Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Is trump is trying to break black America over his knee? signs point to ‘yes’.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Everybody saw this coming.

People are weird.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / DAMNIT TO HELL!

DAMNIT TO HELL!

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Am I the only person on the planet who didn’t know Bush was addressing the nation tonight?

Jeebus. Take a day off reading blogs and watch the news, settle d0wn in front of the tube with some Choco-Mint Chip ice cream and a two-hour CSI (that I missed earlier in the year), and Bush is addressing the damned nation for an hour. Will this really take an hour? I can do it in thirty words:

Howdy folks. Bush here.

A hurricane came.

It was big.

Killed lots of people.

Our response was not what we wanted.

But we will rebuild.

Think permanent deficits.

Night.

Now on with CSI before my ice cream melts.

Reader Interactions

75Comments

  1. 1.

    TallDave

    Interestingly, polling found large majorities think Katrina brought America together and that New Orleans will be rebuilt even better than before the hurricane.

    Which is nice and all, but I can smell the bacon already…

  5. 5.

    ppGaz

    Am I the only person on the planet who didn’t know Bush was addressing the nation tonight?

    Hold on, I’ll check with Darrell.

  6. 6.

    jobiuspublius

    Anti-dote, just in case. It has some potty language, but, we’re big now.

    …

    None of this has much to do with Brown’s performance, which we aren’t equipped to evaluate, except in the most general ways. But it does have something to do with your press corps’ performance. Why does any of this matter? It doesn’t matter, unless you want to avoid a world where pundits feel free to hand you cartoons—the kinds of stories they invented (for years) about Bill Clinton, and then about Gore, eventually putting Bush in the White House. For years, “liberal” readers cheered and applauded when we criticized those stupid press stories. Unfortunately, many such “liberals” are now more than happy when cartoons are invented about Bush’s aides. Many were thrilled to have a cartoon they could enjoy about dumb-ass Brown—and they failed to see that these idiot tales were, in part, protecting Chertoff, a more important Bush hand by far. But our report was about the press—and their statements were dumb and inaccurate.

    Why did we spend our time on this matter? Why did we go through the tiresome process of sifting through the Nexis records—a process Kevin seems to have by-passed, not just once, but two separate times? We did it because we have come to despise these pundits in seven years of daily research—a period in which they have mainly invented cartoons about Democrats, cartoons which changed your nation’s history. (Fiery career liberals still refuse to discuss that, since they and their organs sat and kept still while this remarkable process unfolded.) We despise the pundit corps’ dim-witted clowning—and no, we aren’t about to cheer when they start to embellish about Brown. Nor do we put our tail between our legs when e-mailers write to say what they “remember.” We don’t run to kiss their keisters. We continue to say what we’ve found in the record.

    Why does any of this matter? Because we think individuals (and political movements) owe a trust to average, ordinary, normal people—the kind of people we were raised by, the trusting kind, who are easily fooled. Over the course of the past fifteen years, the average voter has been played for a fool by the Koppels, the Mitchells, the Matthewses, the Riches. (And the Gerths, the Cecis, the Kits and the Brunis.) We think liberals owe those voters a trust—a trust that, when they come to our sites, they won’t be met by embellished facts and by the stupidest possible “logic.” (We found a single photo caption! We think you should be totally furious!!) We’ve been disgusted, in the past dozen years, to see the public abused as it’s been. And yes, it fills us with disgust when we see our side adopting these practices. We can be just as dumb as they are, our conduct sometimes seems to portend.

    In that story in today’s Times, Kirkpatrick and Shane begin to replace a cartoon tale with a larger story. Who will that larger story harm? We don’t have the slightest idea. But many “liberals,” like many “conservatives,” prefer to be handed inane cartoon tales. This, of course, is human nature—until we train ourselves to move past it. It’s up to the leaders of a movement to do that. And leaders will sometimes have to tell a naughty story: What you “recall” may not be quite true. You may think the Center “was all over cable”—but that doesn’t mean that it was.

    By the way, one final comment, a point we’ve made several times: At this point, if we have to embellish to make a case against Bush, we ought to get out of the case-making business. No, the Convention Center wasn’t “all over the cable news” that night—and no, ABC hadn’t mentioned it once. At this point, if you feel that you just have to say something different, it’s because you simply prefer to embellish. But then, weaklings and fakers throughout human history have thrilled themselves by playing this game—by playing this cheap, stupid game with “the masses.” It’s the ultimate act of contempt for the rubes. We think liberals ought to renounce it.

    …

  9. 9.

    ppGaz

    ” …. birds will once again sing over the polished cars of Biloxi, and the sweet sound of church music will once again play in the streets of the ruined city, and I have been talking for a half hour, and I have no idea what the hell I just said, and I hope that you share this with me. Good night, and God Bless America.”

    Or something. Am I the only one who was totally confused by this speech?

  11. 11.

    jobiuspublius

    ppGaz Says:
    …
    Or something. Am I the only one who was totally confused by this speech?

    Helloooo! Mandate?

  13. 13.

    guyermo

    i thought he was standing in front of a blue screen….and kept waiting for a bird to crap on his shirt. but that’s something i look for at any out-door speech.

  14. 14.

    ppGaz

    I give him props for trying to buck everyone up and so forth, but he made so many promises to so many groups and interests and signed IOUs for so much money, it sounded like the New Deal and War on Poverty and the Moral Equivalent of War all wrapped up into one giant mass of Pork Roll Potted Meat.

    Cost more than Iraq? What the fuck, are we going to invade ALL the oil-bearing countries and take their oil and their money to pay for these things? The country is going broke as it is.

    This guy just slays me. Hopefully, not literally.

  15. 15.

    Ancient Purple

    During his speech, Bush said:

    Therefore, I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to undertake an immediate review, in cooperation with local counterparts, of emergency plans in every major city in America.

    Gee whiz, Uncle George, I thought we were already supposed to have done that for the past four years.

    Someone remind me why this president is supposed to be a great president.

  16. 16.

    KC

    Didn’t watch it at all. Was it good? Did the president offer any new ideas on how the cleanup effort was going to go? Did he address any of the several spending related issues we’re going to face? Or, should I quit asking these questions and get back to the hooter I was smoking?

  17. 17.

    CaseyL

    John, you left out a few items:

    Tax cuts.

    Multi-billion dollar contracts to our cronies.

    9/11.

    PS: “Surplus federal land”? What surplus federal land? Toxic- and nuclear-waste dumps? National parks? ANWR?

  19. 19.

    ppGaz

    Which is nice and all, but I can smell the bacon already…

    We shouldn’t let this happen very often, but since we earlier declared this to be Congenial Thursday or whatever, I agree with you on this.

    Bush described a gigantic sea of Pork Gravy that is bigger than anything ever dreamed of by LBJ and FDR put together.

    My spouse, who is more Repub than Dem, is shaking her head. “I should cough up all that tax money to rebuild a city that is below sea level and directly in the path of more hurricanes? In your dreams, George! You better have one helluva plan!”

    If GWB can’t sell the thing to my missus, he can’t sell it to anybody. Oh wait, I saw Haley Barbour drooling over the Pork Sandwiches coming his way ……..

  21. 21.

    Mike S

    I’m heading to New Orleans. I managed a sporting goods store over a decade ago so I should have the experiance needed to secure one of those contracts.

  22. 22.

    Sojourner

    Seems like an awful expensive way to try to salvage Karl Rove’s reputation.

    Why is everything political with this guy? Why not put somebody in that position who knows SOMETHING about re-building devastated areas? How ironic that he chooses somebody best known for his slash-and-burn style.

  23. 23.

    Big E

    I was waiting for someone, to yell from somewhere,
    a certain ‘colorful metaphor’ that was expressed
    to V.P. Cheney…

  24. 24.

    jobiuspublius

    ppGaz Says:
    Bush described a gigantic sea of Pork Gravy that is bigger than anything ever dreamed of by LBJ and FDR put together.

    Well, it’s only 3 or 4 states that qualify, right? So, how is that supposed to save so many congressional butts and keep him from getting impeached? Where did the majority of the survivors go? Red states? Worst-POTUS-Ever bleeds alot of money out of the Northeast onto the red states as it is. Then they hate the northeast and think their good fortune is due to tax cuts, now that’s wankertude. There is also the issue of drowning the government while they can.

  26. 26.

    KC

    Did he discuss accountability at all with respect to the expenditures though? I’m still smoking and stupidly waiting for an answer. What’s even more worrisome for someone who didn’t watch the speech, is this quote from Josh Marshall:

    President Bush: “It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces – the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment’s notice.”

    Does this guy really need anymore power?

  30. 30.

    slide

    Interestingly the sharpest crituques of Bush’s speech is coming from the right. Fiscal conservatives (any of those left?) can’t be happy with the big federal expenditures Bush outlined. Locals are not too happys since most of the contracts to date have gone to out of state companies (curiously many from Houston).

    And what I see as a big problem for bush is that he is not naming a Czar the run the whole thing which means he is going to be held accountable of things don’t go too well… And can ANYBODY be confident that things will go well? These are the same guys that gave us Iraq.

    If I was a Republican congressman right now I would be downing tums by the handful.

  31. 31.

    jobiuspublius


    SORTING OUT OPINION FROM FACTS ON KATRINA

    by
    Larry C. Johnson

    While watching the MSNBC program, CONNECTED, COAST TO COAST with Ron Reagan, a man from the Evergreen Foundation was on air spinning the myth that the President had to “beg” the Governor of Louisiana to take action. Having been on this show several times I called one of the bookers, Susan Durrwatcher, to alert her to the fact that this man was misrepresenting what happened. I offered Susan the following objective, documented facts (see timeline below). Susan thanked me for my “opinion” and said “we just have a different perspective”. Stunned, I asked her by what standard of journalism that an objective fact was mere opinion? I asked her to simply look at the documents and correct the record. She declined. I asked her to remove me from the MSNBC list of contacts. I’m sure MSNBC won’t miss me and I am certain I will have a happy life without having to subject myself to their unprofessional approach to journalism.

    The Bush White House is furiously spinning to lay the blame on the Governor and Mayor of Louisiana. My position is that I think both the Governor and the Mayor can be faulted on a variety of fronts. I do not absolve them of their responsibility to properly and fully implement their own emergency response plans. However, the Governor followed the appropriate protocol and, in accordance with the National Response Plan (NRP), asked the President in accordance with the Stafford Act, to declare a State of Emergency.

    TIMELINE

    Friday, 26 August 2005, Governor of Louisiana declares state of emergency

    Saturday morning, 27 August 2005, Governor of Louisiana asks President Bush to declare a state of emergency and requests Federal Assistance “to save lives and property”. Note, the letter was published on 27 August 2005 on Lexis Nexis but was dated 28 August 2005. Bush received the letter on Saturday and responded on the same day by declaring a State of Emergency. Note, per the NRP, William Lokey was designated as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in Louisiana.

    Sunday, 28 August 2005, Mayor of New Orleans orders Mandatory Evacuation.

    (Note: In Governor Blanco’s request on the 27th, there is a specific request for help with evacuation and a specific request for help to “save lives and protect property”. )

    Monday, 29 August 2005, FEMA Director Brown requests DHS Secretary Chertoff’s help in getting 1000 DHS employees ready to deploy to the disaster within 48 hours.

    Under the National Response Plane (see p. 93, Figure 11), once the President declares a State of Emergency the Department of Homeland Security is supposed to implement the Plan. Initially, DHS is supposed to deploy an Emergency Response Team to the State to provide expertise in assessing needs and determining appropriate courses of action. Moreover, on p. 52 of the NRP the President may act proactively under the Stafford Act.

    Folks, these are not OPINIONS, these are cold, objective facts. However, MSNBC and other members of the Main Stream Media, are confused about what is a fact and what is opinion.

  32. 32.

    Jimmy Jazz

    “We are going to borrow tens of billions from China and we’re going to give it to our loyal campaign contributors, who will provide jobs for thousands of imported Mexicans, and they will kick back 10% to the RNC so we can continue to tell everyone what a great job we’re doing. Goodnight, and God bless America.”

  33. 33.

    JonBuck

    This is the last nail in the coffin of fiscal conservatism. I can’t even begin to think of what the consequences of these policies will be, on top of all the other challenges we’re facing. GWB and his cronies will bankrupt us.

    The Republican party has betrayed its own principles.

  34. 34.

    Steve

    I thought it was a good speech. It wasn’t so much what he said as the tone; when he apologized for the inadequate response, he seemed legitimately pissed off, which isn’t normally his best emotion. As a confirmed Bush-hater, it seemed to me like he was finally taking his job seriously.

  35. 35.

    jobiuspublius

    slide Says:
    …If I was a Republican congressman right now I would be downing tums by the handful.

    When all is said and done, pols are pawns. Maybe, it’s all Clinton’s fault. I should go look up what the DLC has to say. A fattening sow raises all boats as opposed to trickle down pork?

  36. 36.

    jobiuspublius

    Steve Says:
    As a confirmed Bush-hater, it seemed to me like he was finally taking his job seriously.

    Follow the money.

  37. 37.

    DougJ

    I think I speak for all of us when I say: Wow, that was one helluva speech. I’ll admit I had my doubts beforehand, I’d been begining to wonder about this administration, how they handled the hurricane, and how they’ll handle the aftermath. But not anymore.

    As Bush strode to the podium, his blue-gray shirt the same hue as the beautifully backlit St. Louis church, I realized that he was a leader I could trust. That, in in this as in Iraq, we would stay the course and build a stronger, more vibrant, but less corrupt and sinful, New Orleans. I have never been more proud to be an American.

    May God bless these United States of America.

  38. 38.

    DougJ

    What the fuck, are we going to invade ALL the oil-bearing countries and take their oil and their money to pay for these things?

    Freedom is on the march. We will invade them, liberate them from their own governments and begin pumping the cheap oil our economy so desperately needs. That sound you hear in the distance? It’s freedom on the march.

  40. 40.

    DougJ

    Jesus Himself could not have spoken more eloquently than our president did tonight. In fact, if you forgot for a moment that he was wearing a blue oxford shirt, instead of a cloth robe, and that he is clean shaven rather than heavily bearded, it was easy to think that what we saw tonight was Jesus come down to comfort the people of New Orlean. Not a second coming per se, but a comforting and merciful appearance by the Son of the Almighty.

  42. 42.

    DougJ

    I will admit that there was one thing that disappointed me slightly: coudln’t they have hung a banner saying “Mission Accomplished” on the church? It would have been a nice touch.

  43. 43.

    Big E

    DougJ:

    uploading a beer to you :::::::> just too good..

    and then I was wondering….

    Why isn’t the NRA going down to NOLA to help in resisting the confiscation of firearms by the military? What happened to that ‘pry my cold dead fingers’ stuff?

  44. 44.

    ppGaz

    one thing that disappointed me slightly: coudln’t they have hung a banner

    “Mision Cumplido”

    That gets the Hispanic vote and also gives the church a nice new name.

    If another hurricane heads up the Gulf, Bush can stand on the levee and declare, “Bring it on!”

    With friends like us, he doesn’t need enemas.

  45. 45.

    ppGaz

    Jesus Himself could not have spoken more eloquently

    Well, hold on. What’s ancient Hebrew for “helicopter?”

  46. 46.

    DougJ

    What happened to that ‘pry my cold dead fingers’ stuff?

    That’s exactly what they’re doing. The NRA approves.

  47. 47.

    Patrick

    hmm, so Bush takes a lot of heat for having an incompetent political guy at the head of FEMA, and what does he do next? Name another political guy to lead the reconstruction. Way to take responsibility…

  48. 48.

    cfw

    How is this business of rebuilding based on controls from DC anything other than rank socialism?

    The whole concept should be focused on loans – to private parties, to NO, to the states, at low rates, guaranteed. If they know they need to pay the money back, even over 30 years, we will see more intelligent investment. FEMA in CA after fires etc. makes loans. Why anything more for long term projects in the Gulf area?

    On a side note, NO has large risks from the Mississippi River, which is likely to flood and/or change its course. For at lest 100 years, the M River has wanted to flow down the Atchafalaya River distributary to Morgan City, about 140 miles west of NO (shorter and steeper route to the sea). Good snow melt in the midwest and rains 30% above normal could easily cause 90% of the main river to change course. Almost happened in 1973. Corps plan is to send 50% flow in a design flood (which is less than a 100 year flood) past Morgan City. Normal flow away from NO is now 30% of total flow.

    Using the socialist approach (control from DC) is asking for huge troubles. Better to let private parties borrow and take the risks that make sense, after full disclosure of risk of floods, hurricanes, river course change. After all, the money is not free if it comes from DC, it is just borrowed in bigger volumes.

  50. 50.

    DougJ

    If another hurricane heads up the Gulf, Bush can stand on the levee and declare, “Bring it on!”

    The flooding is in its last throes.

  51. 51.

    DougJ

    I’ve said it before but I think it bear repeating. Imagine how much worse this could have been if Kerry had been elected. Saddam himself could have been right there in New Orleans, putting toxins in the water, setting water moccasins loose, encouraging looting, and chasing the staff out of nursing homes. Just think about that for a moment.

  52. 52.

    summr

    China called. They’ve decided to pull out of the deficit
    support business next year. Now how’s that cut taxes but spend freely magic going to work?

    I’m all for rebuilding New Orleans and I don’t mind paying more taxes for that or for universal healthcare. If only I could specify exactly how my tax dollars get spent… :-).

  53. 53.

    ppGaz

    Imagine how much worse this could have been if Kerry had been elected.

    You got that right, kemo sabe. Who wants to hear:

    “I actually told Brownie he was doing a heck of a job, before I told him he was doing a terrible job.”

    That’s the kind of wishy-washy leadership we can’t afford.

  54. 54.

    DougJ

    “I actually told Brownie he was doing a heck of a job, before I told him he was doing a terrible job” is flip-flopping, but
    “I actually told Brownie he was doing a heck of a job, before I fired him” is leadership. I feel more than a little sorry for Drownie, truth be told. He never should have been in that job in the first place.

    But, in fairness to Bush, no one could have anticipated that an unsuccessful lawyer and disgraced former head of the Arabian Horses Commission would fail as head of FEMA.

  55. 55.

    ppGaz

    But, in fairness to Bush, no one could have anticipated that an unsuccessful lawyer and disgraced former head of the Arabian Horses Commission would fail as head of FEMA.

    Well, I agree. A failed alcoholic oil driller who was given a stake in a baseball team by his rich dad and raised himself up into the White House by his own bootstraps and by the dint of his father’s connections and his brother’s state’s electoral votes bought and paid for after the election was over ….

    well, this says it better than I can ….

    In a nutshell, he was offered a piece of this valuable franchise for only $600,000, by supporters of his dad who also bailed out his failing oil company. He sold his stake for $14 million – while Texas governor — to a Texas millionaire with lots of businesses regulated by his administration. “When all it is all said and done, I will have made more money than I ever dreamed I would make,” Bush told the Forth Worth Star-Telegram.

    Bush was allowed to buy 1.8% of the team for $600,000 of borrowed money, and was even made one of the two general managers. His qualifications for partial ownership? Several years working at failing oil companies, and his political connections through his father. It’s hard to be sure, but we’re guessing that latter was probably more important.
    Junior tripled his investment, like the other owners, with the help of massive government intervention and subsidies. But his real wealth came from simply being given 10% of the team as a “bonus” for “putting together the investment team.”

    Even if he really had done that work, it’s an absurd bonus ($12.2 million), but the fact is that he didn’t add much. Cincinatti financier William DeWitt brought Bush in, not vice versa, shortly after George Bush Sr. was elected president. (DeWitt had also invested in Junior’s oil companies.). The only investor Bush actually brought in was Roland Betts, a Yale fraternity brother, and that wasn’t good enough.

    Under Junior’s management, the deal was about to fall apart until baseball commissioner Peter Uebberoth brought in another investment group led by Fort Worth Billionaire Richard Rainwater and Dallas investor “Rusty” Rose. Since the deal, both men have profited greatly from business with the Texas administration of George Bush, Jr. Rose personally invested $3.2 million and became the other general manager of the team. Under the team partnership agreement, Bush Junior couldn’t take any “material actions” wihtout Rose’s prior approval. There was also a method for removing Junior as a general partner, but no way to remove Rose. Yet Rose’s “bonus” for his role in setting up the deal was less than half of Junior’s.

    What kind of owners would approve such a big payoff to Bush? In addition to Rose and Rainwater, men with business pending before Texas government, the owners included William DeWitt and Mercer Reynolds, major contributors to President Bush who had also purchased Junior’s failing oil company through their Spectrum 7 Energy company.

    If this deal doesn’t smell bad enough already, consider Bush’s blatant hypocrisy. The main value of the team is its new stadium (ranked by Financial World as the most profitable in baseball) and 300 acres of vacant land the team owns between the stadium and 6 Flags of Texas, which is next door.

    Putting Tax Money into Bush’s Pocket
    The hypocritical part is, the private owners of this very valuable land didn’t want to sell. Bush and his partners gave them only a lowball offer, and when it was rejected they arranged for a new government agency (the Arlington Sports Facility Development Authority, or ASFDA) to condemn it for them.

    The agency foreclosed the land and paid the owners a very low price, later judged by a jury to be only 1/6th of its actual value. The agency also floated bonds, guaranteed and repaid by taxpayers, to finance the purchase. This amounted to a $135 million subsidy for Bush and partners, compared with the $80 million they paid for the franchise. Since they sold the entire franchise for $250 million, it’s easy to see whose money Bush and friends pocketed.

    The next time Junior talks about tax cuts, remember this: Arlinton had to impose a new 1/2 cent sales tax just to pay for the subsidy Bush and his partners received.

    Really, I just think that he was trying to help Brownie pull himself up the way he himself was pulled up.

    A “pay it forward” sort of thing.

  56. 56.

    Jimmy Jazz

    But, in fairness to Bush, no one could have anticipated that an unsuccessful lawyer and disgraced former head of the Arabian Horses Commission would fail as head of FEMA.

    No one expected that when the levee breaks, we’d have no place to stay.

    And nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition.

  57. 57.

    DougJ

    And no one could have antipicated that those Arabian rescue horses would have so much trouble swimming.

  58. 58.

    DougJ

    There’s always discussion about raising taxes but right when businesses and people are trying to get back on their feet in the gulf coast region, the worst thing we can do with these families is pop them with another tax.

    This is going to require difficult decisions in Washington. It’s going to be important that we don’t have the same ol’ same ol’ that we see in Washington. Tough choices will be to have made and President Bush is willing to do that.

  59. 59.

    ChrisH

    John, I bet you are as annoyed as I am that they did not actually re-air last seasons C.S.I finale…I also missed it the firt time around. Grumble, grumble, maybe next week? One can hope.

    Regards
    ChristopherH

  60. 60.

    Ancient Purple

    Tough choices will be to have made and President Bush is willing to do that.

    You mean like which places he will be vacationing or politicking at the next time a disaster happens?

  61. 61.

    stickler

    Obviously, people have not been laying stores of the proper disaster-abatement materials.

    If I was a Republican congressman right now I would be downing tums by the handful.

    Tums? Americans turn to real medications in times like these: bourbon, gin, or very strong IPA. And not just Republicans, either. Hell, as far as fiscal conservatives go, the cirrhosis rates must have been skyrocketing since 2001. Tonight might have winnowed their ranks by the tens of thousands.

    And then CFW says:

    How is this business of rebuilding based on controls from DC anything other than rank socialism?

    The whole concept should be focused on loans – to private parties, to NO, to the states, at low rates, guaranteed. If they know they need to pay the money back, even over 30 years, we will see more intelligent investment. FEMA in CA after fires etc. makes loans. Why anything more for long term projects in the Gulf area?

    Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Someone is channeling Herbert Hoover! You know, he did the same damned thing after the 1927 flood. There were a bunch of problems with this, but his reputation for “helping” was enough to put him into the White House in 1928. And then he took the same do-it-yourself, no-socialism approach to the Great Depression.

    And it turns out, “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” just plain doesn’t work when the country faces a massive calamity.

  62. 62.

    Jimmy Jazz

    And no one could have antipicated that those Arabian rescue horses would have so much trouble swimming.

    And no one could have anticipated that the National Disaster Recovery Plan was the script for The Ring. Cue Geraldo: “seven days after seeing this tape, everyone in the Convention Center is dead! Oh, the humanity!“

  63. 63.

    Jorge

    We don’t need to raise taxes. We need to cut pork.
    And we need to make sure that we don’t cut anymore taxes.

    I know the Paris Hilton Estate Tax Cuts are a priority but this might not be the right time.

  64. 64.

    Tim F

    Patrick:

    hmm, so Bush takes a lot of heat for having an incompetent political guy at the head of FEMA, and what does he do next? Name another political guy to lead the reconstruction. Way to take responsibility…

    Same Patrick who called Balloon-Juice a moonbat-infested swamp of mongoloidism, or different Patrick? A priori I would think not but I might as well ask.

  65. 65.

    Tim F

    no one could have antipicated that those Arabian rescue horses would have so much trouble swimming.

    FEMA didn’t know they’d lost the horses until they saw it the next day on the news.

  66. 66.

    TallDave

    Bush’s real failure was failing to anticipate all the state and local screwups would be blamed on FEMA.

    I mean, come on, we’ve had this media for decades now. Get a clue already!

    Next time, appoint a Democrat. Then the media will shake their heads and talk about how a natural disaster is no one’s fault, really.

  67. 67.

    Tim F

    Next time, appoint a Democrat.

    Well heavens to Betsy, TallDave and I agree about something. Setting aside the cynical sarcasm and uninformed blame-shifting, he almost made perfect sense with that post.

  68. 68.

    slide

    TallDave once again with an astute observation:

    Bush’s real failure was failing to anticipate all the state and local screwups would be blamed on FEMA.

    You see, the only failure of this adminstration is not realizing how he would be unfairly blamed for failing. The man is near perfection. A president that will go down in history books for his great and wide ranging accomplishements. A united country that won a glorious war in the middle east bringing peace and democracy to millions. A president that has united the world in our joint effort to defeat terrorism. A president that has hunted down and eliminated those that dare attack us on 911. A president that has managed our economy with exacting fidelity, cutting fat and excessive government spending at every opportunity. And his selections to high ranking government positions? Impeccable. Unparallelled in the history of our great nation. Only the most qualified professionals with extensive experience and expertise should even apply with this president as he always, always put the needs of our Great nation above petty politics.

    Is there room on Mout Rushmore for an additional head you think?

  69. 69.

    Stormy70

    Next time, appoint a Democrat. Then the media will shake their heads and talk about how a natural disaster is no one’s fault, really.

    Then when all the levee money disappears into Mardi Gras fountains, it will be business as usual.

    According to ABC’s evacuee panel, not many are angry at Bush. They are mad at the local and state governments for not using the buses before they were flooded. They also said the speech gave them hope.

    Oh yeah, B_B_B_BUSH! {tourettes kicking in} ;)

  70. 70.

    DougJ

    They also said the speech gave them hope.

    I know it gave me hope, Stormy. New Orleans will come back stronger than ever, just like New York did. In a way, the poor government response may end up being a blessing in disguise. I thought this was perhaps Bush’s finest hour since the days after 9/11.

  71. 71.

    Defense Guy

    I didn’t watch the speech. Judging from the reaction of many it was essentially a ‘here comes the money’ moment. I’m torn, because part of me likes the fact that the rest of the country is going to pony up the costs for reconstruction, and part of me just wants to hang my head in shame, that we as a country continue to throw good money after bad in areas where mother nature will not be denied. I do not think the reaction would be any different if the person in the WH was a Dem. The money would be spent anyway, IMO.

    It makes me want to act completely fiscally irresponsible with the knowledge that good old nanny government is going to come save me. I won’t, of course, because my actions should never be based on the bad models that others provide for me. I’ll try to track down a transcript as his speeches are always better read than heard.

  72. 72.

    ppGaz

    I thought this was perhaps Bush’s finest hour since the days after 9/11.

    Two fine hours, in only 5.5 years.

    Now that’s a legacy!

  73. 73.

    DougJ

    Defense Guy, from what I’ve heard, you could get levees that would withstand a Cat 5 and restore a lot of the wetlands for $5 billion. I can live with that expenditure.

    I’ll be honest with you: if Bush hadn’t put Karl Rove in charge of reconstruction and there wasn’t all this talk (from the White House) about how this is going to be an example of compassionate conservatism in action, I’d be completely behind the president’s plans. As it is, I expect a disaster of waste and mismanagement. I really hope I’m wrong.

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