# Boondocks - Sept 12th **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 13, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boondocks-sept-12th/321388 "2005-09-13T03:37:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boondocks-sept-12th/321388/41 "2005-09-14T16:25:32Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > That strip doesn’t make any sense. I agree with the first panel, but the last one is a complete disconnect. What connection does John Kerry have with the administrations of Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco? You mean [the Louisiana governor who “took the necessary and timely steps needed to secure disaster relief from the federal government,” according to the Congressional Research Service?](http://blog.dccc.org/mt/archives/003513.html) Maybe someday, Dave, you’ll learn to think for yourself, instead of bleating whatever lie is making its way around the right-wing echo chamber these days. Of course, it’s amusing to note that neither you nor they are saying anything critical about Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi. Guess everything must’ve gone fine there, even though people were still wandering around aimlessly in places in Mississippi the weekend after the hurricane, having no idea where to find any aid. ---
**Author:** ![The\_New\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@The\_New\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_New_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boondocks-sept-12th/321388/42 "2005-09-14T17:58:03Z")
I’m not a big “Boondocks” fan; he usually tends to force the controversy and edginess to the point that it’s just over-the-top. But I did happen to catch this one, and I thought it was hilarious. > [@](#): > > This is so amusing. Losing side fantasy: Yes, but _insert wanker name here_ would have: > a) prevented 9/11 > b) stopped global warming > c) figured out who shot JFK > > To the winner goes the day-to-day reality, complete with fuckups, and to the loser goes the opportunity to predict in comic-book fashion how their hero never makes a mistake. I have no doubt that you honestly believe that Bush is competent, and that this is his _one_ mistake, but for most of us, that’s not even _close_ to reality. A lot of us really hoped that Bush would be defeated in the last election, because he had done nothing right up to that point, and was obviously a train-wreck (or more like a whole _series_ of train-wrecks) just waiting to happen. I have no doubt whatsoever that Kerry would have done a better job, only because a syphilitic monkey would have done a better job. It would pretty much be _impossible_ to do a worse job than Bush. That’s why that strip is so great, because it captures that “what the hell just happened?” feeling that many of us had when Bush won the election. The galling thing about it wasn’t just that Bush won, but the amazingly trivial reasons people gave for not voting for Kerry: “He’s too wooden”, “I don’t like his wife”, “His explanations of things are too long”, “He looks like Frankenstein”. Yeah, but the other guy GOT US STUCK IN AN UNWINNABLE WAR, on false pretenses to boot. That strip hit the nail on the head. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boondocks-sept-12th/321388/43 "2005-09-14T18:13:22Z")
The best part of that strip is that it’s open to interpretation as to just which major negligence that resulted in thousands of deaths they’re talking about. Is it Katrina or the Iraq war? Hell, if SM had just said “thousands” instead of “10,000,” 9/11 could be plugged in there, too. Yep, Bush admin fuckups are the gift that keeps on giving. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boondocks-sept-12th/321388/44 "2005-09-14T19:41:18Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > This is so amusing. Losing side fantasy: _Yes, but insert wanker name here would have: > a) prevented 9/11 > b) stopped global warming > c) figured out who shot JFK_ Yeah, well. To do anything about an oncoming threat, one has to _act_. You sit around with your thumb up your ass, your chances of getting caught with your pants down are pretty damned high. a) When Bush got the infamous “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” PDB, he thought to himself, “the FBI says they’re on it; I’ll just wait until they get back to me.” We know how Gore would have responded by his participation in the response to the Millennium Plot: he would have gotten his Cabinet together, told them he wanted to know what any of them could find out about this, and demanded regular updates. Those FBI reports of guys taking flying lessons that didn’t care to learn how to land planes would have all of a sudden become valuable to the agent’s superiors. It’s not certain that such a response would have prevented 9/11, but it stood a pretty good chance. b) Neither Gore nor Kerry could have stopped global warming, or even done anything about it; they would have been blocked by a GOP Congress, unless the Dems were able to win back the House in 2002 under Gore. But, I repeat, _they would have tried_. Can’t do jack if you don’t try. c) Don’t shout out “who killed the Kennedys” when after all, it was you and me. d) We know about Katrina. Bush, Chertoff & Co. sat around for days before doing much of anything. They started their response _planning_ on the Wednesday after the hurricane, which was the day large-scale relief should have _arrived_ in earnest. So the cavalry didn’t actually arrive until the weekend after, which was way too late for a lot of people. It’s not just that a Dem would have done better; it’s that anyone who had a moderate insistence that government actually achieve its stated purposes would have done better. You or I would have done better as President in this situation than Bush did. We would have hired people with actual expertise to do the job, and we would have asked them how they were getting ready a few days beforehand, rather than waiting until the Wednesday after. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boondocks-sept-12th/321388.md?page=2)