Democrats? Who? Did I miss something? What Democrats?
Maybe they're all on vacation along with Dick Cheney.
Posted by JB (no, not the U.N. John Bolton) at September 2, 2005 10:09 AMI'm glad Bush is finally getting his ass into gear and getting down there to show himself.
However, what the hell was that staged "briefing" in the hangar?!? What a load of crap... get out there and do your freaking job instead of sitting in a hanger with a faux briefing and congratulating the very people ("Brownie") that are responsible for the lack of response.
Just when I think my outrage meter has been pegged....
Posted by Simp at September 2, 2005 10:15 AMFar be it from me to criticise Paul Krugman (sometimes referred to as "The Shrill One") but it should be obvious to a blind man that this gang isn't just incompetent.
The incompetence is rooted in not caring. It's really not that important. It's a form of sociopathy. So much easier to plot wars.
Fundamentally, if one thinks of the primary responsibilities of a national government as being to keep the population safe and secure then the U.S. has no national government in the normally accepted sense of the word.
Based on what has actually happened, our current 'government' sees its job in these terms: wage unprovoked wars, reward the rich and dismantle or neglect all functions whose purpose is to promote what used to be known as 'the common good' (think Social Security).
Posted by JB (no, not the U.N. John Bolton) at September 2, 2005 10:20 AMmaybe NOW people will realize what we liberals have known ALL ALONG. this man is not a leader, he does not care for Americas --black-white, red-blue, liberals-conservative, democrat-liberal-libertarian-independent-etc...
all he cares about is his rich, god loving, republican base, the rest of America means nothing to him except something to use and exploit for his agenda (poor soldiers for his war is an example)
NOW will the red states realize who they put in power?
It was incredibly insensitive, but not unexpected, when Dumbass said from the safety of Mobile, AL, that people's homes will be rebuilt, stating that Trent Lott's house was destroyed. To paraphrase the Dunceking "I can't wait to be settin' on Trent's new porch and having a lemonade." What a walking, talking turdbrain Our Dear Leader is. (:>
Posted by Donald Cormac at September 2, 2005 10:22 AMAs I posted elsewhere, when is America going to wake up that this is Republican government in action? Can you imagine what would be happening if a Gore or a Clinton allowed first 9/11 and now this to happen on their watch?
Posted by Phil from New York at September 2, 2005 10:28 AMI think it's sad that Democrats are politicizing the New Orleans tragedy, but we'll just file it in the "shooting themselves in the foot" category. And then they wonder why they can't win elections... Duh. Americans don't like it when the country and the President is being bad-mouthed. Especially when we're all trying to pull together and help those in this time of need.
Posted by muckdog at September 2, 2005 10:37 AMI am outraged I just read in CNN that the top guy from FEMA was saying that the victims have some responsbility over their fates... since they "chose" not to evacuate!!!!! how can a person say that with so much suffering going on.... it is like saying to a rape victim it is part of your responsability for being there... or wearing a miniskirt!!!!
Posted by Ari at September 2, 2005 10:43 AMRight Muck, Bush and the GOP NEVER politicized 9/11!!!!!
Posted by Goose1 at September 2, 2005 10:47 AM"shooting themselves in the foot"
hahahahaha ok.....
2006....here we come
Posted by espo at September 2, 2005 10:47 AMI think it's sad that puppyboy to this day still sits here and defends the indefensible occurring as we speak due to a lack of gov't leadership and response that people now 5 days after the worst but highly predicted and warned of Natural Disaster (and now turning to a man made disaster) lay dying. I am ashamed of my gov't ...again. Put the Kool-Aid down and walk away from your I got mine mentality...it's okay puppy, it doesn't hurt to have a moral conscious, honest.
Posted by emal at September 2, 2005 10:50 AMAmericans don't like it when the country and the President is being bad-mouthed. LOL! What a funny joke!
Americans don't like it when the purported president makes the country look as if it were some 3rd world hell hole lorded over by a brutal tinpot dictator.
Americans don't like it when the purported president of the country allows Americans to die due to greed & callow indifference.
This isn't funny.
I never knew advocating for those who can't advocate for themselves was shooting oneself in a foot. If the poor victims on the roof tops and in the convention center can't speak to the purported president of their own country because he won't go near them, let alone rescue them, then damn it, someone has got to speak for them.
Remember a society is judged by how it treats the least of its people. I don't think St. Peter will be letting Bush passed those pearly gates myself.
Posted by Hoosiercat at September 2, 2005 10:56 AMFrom Washington Monthly:
"We've heard the warning "this isn't about politics" over and over in the last few days. The hell it isn't. And I don't mean kicking Bush while he's down, just for the fun of it, although there are surely liberals eager to do that. For the rest of us, however, we're seeing the awful real world consequences of conservatism play out on our television screens. This is why we're liberals. We don't yell about poverty and racial disparities for kicks. An evacuation plan that consists of telling people to get out on their own is not an evacuation plan."
I think that about nails it.
And muckdog: FU.
Posted by John B. at September 2, 2005 10:57 AMWell Muck, I guess you think that the American people like incompetence.
Have you even thought about the fact that we have spent millions on homeland security and we still aren't prepared for a disaster.
Muck, you don't want anyone to criticize Bush because it exposes his incompetence and we mustn't point out that incompetence should we?
People don't like Bush being criticized? LOL. Have you seen those approval ratings lately? The only people who don't like Bush being criticized are those who think he is Jesus come to earth.
Posted by Ga6thDem at September 2, 2005 10:58 AM
Now that people have seen how Bush has responded to the disaster of hurricane Katrina, do they still think Bush did everything he could to prevent 911?
Where are the "security moms" now? I wonder if they've come to realize just how unsecure this country actually is.
You know, since we sent our National Guard into Iraq, I've been wondering what would happen if there was a natural disaster. Now we know.
Posted by ann at September 2, 2005 11:07 AMon another thread, muck said:
So, how come the mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana didn't prioritize repairing the levees?
gee, the mayor and the governor are both Dems....sounds like someone else is trying to politicize this tragedy. shameful.
Posted by ann at September 2, 2005 11:13 AM
I WANT EVERYONE TO TAKE A PLEDGE!
IGNORE MUCKDOG FROM THIS MOMENT ON. PLEASE, LETS NOT WASTE ANYMORE TIME ON THIS MORAL DEGENERATE.
WE HAVE TO SPEND ALL OUR TIME GETTING RID OF THE MORAL DEGENERATES IN POWER.
MUCKY IS JUST A LITTLE TURD THAT SHOULD BE STEPPED OVER.
OK? TAKE THE PLEDGE!
To paraphrase the Dunceking "I can't wait to be settin' on Trent's new porch and having a lemonade."
The man as the emotional integrity of a 13 year old. Making yuck, yuck jokes at a time of national emergency and tragedy should make everyone in this country want to puke. Of course it didn't in the past when he behave the same way.
jj -- I'll take the pledge but every once in a while one of us still needs to say, "fuck you" to this clueless dimwit that lacks in his whole body, the humanity and compassion that most people have in their pinkies.
Posted by Marie at September 2, 2005 11:29 AMAnd you better believe this is political -- Bu$hCo has treated the executive branch like it's one big money pot to be used for sinecures for their buddies. Loyalty to GWB is the only employment criteria for those who serve "at the pleasure of the President." Works well as long as they never faced with having to actually do something that would be expected of the person in those positions. Bush is responsible for all those appointments and their job performance.
FEMA should not be an executive appointment -- nor should the FDA -- these should be civil service jobs and Congress (not the WH) should select the employee from a list of applicants and the job should go to the one qualified.
Posted by Marie at September 2, 2005 11:34 AMjj is right, there is no way to make a sociopath care, and these people are sociopaths, meaning they have no conscience, no empathy, no loyalty to the social contract. Their only interest is their own needs. And right now, they are high on this deathporn unfolding in NO. They are taunting people who care because they are sadistic as well. Interaction with them is feeding their pathology.
Posted by iamcoyote at September 2, 2005 11:52 AMIn response to the assertion upthread that they just don't care, I wrote this LTE and sent it out to the usual suspects this morning.
Two days before it struck, a worried nation focused its attention on an evolving Category 5 monster hurricane aimed at the heart of New Orleans. A great deal of speculation of the potential “biblical” scale of destruction was discussed. A day before it hit, George Bush signed a paper put before him, ensuring that bankers who loan money to distressed storm victims will be protected by US taxpayers, then went back to “getting on with his life”. Days after the scope of catastrophe becomes clear, he complained, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."
FEMA Director, Michael Brown, college friend of former director, Joseph Allbaugh, a former Bush campaign manager, did little discernable to alleviate suffering in the early days of disaster. He did manage to provide a list of charitable links on the official FEMA website, entirely composed of religious charities, with second billing to the disputed, Pat Robertson charity, Operation Blessing.
While rats gnawed on bloated bodies in sewage infested waters and Grandmothers and babies died hourly from dehydration, Secretary of State “Condi” Rice caught an amusing little farce on Broadway, emerging the next day to shop for $1,000 high heels. A fellow shopper who berated her for her apparent callousness was efficiently removed from her presence.
Local emergency managers labeled the lack of Federal response a “national disgrace” and an anguished Mayor of New Orleans swore in frustration at the “cluelessness” of national disaster managers. Homeland Security Director, Judge Michael Chertoff, when asked why survivors at the Superdome were without food, water and medicine, replied that he was, “unaware of the problem.”
These people are not stupid. They just don’t care.
Marie, you are right. It's called negligence in hiring.
Posted by ann at September 2, 2005 12:38 PMfuck off muckdog you are a dumbshit...
Posted by headxray at September 2, 2005 01:26 PMWhat the Left and Right blogs are saying
Posted by muckdog at September 2, 2005 02:01 PMWell, I couldn't bring myself to peruse the rightist blogs. I mean, jokes about using the bodies of the French Army to fill in the levees are hilarious. No, really. But after a while they just get tired.
I checked the links on the site you linked to, Muck, and here is what I found:
Yes, these leftist blogs blame Bush. In other news, bees make honey. It's what they do. Without checking, I can rest certain that rightist blogs are criticizing someone. Or they're silent in uneasy discomfort over the glaring knowledge that, like as you please, there was a chance to buy more time for those folks with the levees. It probably wouldn't have saved N'Orleans, but maybe a handful would have had a few hours notice.
I take it the point of that link was to illustrate the hard-working, philanthropic attitude of the right. I'm sure they care very much - nobody likes the loss of human life, whether to a natural disaster or worse. Neither does the left. Observe:
http://www.dropcash.com/campaign/hurricanerelief/liberal_blogs_for_hurricane_relief
Many of these blogs (listed on the side of the Soviet soldier used in their World War II enlistment poster, when they were on our side. Very clever. Damn those communists) linked to this campaign. Several linked to the Red Cross.
Hoping for a reduction in bitter political strife,
Duke
jj ; You forgot the Tsunamy that just happen on Christmas with Nero Bush, showing up 2 days later. I always felt that he can not speak without a script!
Wayne Madsen has a good piece on his site. He sure sounds Angry.
"Nero" Bush -- Fiddles in San Diego while New Orleans drowned. Will someone in Congress please introduce an impeachment resolution? This asshole raced back to DC from his eyesore of a "ranch" to sign a bill to keep a woman in a persistent vegetative state on her feeding tube. But he plays the guitar as thousands of healthy human beings perish.
It is well worth to read all his latest articles
State-by-state GOP Scandal Scorecard: Indiana joins Ohio and Kentucky as states where Republican Governors are under investigation. ( State-by-state scorecard ) Most of them involved with Abramoff. Check your State.
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
whew, steve! it's me, your new anonymous. i hate posting one of those typical "right on" type of things, but this is one of those tymes i cannot resist.
whew! and wow! and right on! you go, guy!
Posted by anonymous at September 2, 2005 04:57 PMWhat was Bush doing while people were dying in New Orleans? Nothing. What was Bush doing when people were being sent to the Astrodome? Nothing. What was Bush doing when people started dying in the Superdome. Nothing. Do yall see a pattern. Then today Bush finely gets off his ass and goes and "comforts" the victims. Bush needs to have his picture beside the word worthless in the dictionary.
Worthless: 1)adj. Without value or use. 2) Contemptible: despicable. 3) The President of Term 2000-2008 George W. Bush Jr.
Posted by Jimmy at September 2, 2005 05:15 PMAnd then they wonder why they can't win elections... Duh. Americans don't like it when the country and the President is being bad-mouthed.
Muckdog,
Well Muck that is one of the dumbest shit i have seen lately uder then the one were you are saying evacuate after everything. The president has a reason to be bad mouth. "What was Bush doing while people were dying in New Orleans? Nothing. What was Bush doing when people were being sent to the Astrodome? Nothing. What was Bush doing when people started dying in the Superdome. Nothing. Do yall see a pattern."
Bush hasn't done a dang thing. Wow he went and "comforted" the victims. Bush is just worthless. Like my son Jimmy says "Bush needs to have his picture beside the word worthless in the dictionary.
Worthless: 1)adj. Without value or use. 2) Contemptible: despicable. 3) The President of Term 2000-2008 George W. Bush Jr."
Bush has cause more anguish in this country then any other president.
First, Bush went into a WAR FOR OIL. This war isn't on terroism. The terroist lives right in the White House. Our President.
Second, how long did it take Bush to get off his ass and come to New Orleans? I think 3 days or 4 days. If something like this happens the President should be responding immediately. Not 3 or 4 days after.
Third, and the simplest. Bush is a dumbass Bitch
Posted by John at September 2, 2005 07:27 PMWhat is behind Mr. Bush’s concerns may be the possibility that voters will start asking how well has Bush really protected us from another terror attack if his government is so unprepared for a natural disaster that prior administrations have handled much better than this? Voters will start reconsidering their unqualified support for Bush’s handling of terrorism because of newfound concerns over his competence in running a government.
Steve, it's so nice of you to believe in the principle of the rational voter. Just one comment on this subject--if voters were rational, they would have thrown this bastard on his rear in 2004. At least, in 2000 we really did not know what we were dealing with, even though most progressives had a pretty good idea--he could have proved us wrong, but he did not. A rational response to this would have been, "Next!" Even it were John Kerry.
But these people are not rational. They do not have the capacity to compare the two scenarios, let alone the difference in response between different administrations. The average American voter has at most nine months worth of political memory. The average Republican voter probably closer to two or three months (if not two or three seconds).
I've run into this several times, including in my own family. Even today, I made the mistake of uttering in public what has been bugging me all day--this man lecturing Americans on personal responsibility is the height of hypocrisy. This is someone who has not taken personal responsibility for anything in his life. Never! Period!
Right away, the person I was talking to responded, "I think just the opposite! He has always taken personal responsibility for his actions." He even offered an example--Bush took responsibility for his drunk driving. WHAT?????? OK... I'll calm down now... Never mind--I'm sure Toby or Charlie or some other fucking troll will second that opinion. Bush is the most responsible of the last three presidents (also a comment from the same person). I suppose, I should recognize the error of my ways and repent and vote Republican in the future. Yup, and pigs will fly...
Posted by buck turgidson at September 2, 2005 09:47 PMLA National Guard Wants Equipment to Come Back From Iraq
Yunji de Nies
August 1, 2005, 9:07 PM CDT
JACKSON BARRACKS -- When members of the Louisiana National Guard left for Iraq in October, they took a lot equipment with them. Dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators are now abroad, and in the event of a major natural disaster that, could be a problem.
"The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," said Lt. Colonel Pete Schneider with the LA National Guard.
Col. Schneider says the state has enough equipment to get by, and if Louisiana were to get hit by a major hurricane, the neighboring states of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida have all agreed to help.
"As Governor Bush did for Ivan, after they were hit so many times, he just maxed all of his resources out, he reached out to Louisiana and we sent 200 national guardsmen to help support in recovery efforts," Col. Schneider said.
Members of the Houma-based 256th Infantry will be returning in October, but it could be much longer before the rest of their equipment comes home.
"You've got combatant commanders over there who need it they say they need it, they don't want to lose what they have, and we certainly understand that it's a matter it's a matter of us educating that combatant commander, we need it back here as well," Col. Schneider said.
And even if commanders in Iraq release the equipment, getting it home takes months.
"It's just the process of identifying which equipment we're bringing home, bringing it down to Kuwait, loading it on ships or aircraft however we're gonna get it back here and then either railing it in or trucking it in, so we're talking a significant amount of time before that equipment is back home," Schneider said.
Copyright © 2005, WGNO
DATELINE AUG 1,2005!!!!
Posted by design1one at September 3, 2005 09:46 PM