Just Don't Give Me the Same Idiot
I'm dismayed by everything that's being said and done by the Bush Administration in their desperate attempts to regain a modicum of credibility after their royally botched handling of Katrina. Here are some of the most ridiculous statements made by Bush and his associates, followed by a few memorable responses.
Barbara Bush, when she visted the Astrodome in Houston, made this incredibly insensitive comment: "Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them." Then there's Laura Bush mistakenly calling Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Corrina--not once, but twice--during a visit to Greenbrook Elementary School in Southaven, Mississippi.
GOP Rep. Richard Baker of Louisiana:"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."
Despite the fact that Michael D. Brown's ineptitude has been noted by critics from across party lines, Bush continues to praise his hapless Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director, whose disaster credentials seemed to consist of once being the commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association. In one often-quoted moment, George Bush put his arm around the addled FEMA functionary, Michael Brown, and declared, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Yesterday, Time released a report that disclosed a series of discrepancies in Brown's resume, including false claims that he was a professor at a university and director of a nursing home. Today, his online FindLaw bio even removed his credentials as commissioner of the Arabian Horse Association because, as one NPR commentator stated, even the horses are now rejecting him. Well, finally, so is the president. As of this morning, Brown has been relieved of his Katrina leadership, though he's not yet been officially fired. Brown's response to being dismissed from the Katrina response? "I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep."
In his plea for a full investigation into what went wrong with the response to Hurricane Katrina, Jefferson Parish president, Aaron Broussard, made the following apropos comment: "So I'm asking Congress, please investigate this now. Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot." It's unfortunate that more Americans hadn't felt that way about Texas's missing village idiot during the last election.
On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart asked his guest, Samantha Bee, the following question: "The president has vowed to personally lead the investigation into the government's failed response to Katrina? Isn't that a job perhaps someone else should be doing?" Bee's response: "No, not at all, Jon. To truly find out what went wrong, it's important for an investigator to have a little distance from the situation. And it's hard to get any more distant from it than the president was last week."
5 Comments:
You make a few good points. Too bad Mr. Bush hasn't suffered the same fate as Mr. Brown. Maybe Brown will serve as goat in lieu of the culpable guy.
No Kidding! At least we can admire him for his loyalty! Being in with the Bush's is like the fast lane to getting a good job--regardless of your qualifications. And I also think Brown, idiot though he is, is being scape-goated. He's behaved no worse than Bush himself but we, of course, won't see anyone threatening to impeach this president.
Earth to Lefty-World...
I know the default reaction these days is to blame Bush, but can you really ignore the facts in this case?
Bush disclaimer: I have several complaints with Bush leadership. The opinions stated here are not coming from right-wing cronyism.
Lets list the errors:
Bush - Appointing Brown.
Congress - Confirming Brown.
Brown - Being slow and incompetent.
Blanco - not allowing Red Cross aid into New Orleans, waiting days to declare marshal law, and slow to deploy states national guard.
Ray Nagin - waiting two days to issue evacuation, leting 200+ buses go un-used, hosting 1000's in the Superdome without stocking food for 1000's and having security for 1000's, spending levee money on casinos, not following preset disaster plans.
Now, did you expect Bush himself to have looked-after and carried-out all these details.
All I ask is for a logical analysis.
Do the state and local authorities share some blame? I'm sure they do. The local and state government also need take responsiblity for what went wrong with the resonse to Katrina--the failure to provide the means for the cities' poor to evacuate is foremost in my mind. However, in the end it is the president who sends in the National Guard and FEMA relief. And this is the president who claims to be focusing on national security. Bush's administration said it was keeping Americans (and the rest of the world) safe from terrorist attacks. Or, at the very least, he claims to have a plan for responding to them. What Katrina has shown is that he doesn't even know how to respond to disasters that have been broadly forecast, and which come with days of advance warning. Bush's insensitive jokes about looking forward to "rebuilding" Trent Lott's house or his mother's insane remarks about New Orleans' poor being better off in shelters are just icing on the cake. In any case, what all of this suggests to me is that it's not the "Lefty-World" that needs to be brought back down to earth.
The view from here (England) is right on par with your telling of it. A whole bunch of people got caught with their pants down, and let's face it... Bush never got off the pottie.
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