of both worlds ... so few are like the FDA official who resigned over the politicialization of the morning after pill. No principles worthy of respect.
Meanwhile, Bolton is trying to f-up the UN.