The “Blame Game”

448 comments on “The “Blame Game””

1. Den,

   That is the best you can do? Do I need to begin posting the speech by Al Gore, statements by Michael Moore, the lunacy of Howard Dean?

   And the fact is, the governor did delay in asking for certain types of help. It is not a lie. Perhaps some of it was miscommunication that should not have happened. But the governor herself and the mayor of New Orleans have said it was true she asked Bush for 24 hours to make a decision about aspects of help.

   When you add up what reporters, Democratic leaders, actors, pundits, etc., are saying, the overwhelming bulk (perhaps 75to 80%) of what I am hearing is that the primary failure was by Bush and FEMA.

   Obviously, until someone actually counts the news stories, etc., it is just my impression versus yours. But I would take it as a safe bet that I am right.

   Iowa Jim

2. The titles in the timeline PAD cited were, to say the least, slanted. But reading past that, you still get a lot of instances of missed opportunities to provide relief and aid long before it actually was provided. Such as the Navy Hospital ship sitting empty, and only able to provide helicopter rescue service. Whether by accident or design, that ship was, in fact, on scene immediately after the hurricane passed.

   And the comment about taking bong hits while getting a communication degree while “real” people were getting engineering degrees…I could counter that with a comment on the President holding a birthday cake, or playing guitar, or just sitting on his ranch on vacation while 2 states away, REAL PEOPLE were starting to die of thirst…but I won’t. I’ll just say that not all of us liberal arts degree’d people expect or even think that aid could have been delivered instantly. The levees broke Monday. By Tuesday, it was clear that the worst had happened, and that thousands of people were in serious trouble. The Superdome was expected to hold 10,000, with supplies for 3 days. Come Tuesday, that number had swelled to 30-50,000, consuming the resources there in a day. How hard would it have been for the Hospital ship sitting in the gulf, which apparantly can make 100,000 gallons of drinking water a day, to deliver a security and administration detail to the Superdome to provide temporary relief until the larger rescue units could be mobilized? It would have taken a phone call…and not one disabled by the devastation on land, but a satellite communication to a functioning navy vessal. Assuming anyone with authority knew the ship was there. Which, from all accounts, ws the problem. Despite the state asking for Federal aid on FRIDAY, Federal response didn’t begin to mobilise until Wednesday.

   While you’re busy handing out “give ’em a break” passes to the Feds for a “quick” response, why not hand some out to the state and local officials. What for? Succesfully evacuating over 1 million people in 36 hours. Has there ever been such a large scale evacuation carried out more successfully in such a compressed time before? Or for the governor having the foresight to recognize the imensity of this storm, and asking for full Federal aid on Friday.

   Which, by the way, had that Federal Aid begun a mobilization effort on Saturday, relief efforts would have begun on TUESDAY. Airdropped security troops could have provided on site security, cutting down looting and lawlessness. And maybe someone could have called those kids that managed to drive to the convention center, then drive out, in a rental car, on Tuesday, since the Feds seem to have had difficulty finding a clear road. And once the troops were on the ground with a secure area, food and water supplies, mobilized starting on Saturday, could have been provided to the area.

   Am I playing monday morning QB? No, I’m just telling you the same things I was yelling at the TV on Tuesday over a week ago. Things that I must have learned sometime while getting my liberal arts degree (I must have missed the section of the course book that taught about bongs and other things like that) while “real people” were off learing how to sit around waiting for a beaurocratic process to get kick started before doing their jobs.

3. No, Jim. What GW needs to say is “You know what, you’re right. FEMA fûçkëd up and this is how. The government fûçkëd up and this is how. And this is how we’re going to fix it in the future.” But none of that is forthcoming. Kind of like 9/11. The government should be ready to respond to tragedy. Under Bush, it simply is not.

4. This is quoted from Aviation Weekly:

   In the Northcom [U.S. military’s Northern Command] operations center, TV coverage of disaster zones was closely monitored, prompting the dispatch of relief missions prior to the receipt of official reports or requests. During past wargames, FEMA and other agencies have been reluctant to be drawn into “the ‘CNN effect’ and instead rely on standard National Response Plan reporting channels, because they were afraid they’d be sucked down a rat hole,” says the retired officer. Players were concerned that critical resources could be diverted by low-priority regions, only because those areas were getting media attention.

   I suspect that this has been a standard practice before this Bush adminstration. However, it might be indicative of the lack of flexibility or thinking under fire of the current agencies; once it was clear that communications was disrupted, the folks on the ground should have been looking for alternative communciations sources since their main ones were shot to pieces.

   Too, if it’s good enough for the US military…

5. Den,

   Here’s the thing–I’m perfectly happy to say no problem. It’s no big deal. But when you are on the record as claiming “If they were white republicans, they wouldn’t have been trapped at the Superdome in the first place. Bush would have had them airlifted from their homes.” it kind of puts you in a bad position to being sensitive to unfair claims of racism.

   I assumed what you said was a joke and I still do. Unfortuanately for us jokey types there are all too many who are dead serious in seeing racism in almost anything that happens. One of the problems I have with the Democratic party is the way I see it as far to willing to accept race hustlers in its midst–Al Sharpton being one of the more painfully prominant examples. (Yeah, I know, the Republicans have some black shee…uh, bad apples of their own).

   Bad enough when these folks are bìŧçhìņg about unimportant crap like the number of minorities on Friends but the claims of racism in regards to Katrina (with a few notable exceptions, like the Lawson case) so far have had no solid basis in reality. I didn’t see any massive airlifts of the mostly white populations of parts of North Carolina when they got flooded recently. Whatever the level of incompetance exhibited by Bush, Nagin, Blanco, Brown and others yet to be named, I don’t think the color of the victims skin had anything to do with it. Those who feel otherwise have the obligation to prove it.

6. Bill,

   Let’s just say that we both made comments that could be misinterpreted and move on. And, as a show of good faith, I won’t start a debate as to who is a bigger “hustler” Sharpton or Pat Robertson.

   As for the issue of race, no I don’t seriously believe that racism was the motivating factor in the problems with the response from FEMA. I do, however, strongly believe that class was a factor. This administration is very indifferent to the needs of the poor members of society. I don’t believe that it’s a conscious decision so much as a complete inability to perceive what life is like for people living at or below the poverty line.

   And if Barbara Bush’s recent Marie Antoinette-esque comments are any indication, such attitudes were learned at home.

7. “And, as a show of good faith, I won’t start a debate as to who is a bigger “hustler” Sharpton or Pat Robertson.”

   Al Sharpton is funnier.

8. den,

   Well, you might be surprised over who I think is the bigger hustler if it’s between those two! 🙂

   Whoa–there’s a report of a big power outage in LA…right after a terror threat was made to the city a few days ago…Coincidence, I hope.

   (upon further thought, wouldn’t it make more sense to do the power outage at night if you wanted to cause the most damage?)

9. Well, the good news is that Bush’s little buddy “Brownie” has resigned as head of FEMA.

   Now… what will his promotion be?

   “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” on NPR this weekend had, as its “contestants make a prediction” question at the end, “what will be Michael Brown’s next job?” The answers ranged from funny to not-so-much, but the runaway winner in my mind came from Adam Felber. Roughly quoted (i.e. as best as I can remember)…

   “I won’t say the name of his employer, but in a few weeks we’ll hear him say to his boss, ‘who could have POSSIBLY predicted that a customer who ordered fries would then want ketchup?'”

   Bloody brilliant.

   And on a more serious note, I too wish the cries of racism were rarer and more muted, because I’m with Den: I think classism (or just class cluelessness) was a huge, huge factor, and the fact that race was linked to it was an unfortunate but unintentional coincidence. Unfortunately, by giving Bush et al. a chance to decry any charges of racism, it’ll obscure the class-specific point until he might more or less get a free pass there. (Very few media outlets of any kind dare to mention class. Race, sure — but mention class and you get denigrated as a Marxist-in-training trying to “stir up class warfare.”)

   TWL

10. “(upon further thought, wouldn’t it make more sense to do the power outage at night if you wanted to cause the most damage?)”

    Not if you wanted to cause a distraction that would allow you to infiltrate otherwise secure areas. I have no idea what it would take to cause such an outage, and my suspicion is that, if you could arrange that, you wouldn’t need a large distracting event.

    Knowing what I do about the aging power grid in America (just enough to be dangerous or mis-informing) it wouldn’t really take much for another serious outage like the one that hit the northeast a short time ago.

11. Knowing what I do about the aging power grid in America (just enough to be dangerous or mis-informing) it wouldn’t really take much for another serious outage like the one that hit the northeast a short time ago.

    So. Is this administration doing anything about it? And if not, why not?

12. Hey, guys, I’m trying to get in early on the blame game….

13. “So. Is this administration doing anything about it? And if not, why not?”

    Well, this is the problem with letting utilities run as a government-sponsored monopoly. The cost of replacing/upgrading the transmission system would seriously cut into the profits. And no CEO is going to take away from those profits to upgrade the system and keep his job. So unless the government, either state or federal, does something about it, we’re going to see an increasing number of outages that just happen. No reason, no real cause, might not even be on a very busy day. As things get old, they start to break down.

    It’s just part of the aging of the entire infrastructure system in America. With few exceptions, the effort being made to maintain the system (roads, bridges, etc.) is below what would minimally be required to keep us at a status quo.

14. >So. Is this administration doing anything about it? And if not, why not?

    Well, the governor of the state does have an (R) next to his name… so FEMA probably had people on their way yesterday…

15. It’s just part of the aging of the entire infrastructure system in America. With few exceptions, the effort being made to maintain the system (roads, bridges, etc.) is below what would minimally be required to keep us at a status quo.

    Well, in that case, nothing’s going to happen.

    Even when it’s put to the voters to pay for maintainence and repair, they’re gonna vote it down, because they think there’s too expensive or there’s too much “waste” in government (even though they can’t point to any of it).

    Idiots are gonna reap what they so, and take the rest of us with them….

16. Not if you wanted to cause a distraction that would allow you to infiltrate otherwise secure areas. I have no idea what it would take to cause such an outage, and my suspicion is that, if you could arrange that, you wouldn’t need a large distracting event.

    Huh. Hadn’t considered that. You’re pretty smart–hopefully smarter than the terrorists.

    (And yesterday marked 4 years of waiting for these idiots to follow up on their one success…did we just overestimate them or have their been attempts that were stopped before they could succeed and nobody is telling us about it?

    Even when it’s put to the voters to pay for maintainence and repair, they’re gonna vote it down, because they think there’s too expensive or there’s too much “waste” in government (even though they can’t point to any of it).

    Sadly true…but they will be quick to blame the poor slob who is in charge when the deck of cards collapses

17. And yesterday marked 4 years of waiting for these idiots to follow up on their one success…did we just overestimate them or have their been attempts that were stopped before they could succeed and nobody is telling us about it?

    They better NOT tell us about it; usually that stuff depends on human intelligence….and telling everyone about it also tells everyone who that human intelligence was. (And I use the past tense deliberately).

    It’s common sense not to do so. Which does not make me hopeful that some folks in this current administration would refrain from doing so (as they have in the past…and I’m not talking about Valerie Plame).

18. While you’re busy handing out “give ’em a break” passes to the Feds for a “quick” response,

    See, here’s the thing. I was very clear that I am NOT giving the Fed’s a break. I am saying let’s be fair and objective and look at all levels of government. I have already said the Fed’s dropped the ball. This post by PAD was based on solely looking at Bush and complaining that he was playing the blame game. That is not the same as saying I excuse ways the Fed’s did fail to do their job.

    Behind all of this there lies a fundamental difference in philosophy. As a conservative, I do start at the personal and local level and believe the government never replaces personal responsibility. I think the mentality that the federal government is ultimately responsible is a dangerous one. The mayor put people in the Superdome with the expectation that someone else (the Fed’s) would eventually get supplies there. Whether the Fed’s should have or not is really beside the point. The mayor should have done everything he could to have prepared for the possibility they could not do so. He had the option and chose not to do so, according to various reports I have read.

    Dependence mentality is very detrimental. Yes, the government must be involved. Yes, I think FEMA could and should do better. I do not believe in the elimination of all government. But I do believe that responsibility starts with me, then locally, then state, and then Federal. That should be true in all issues, not just disaster relief. I am sure some of you would disagree with me (which might be part of the reason behind why I am a Republican and you who disagree are not).

    Iowa Jim

19. “(And yesterday marked 4 years of waiting for these idiots to follow up on their one success…did we just overestimate them or have their been attempts that were stopped before they could succeed and nobody is telling us about it?)”

    You mean like the failures that were the bombings in London and Spain?

20. “Behind all of this there lies a fundamental difference in philosophy. As a conservative, I do start at the personal and local level and believe the government never replaces personal responsibility. I think the mentality that the federal government is ultimately responsible is a dangerous one.”

    I think that saying liberals have the mentality that the ‘federal government is ultimately responsible’ is completely incorrect. Most liberals (that I know, anyway, as I happen to be one) feel that responsibility can be shared. Sure, the individual is responsible for themselves. But why can’t the government be there to help them out in times of need when the crisis becomes beyond their management? I would say that this crisis met that end, and the government failed because it was ill-prepared to deal with the situation.

21. You mean like the failures that were the bombings in London and Spain?

    Um, no. I meant in the United States. I sort of figured that was obvious.

    While you’re at it, don’t forget attacks in Israel, Algeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Russia, India, Iraq, Sudan and other places, some of which killed more people than the two you mentioned (though they may have received less press).

    And even if we want to limit it to those 3, they have gone from killing 3,000 to 191 to 56. Many of us expected after 9/11 that the subsequent attacks would be worse, not spread far apart and with diminished lethality.

    And my question again is why? Don’t worry, I’m not trying to force anyone to give George Bush credit, which might lead to a round of seppuku that would leave this board a sad and lonely place. Personally, I would lean toward the idea that the number of terrorists was less than imagined and even with many of the leaders still on the loose, they are not able to do much more than stay one step ahead of their pursuers.

    At the very least, the idea that armies of suicide bombers were waiting to strike seems to have been incorrect.

22. just like a democrat never. picking and choosing what issues to respond to instead of fully addressing them all.

23. No, Bill, I think the point is that the US isn’t the only target. I actually didn’t expect that post-9/11 attacks would be worse. Hëll, killing people isn’t even the point of the Al Qaeda attacks, it’s about creating fear. That fear took much more on the right than the left (or it certainly seems to have done so from all the people I speak with, post with, etc.).

    So, I (for one) do not believe that the current administration’s policies have actually secured the borders from terrorist attack. I don’t think it’s possible. I also feel that if anything, America is less secure since our invasion of Iraq simply because it has created an entirely new generation of enemies.

    America is big, and I’m pretty freakin’ confident that if someone wanted to set a bomb in LA or fly a plane into the Space Needle or (here’s a shocker) bring in an army of suicide bombers in a freight container since hardly any containers are inspected, I’m sure they could. But I doubt they will. What they will do at some point is drop another attack somewhere just to let the world know they can.

    The problem with the war on terrorism is that it isn’t a war on what creates terrorists. And until the US government realizes that they need to pay every bit as much attention to that as they do to stopping current terrorist activities, there will be no end to it.

24. “just like a democrat never. picking and choosing what issues to respond to instead of fully addressing them all.”

    As long as you walk away completely satisfied, I feel good.

25. So heads were demanded to roll and now Brown has quit.

    Is this what’s called… wait for it… a Rolling Brown Out?

    🙂

    When the pain wears off and the stunned brain areas begin to work again you can direct all jatemail for that pun to FEMA. It’s their fault (blame gaming) for setting up such an obvious one.

    😉

26. Sorry,

    That was meant to be “hatemail.”

27. just like a democrat never. picking and choosing what issues to respond to instead of fully addressing them all.

    I see you don’t have the grace to admit you got at least some of your facts wrong. Not very useful.

28. More proof that you might want to tale certin reports with a grain of salt:

    From CNN:

    Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration’s first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

    At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush’s former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

    One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Ðìçk Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.

    One slight fact that might alter one’s perception of this story: The Shaw Group is headed by the chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party who also served as co-chair of Gov. Blanco’s transition team.

    Somehow, these facts were deemed unworthy of mention.

29. Incidentally, I am not criticizing The Shaw Group. They may well be the best people for the job. I don’t assume that just because a company has close ties to the Democratic Party they must be immediately suspect.

30. I think that saying liberals have the mentality that the ‘federal government is ultimately responsible’ is completely incorrect.

    Well put.

    I think the basic difference is that liberals, by and large, believe that government has a role to play in protecting and preserving the “public good”, and conservatives by and large don’t. Obviously there’s some maneuvering room within both schools of thought for shades of meaning, but in general I think that’s a key difference.

    I think we as a civilization have a duty to help those who are less well-off: hence Social Security, hence Medicare, hence some form of welfare. Many, many conservatives opposed the formation of all three, and there are any number of conservatives now who want to kill at least one if not all three.

    I don’t believe this because I’m a liberal; I’m a liberal because this is what I believe.

    I also think that by and large, pure market forces cannot be trusted to ensure things like worker safety, child safety (e.g. labor laws), environmental protection, etc. Unbridled market forces are as likely to create Enrons and Wal-Marts as they are responsible companies — corporations that focus on nothing more than financial gain are much more likely to slash health benefits, to trash the environment, and to create unsafe working environments if it’s going to save a few bucks.

    I don’t believe this because I’m a liberal; I’m a liberal because this is what I believe.

    Now, one could certainly argue and I’d even agree that you can go too far in both of these areas. There is something of a risk of creating a “culture of dependency”, as Jim put it, and it’s certainly possible to over-regulate an industry (though I don’t personally think it happens very often). Those are difficult questions filled with trade-offs, and ideally something that a sane tricameral government would wrestle with over time.

    But I don’t understand the mindset of those who think our society owes nothing to its constituents (or that those constituents should adhere strictly to the teachings of Blanche DuBois and depend only on the kindness of strangers), and I feel nothing but scorn for those particular conservatives like Grover Norquist who exude the “I’ve got mine, so go f*ck yourself” mentality out of every pore.

    Whew. Where did that little statement of principles come from?

    TWL

31. Tim, Brilliantly put.

32. Liberals and conservatives are two gangs who have intimidated rational, normal thinking beings into not having a voice on television or in the culture. Liberals and conservatives are paradigms that mean nothing to anyone other than the media.

    Go ahead keep playing into their (dems/repub) stupid politics.

33. I always pronounce it para-diggim, just so everyone knows that I have no idea what I’m spouting off about.

    Extra points if you can slip pedagogy, genre, and archetype in there somehow.

    I really miss those college days when I could write essays for Film Studies class with titles like “Leave the Gun, Take the Canolies: Pedagogical Archetypes in the Organized Crime Genre.

34. Let’s not be ridiculous!

    read this:

    http://www.townhall.com/columnists/charleskrauthammer/ck20050909.shtml

    Charles Krauthammer is right, more or less. He lists what people we should blame and in what order, but the entire notion that the government has the resources to multi-task is somewhat wrongheaded. The massive bureacracy set in place so far is in part how and why the federal government screwed up in its intervention in the gulf coast. All in all it would have been more effective without the bureacracy and with a more streamlined and dedicated series of organizations.

    and can anyone tell me what liability and responsibility POTUS had for knowing the status of the levees in N.O. and what levee design exists today that can withstand a category four or category five hurricane?

35. “All in all it would have been more effective without the bureacracy and with a more streamlined and dedicated series of organizations.”

    That goes without saying. I mean, are there really people (besides the bureaucrats, at least) who actually say: “Gee, I think a top heavy response run by people who first instinct is CYA really has a better response time than a lean, well designed bureau with a clear cut chain of command?

    “Liberals and conservatives are two gangs who have intimidated rational, normal thinking beings into not having a voice on television or in the culture.”

    I would agree with you if you slip the word “radical” in there. People who are afraid of, and actively target, rational speech exist on both sides of the aisle. You can get all worked up about ’em, or you can ignore them and listen to the rational side. Your choice.

36. Krauthammer does an excellent job of summarizing everyone’s blame who was involved. However, I’d like to know his scientific basis for dismissing the idea that of a correlation between the Greenhouse Effect and the strength of the hurricane in a single sentence (He said he was going to spend a paragraph on it, but it was only one sentence).

    Mind you, I’m not 100% convinced that there is a relationship. I just want to know what criteria he used to dismiss it.

37. Krauthammer does an excellent job of summarizing everyone’s blame who was involved. However, I’d like to know his scientific basis for dismissing the idea that of a correlation between the Greenhouse Effect and the strength of the hurricane in a single sentence (He said he was going to spend a paragraph on it, but it was only one sentence).

    I’m not sure ANY political pundit understands science (see intelligent design); certainly, a lot of the right wing commentators treat science issues as if they were political issues, searching for pro and con spokespersons, and ignoring the body of evidence.

38. Charles Krauthammer is right, more or less. He lists what people we should blame and in what order, but the entire notion that the government has the resources to multi-task is somewhat wrongheaded. The massive bureacracy set in place so far is in part how and why the federal government screwed up in its intervention in the gulf coast.

    Well, part of the reason the bureaucracy is so ridiculously huge is thanks in large part to the post-9/11 reconstruction of FEMA, rolling it under the umbrella of the DHS. The president is responsible because the president is the one that pushed the bill through.

39. Just for the record, Bush did say the equivalent of “the buck stops here”:

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush took responsibility on Tuesday for failures in the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina.

    “Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do it’s job right, I take responsibility,” Bush said. “I want to know what went right and what went wrong.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20050913/ts_nm/katrina_bush_responsibility_dc_1

    I am sure it still won’t be enough for a few of you, but I am not sure if his even resigning would be enough! 😉

    Iowa Jim

40. Jim:

    >”Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do it’s job right, I take responsibility,” Bush said. “I want to know what went right and what went wrong.”

    It sticks out more in print than it does when heard, but essentially the guy says he takes responsibility and then feigns ignorance. While I’ve no doubt about the validity of his statement of ignorance, it is a classic dodge.

    >I am sure it still won’t be enough for a few of you, but I am not sure if his even resigning would be enough! 😉

    Nope, that would certainly be enough… as long as he took Cheney with him. :p

    Fred

41. “…and to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do it’s job right, I take responsibility”

    Nice way of leaving himself the out of laying the blame on everybody else.

    Since his spin machine has been working overtime to lay the blame on Blanco and Nagin (and since having “Brownie” fall on his sword didn’t affect anything), he still won’t admit that his gutting of FEMA in the first place was the majority of the problem.

    That, and playing politics with Blanco, when good ol “Brother Jeb” barely had to lift a finger to get aid after hurricanes struck FL.

42. Truth be known, Jim, I almost çráppëd myself when I read that. Then I read the language he used: “…to the extent that federal government didn’t do it’s job right…” That is not taking responsibility for much of anything, but it’s closer to it than anything he’s ever said before. And why did it take him 8 days to say it?

43. … and more frightening, if it is true, why after all of this time does he not know exactly what went wrong?

44. “Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do it’s job right, I take responsibility,” Bush said. “I want to know what went right and what went wrong.”

    Well, first, I think talk is cheap. Let’s see if he’s still singing that song when Congress is asking the hard questions such as, “Why the hëll did you hire someone who clearly was spectacularly unqualified?” And second, it’s shocking to me that a professional news organization doesn’t know that there’s no apostrophe in the possessive form of “its.”

    PAD

45. Oh, and Tim, if I may hearken back to your earlier post that should be entitled “I’m a Liberal Because This is What I Believe”, I’d like to add a hearty “Ditto” and a hearty “Word!”

    Great stuff, Tim.

46. Bush’s comments are a start. Of course, I’ll be surprised if it actually translates into a concrete look at the people at top levels of government instead of a whitewash where fingers were pointed at lower level civil servants and anyone else who wasn’t a Bush appointee (See the 9/11 investigation, the intelligence failure in Iraq investigation, the Abu Graib investigation).

    Most likely, Brownie has already been tapped to be the fall guy for everything, which would make it the first time a Bush appointee was held responsible for anything.

    Progress, I guess.

47. If the liberals on this board don’t read Michael Berube, you should.

    I’ve got one more outrage to get to before I turn in for the night, so let me take this opportunity to say the obvious. The Bush Administration’s failure to provide adequate relief for victims of Katrina is a political issue through and through. Timorous Democrats, please take note. Bush/Cheney based their entire 2004 campaign, at least the official version, on the premise that they and they alone could protect Americans from terrorist attacks, and they slandered your ticket accordingly. (The unofficial version of the campaign, you’ll recall, involved the Swift Boat Vets—see “very slimy waters,” above.) Cheney gave the speech time and again: electing Kerry meant certain, fiery death. Remember those wolves gathering in the forest? The extra wolves they didn’t use in The Day After Tomorrow? Well, it turns out that the Bush crew can’t protect you from wolves. It can’t even get pallets of food, water, and medicine to sick, starving people in New Orleans. It can’t plan for a disaster that everyone, everyone in “disaster management” anticipated. It can’t even answer the gøddámņ phone when Capt. Nora Tyson, commander of the U.S.S. Bataan, is calling to offer aid, medical services, and fresh water to the hurricane victims. (And check out the date on that military press release in the hyperlink! August 29.)

    I remember the Republican National Convention. I bet you do, too. And I remember Ahnuld saying:

    If you believe that government should be accountable to the people, not the people to the government, then you are a Republican.

    Don’t forget it for an instant: they ran on this. Security, defense, accountability. That’s what Democrats have to say and say and say again in the coming weeks. Otherwise, this crew of criminals and incompetents will start calling for “accountability” in the form of Ray Nagin’s head on a platter.

48. Ðámņ. I didn’t put the entire body of the message in bold. The last four lines are all Berube as well.

    “I remember the Republican National Convention. I bet you do, too. And I remember Ahnuld saying:

    If you believe that government should be accountable to the people, not the people to the government, then you are a Republican.

    Don’t forget it for an instant: they ran on this. Security, defense, accountability. That’s what Democrats have to say and say and say again in the coming weeks. Otherwise, this crew of criminals and incompetents will start calling for “accountability” in the form of Ray Nagin’s head on a platter.”

49. Otherwise, this crew of criminals and incompetents will start calling for “accountability” in the form of Ray Nagin’s head on a platter.

    Or, to put it another way, I’d be VERY disappointed if it was JUST Nagin’s head that was on the platter now…

50. “…and to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do it’s job right, I take responsibility”

    Nice way of leaving himself the out of laying the blame on everybody else.

    Ok, let’s be objective for a second. I know you can do it. Let’s use an example from the world of PAD. This is not a criticism or a slam, just a way to illustrate a point. Fallen Angel sales were not as much as DC wanted. Should PAD say all of the blame is his? Should he take full responsibility? He has little to no control over the marketing at DC, etc.

    In the real world it is no different. There is very clearly at least 3 different levels of government agencies involved. Short of completely violating any semblance of state’s rights, it is impossible for Bush to have had sole responsibility in this matter.

    Implicit in his statement is that in at least some areas the Federal government failed. Is this a political answer? Of course. Is he covering himself? Yes, the same as virtually any other person in political office.

    PAD’s comment has some merit in that Bush’s actions in the coming months are more important than just saying he takes responbility and the federal government shared in the failure to help the victims. The same is true for the rest of those involved. I may have missed it, but I have yet to read or hear the mayor clearly acknowledging mistakes were made under his watch and to take responsibility. The governor came close in one statement I read. But to expect Bush to take sole responsibility is not only absurd, it would be to ignore the areas that clearly need to be fixed at the local and state levels.

    Iowa Jim

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