I could not possibily add to what others have said about this disaster and this pResident. Why would we be surprised at Bush's lack of leadership, when he has demonstrated time and time again his inability to be a leader. I am troubled by the decision to stop looters (or people who need food and clothing being referred to as looters) even if it means shooting them. I am distressd that looters are taking precedent over saving the lives of people who are still waiting to be rescued. This is not our finest hour nor Bush's.
Posted by Judith at September 1, 2005 04:24 AMPriority one is on votes, not people. Its about shoring up the base and continuing with the majority. Its does not involve people, their loved ones, or what they lost. That would show compassion. That trait was over when the speech was finished. I hate to say this, but due to the SCLM's continuous showing of African American's looting and whatnot, I dare to say that not only AA's are looting my hometown, that is what the nation sees. They show for the other folk suffering. The SCLM sold its soul a long time ago. You can't spin suffering or loss. Too personal. No advantage. Trust me, when the photo op presents itself, Rove & Co will be all over it.
Priority two, see priority one. As long as white amerikkka sees blacks doing what they believe black folk do, no real feeling of haste will emminate from the WH.
That is sad. That is truly truly sad....
Posted by anthony at September 1, 2005 05:14 AMI spent a few hours last night flipping through all the news channels and the impression I got was that the newspeople were stunned and pissed that nothing was being done. O'Reilly even said the "looters" were trying to feed trapped families and that Bush should demand no price gouging and no profits for oil companies while the crisis continued. Fox?? had more sympathetic human interest stories than CNN, (HN, actually was the worst). All the talking heads kept asking where the help was. Cooper Anderson (is that his name? I never watch) was downright pissed, the reporters were handing out water and food, and asking where the help was from Bush. There was one white family interviewed, they still had their huge house to live in and dry sheets, although the woman's 94 yr old mother couldn't use her electric oxygen machine and was in distress, sadly, but laying secure in a warm bed. It wasn't a good contrast to a black woman who had a baby on an overpass in the hot sun, or the kids with the "Help Us" sign on the roof in NO. One reporter tried to ask a cop what was going on and what should people do? and the cop wouldn't/couldn't say anything. They don't have communication, and no organization. Soldier come in and start blasting away at "looters" and we're gonna have another big problem to worry about! All in all, the news people were not kind to Bush, and his incompetence was clear to the average viewer.
Posted by iamcoyote at September 1, 2005 05:39 AMGeorge had his shot and as usual pulled a "pet goat" flap. Instead of responding before the crisis was full blown as requested by the Democratic governor of Louisiana, he chose to go biking, guitar playing, and to a birthday party for Senator McCain. I don't agree with pessimist having Bush go down there and use valuable resources just so he can look presidential and caring. At this late stage with people dying of dehydration and lord knows what all, Bush needs to just stay the hell out of way. He can see everything on TV just fine.
Posted by Hank at September 1, 2005 06:05 AMWhere are the democrats? I mean besides cowering under a triangulating desk.
Posted by Daryl at September 1, 2005 06:07 AMAS LONG AS WE WEREN'T GOING TO BE DISRUPTIVE OF WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE REGION????? How does one be more disruptive than one of the most destructive hurricanes in history?
Apparently, too many presidents spoil the broth or something.
Holy Shit, this is incompetent. He can't even LOOK attentive. How on Earth can that be?!
Pretty soon (couple days?), everybody in New Orleans is going to start getting sick from the waters and the miasma. If the President wants to avoid seeing really, really ugly pictures on TV (that's an order of magnitude uglier than what we've already got), he needs to get focused, and quick.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen much capacity for focus from Bush when it didn't involve making life easier for rich folks. We can only hope that his desire to make his preznitin' easier forces him to do something.
Posted by dj moonbat at September 1, 2005 06:10 AMWell, not to defend Bush or anything, but I would assume they wouldn't want to get in the way of helicopters trying to pick people off rooftops.
It seems to me that the US military got aid to the tsunami areas faster than aid is getting to the gulf coast.
Today I heard a clip of Bush saying that no one could have foreseen the levees breaking and no one could have foreseen this kind of storm. Hellooo...the levees were built for a cat 3 and this was a cat 5. Any idiot could have and did foresee this.
Posted by CG at September 1, 2005 06:28 AMAngry beyond words.
Team Bush has shown they have no way to react to this. Their national organizations and the leaders they have appointed to them are just not capabale of handling this.
The machinery of government is slow to react with out a plan already in place. It is glacial when the previous plans have all been burned, and it has intentionally been redirected in the opposite direction.
This crisis will get worse by the day, and its ripples will spread all through the heartland of the US. The dream that was New Orleans has ended.
Even at this very moment more people in the whitehouse are strategically analyzing the damage to Team Bush's public perception, than working through the logistics to rebuild the commerce pipeline to the midwest.
It's not a question of when Team Bush will wake up and start solving problems, because fundamentally they do not have the ability to do so. The question is when do the American people wake up and realize that this army of vampiric blue bloods has no intention of fixing anything, and must be completely removed from power before the capable can be given access to the necessary tools.
Team Bush will spend more energy actively blocking others from helping to fix this situation for fear of looking less good in the public eye, than trying to solve the problem.
The difference from this problem and all previous is the network effects it will spawn. Katrina is not a one time event, its tendrils will grow and get stronger the longer Team Bush is allowed to keep the nation from acting.
Just before the 2000 election there was an SNL skit showing projections of what the nation would look like under Bush or Gore. Bush was hiding under his desk as missles were falling and the flames were consuming the capital. It would be a good thing to dig up those clips and broadcast them to the nation. Anything would be helpful now to get the grownups back in charge.
Best Slogan for the Dems (from another website):
“New Orleans - Your taxcuts at work”
And noone could have forseen???
"No one could have foreseen". That's why the Corps of Engineers had a levee improvement plan that went nowhere for lack of federal funding (Iraq, and all)
The BushCo lies have seriously reached Goebbelsian proportions.
Posted by euzoius at September 1, 2005 07:12 AMI refuse to watch TV so I appreciate what the talking heads are saying... I listen to Ms. Goodman on Pacifica Radio ONLY as my news source.
I remain, as always, amazed at people's amazement at the criminality of this corporate figurehead's antics. You think anything is going to change for the good? No! And again, No! He hasn't got a girlfriend, so that means he stays, untouched. Don't believe for a minute the newsman are pissed; if they are it's because they're uncomfortable and it won't last. Finally, I have a good job, and I was planning to visit New Orleans in late October to enjoy jazz at the French Quarter and eat scallops, drink pitchers of ice cold beer. I guess I'll have to check out JFK and other movies filmed in New Orleans instead.
I'll donate blood and write a check to the Red Cross.
Posted by MalFeasance at September 1, 2005 07:27 AMI always feel a sense of pride to see our country come to the aid of others with air drops of food and water to people in need. Where are the helicopters with at least water for people at the NO Convention Center? Some along the Gulf Coast haven't had water after all this time - how can this be? They have survived 150 MPH wind, a 30 ft storm surge, crawled out of the debris and now our Gov't lets them die of dehydration? We should have all the resources of our country put in place for these people while there is still time.
Posted by Dianne at September 1, 2005 08:38 AMMalF, I dunno, last night a schoolbus showed up at the Astrodome hours before the expected busses from the Superdome. It was driven by a 20 year old kid, and just crammed with people. The A-dome wasn't ready yet, and the folks were let out of the bus where reporters descended on them. The people told horror stories, as the woman who had the baby just stood dazed. But everyone wondered how the bus has gotten there so fast. They finally discovered it was, and they called it, "a rogue schoolbus," that the kid had "comandeered" and just started picking up refugees on their way to Houston. I couldn't help but think of the stoner bus driver from Simpsons.
An official being interviewed kept saying "we're only taking people in from the Superdome, no one else!" Finally, the announcer chick said "Wait, isn't an evacuee, an evacuee? Aren't you going to help these people?" The official began repeating his edict then said, "wait, my producer is handing me something...of course all of these people will be taken in and given food and a cot." That announcer was pretty aghast at the heartlessness of the official, as was everyone watching.
Posted by iamcoyote at September 1, 2005 08:45 AMpessimist, very well done with this post. This is the kind you bookmark to come back to again and again as a valuable resource. Thanks.
Posted by Matt Langer at September 1, 2005 05:36 PM