# Bush Blackout Speech - What A Moron!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294 "2003-08-15T01:29:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/61 "2003-08-15T16:39:20Z")
Squink, When California’s power system took a shit and we needed assistance, all we heard from the Prez was how it was a State problem, not a Federal problem…and that was in reaction to requests from our state government to help with the price-gouging and unregulated pricing. Prior to that, he didn’t say much at all, and he certainly didn’t compose a speech regarding it. Sam ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/62 "2003-08-15T17:51:03Z")
Unregulated? I do not think that word means what you think it means. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/63 "2003-08-15T18:19:32Z")
How does “poorly regulated and skyrocketing” work for you? In a time of need, our out of state power producers jacked the price of power way up, sticking it to the people of California. “Unregulated” might have been a bit of an exagerration, sorry you took it to heart. But this really isn’t the place to discuss 2001’s power crisis, is it? It’s just the reason I though Bush’s speech was lame. Sam ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/64 "2003-08-15T18:56:35Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by sunfish_ > No offense, but this was not a matter of people feeling bereft of the chance to post to the SDMB for a few minutes. For example, there were literally thousands asleep on the streets overnight here in NYC because the entire transit system was shut down, and some hotels were not allowing guests to remain indoors after dark. Why not read a few articles or watch CNN for a bit before making this sort of comment? Because I’ve been through power blackouts before, and I still don’t see what’s the big deal over this one, other than the size of it. Anyone who _absolutely_ depended on having electricity would have had plans for backup generators and whatnot long before this happened, and folks with non-critical matters could simply put out a few candles, keep the refrigerator door closed, and wait it out. As for the problem with stranded people on the streets, that’s a screwup of the hotels IMO – the mayor could’ve ordered the hotels to open their doors and provide temporary housing for everyone, after all. Geez, it’s just a power outage. Deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/65 "2003-08-15T18:58:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joe K \* > \*\*His facial expressions were _highly_ entertaining, like analog dials spinning wildly in a queue. \*\* …maybe he gets game face tips from Al Leiter. ---
**Author:** ![dadaK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba9def/32.png) [@dadaK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dadaK)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/66 "2003-08-15T20:50:27Z")
Corbonite, Tars Tarkas and An Arky - I think you summed it up pretty nicely. Aside from his speaking ability or lack thereof, his choice of WHEN to open his mouth and show himself is peculiar, indeed…Bush has given an abysmally low NINE (9) press conferences since stealing office in 2000. Yet he sees THIS as an unmissable opportunity to speak to us? What an intelligence-insulting asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/67 "2003-08-15T20:53:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GaWd \* > \*\*How does “poorly regulated and skyrocketing” work for you? In a time of need, our out of state power producers jacked the price of power way up, sticking it to the people of California. “Unregulated” might have been a bit of an exagerration, sorry you took it to heart. > > But this really isn’t the place to discuss 2001’s power crisis, is it? It’s just the reason I though Bush’s speech was lame. > > Sam \*\* Oh, okay, I think I get it. Let me try… I think Bush’s speech was lame because of George Washington’s response to the Whiskey Rebellion. But I reckon this wouldn’t be the place to discuss that. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/68 "2003-08-15T21:36:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*Because I’ve been through power blackouts before, and I still don’t see what’s the big deal over this one, other than the size of it. Anyone who _absolutely_ depended on having electricity would have had plans for backup generators and whatnot long before this happened, and folks with non-critical matters could simply put out a few candles, keep the refrigerator door closed, and wait it out. As for the problem with stranded people on the streets, that’s a screwup of the hotels IMO – the mayor could’ve ordered the hotels to open their doors and provide temporary housing for everyone, after all. > > Geez, it’s just a power outage. Deal with it. \*\* I could refer people who are upset about being without power for a day to the Kansas City ice storm of Jan-Feb 2002, where tens of thousands of people lost power for days, including many of my friends - my manager had no power for 6 days. And this wasn’t in Summer, it was when the temperature was from a high of 33 F to a low of 20 F - and even gas furnaces need electricity for their fans, so these people had no heat during this time. I only lost power for 11 hours or so, and was lucky. But I was amazed at how cold that house got. I knew that a power outage was coming, so I had set my thermostat at 90 F to “pre-heat” the house, and it still had dropped to 50 F inside by the time the power came back on. It has been worse for people. It sucks for New York, it really, really sucks to be without power for a significant time. There’s no sugar-coating that. And I do feel very badly for New Yorkers, especially New York Dopers who had to be without power. All I’m saying is that it was not a National Emergency, and Bush shouldn’t even have bothered to speak on it. Hell, by most of his detractor’s standards, he should have been spending more time reading “How to Leverage your WORD POWER!” than speaking on TV anyhow…you guys can’t have it both ways. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/69 "2003-08-15T21:46:42Z")
[http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/08/15\_blackout.html](http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/08/15_blackout.html) ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/70 "2003-08-15T21:50:05Z")
OK Lib, Forgive me for not contributing to your “criticize me” pit thread, but you can add “Deliberately Obtuse” to the list of faults. It was a waste of a press conference, and the difference in treatment of millions of Californians and millions of Nor’Easters was apparent. And No, the political particulars of California’s situation are not, IMO, a topic for debate in this thread. It just seems like a worthless hijack to me. Sam ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/71 "2003-08-15T22:01:02Z")
I think he should have spoken as a safety precaution. Public reaction is a very unstable thing, as long as there is a reasonable chance that a terrorism scare might be needlessly generated, it makes good sense from a public safety point of view. The important message - “this is a fuck-up, not an attack” - was worthy of being delivered from as highly placed a source as possible: the President. Until God shall cease to avert his eye, that man is…you know…him. Moreover, even had he known that he would utterly flummox the statement, it was still his duty to make it. If anything astonished me about his whole episode, its all the horrible shit that _didn’t_ happen. The people, for the most part, simply muddled through. These sudden, spasmodic breakouts of calm and decent behavior are very surprising, as a pessimist, I love surprises. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/72 "2003-08-15T22:24:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*I just wonder why everyone’s making such a big deal about the blackouts to begin with. From all accounts I’ve heard, the authorities believe power will be restored in a few hours anyway. Are folks on the east coast _that_ dependent on their machines that they can’t hack a power outage for more than ten minutes? \*\* :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/73 "2003-08-15T23:18:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > **Because I’ve been through power blackouts before** Any in a city of 1 million plus? 5 million plus? \*\* > [@](#): > > , and I still don’t see what’s the big deal over this one, other than the size of it. \*\* Well the last citywide blackout was a crime fest. Social conditions are completely different now, but we still didin’t know what the fuck to expect. \*\* > [@](#): > > Anyone who _absolutely_ depended on having electricity would have had plans for backup generators and whatnot long before this happened, \*\* Some did, some didn’t. In a city as big and as dense as NYC, somethimes the space simply isn’t available. \*\* > [@](#): > > and folks with non-critical matters could simply put out a few candles, keep the refrigerator door closed, and wait it out. \*\* First off seeing that this doesn’t happen often, people lacked even the most basic supplies, which is no fault but our own. I didn’t see a single person walking around my building with a flash light for example. Perhaps up in the country if you need to get something out of the car, you grab a flashlight and go, but here, you don’t, because the street lights are fine. We don’t prepare for these things, because they never happen. The other bigger problem is that you are obviously unaware of how much we depend on mass transit here. If the subways are down, pretty much the only thing you can do is walk home, or at least walk out of Manhattan to a bus, but they were fucked up as well. Now basically the mindset of people was to get to where ever the hell they were going before dark, because the freaks come out at night. So to put this in perspective, people had no fucking idea what was going on, couldn’t contact friends or loved ones, were hearing a bunch of contradictory shit, were wondering how the fuck they were going to get home, and were concerned for their safety once it got dark. No big deal to you, but that’s only because you’re a grade A asshole. \*\* > [@](#): > > As for the problem with stranded people on the streets, that’s a screwup of the hotels IMO – the mayor could’ve ordered the hotels to open their doors and provide temporary housing for everyone, after all.\*\* Yeah right, that’ll never happen. Also they were actually kicking people out of their hotel rooms, because they were getting too hot without air conditioning. \*\* > [@](#): > > Geez, it’s just a power outage. Deal with it. \*\* And we have. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/74 "2003-08-16T00:43:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*Now basically the mindset of people was to get to where ever the hell they were going before dark, because the freaks come out at night. \*\* Hey! Some of us freaks is friendly! ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/75 "2003-08-16T01:06:54Z")
Just the ones that play Ukuleles. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NothingMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b77776/32.png) [@NothingMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NothingMan)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/76 "2003-08-16T01:26:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*In short: you made a stupid comment that reflects negatively on you. \*\* In short: **elf6c** made a joke, the fact that you didn’t get it or have no sense of humor reflects negatively on **you**. I thought it was hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/77 "2003-08-16T01:28:54Z")
> [@](#): > > {snip} > > since stealing office in 2000. > > {snip} > > What an intelligence-insulting asshole. Since the man didn’t steal any office, the only asinine insult to intelligence is your false assertion. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/78 "2003-08-16T01:32:19Z")
The Emperor has no flight suit. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/79 "2003-08-16T01:32:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NothingMan \* > In short: **elf6c** made a joke, the fact that you didn’t get it or have no sense of humor reflects negatively on **you**. > > I thought it was hysterical. Bullshit. I recognized it as a joke and it was an insulting joke. I got it, but since it was an unfunny joke, I did not laugh. The insult was obvious. The joke, as bad as it is, merely serves as an invalid jab at the target. I summed up the facts of the matter. Had your reading ability been any better than your obviously pathetic sense of humor, you would’ve realized that. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294/80 "2003-08-16T01:34:30Z")
elucidator: Are you merely unoriginal or stupid to boot? That lame joke’s been done and its defendse is pathetic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-blackout-speech-what-a-moron/195294.md?page=5)