The same article is being carried in the Washington Post.
This should be the event that causes anyone who is not wholly gone into blind faith Bush-worship to give up.
Do you have any cites indicating that what Melancon said is in fact accurate?
Think he was able to drag his ass out of the Lazyboy for that one?
Getting harder and harder to defend huh? How much worse does it have to get before you admit that this president is a failure and is at least partially responsible for the current situation? When does the buck stop? Tell me? When does he take responsibility for ONE of the things he has done to weaken this country? I’ll tell you what, I’m sick of it myself. I said this in '04 but I really mean it now, IF YOU VOTE FOR HIS PARTY IN '06 YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU GET. Sorry but that’s the way I feel about it. You have been warned over and over again about this colossal failure of a party. I weep for Lincoln, really I do.
He needed them as backdrops for his photo op.
Thankyou, BobLibDem. I wasn’t doubting you, but it adds support to see it in print. This is just shameful.
And, to address some of **Shodan’s ** points, if I may: Of course no one can predict when disaster or terrorism will strike. One uses the best information at hand (such as intelligence agencies and weather services) and reacts accordingly. After that, the important thing is how to deal with the situation when it occurs. We have all seen reports of how Homeland Security funding is responsible for dispatching very expensive equipment to the Mid-West (and a lot of that is spin IMHO). And it would be forgivable if Homeland Security also had evacuation and emergency plans for areas that are deemed at risk. From numerous cites above, New Orleans was clearly at risk. Hell, anyone who has visited the city knows that it is below sea level, and relies on the levees and pumps. Whether or not you believe that work by the Army Corps could have lessened the damage, it doesn’t lessen damage done by the government’s tardy response in providing evacuation and supplies to the city once it became clear how bad things were.
Just to revisit FEMA’s cluelessness: I am now listening to NPR Weekend Edition. They are interviewing a man who left NO for Memphis. I think they said his name is Randy Adams (not sure, the interview will be online as of Monday afternoon). He and his family had an evacuation plan. He watched the weather reports, knew how bad it was going to be (he was talking about upper level steering currents and high pressure systems), and they left the city. This guy had a better idea of what was going on than FEMA. He was, from his self description, middle class, and had the means to pick up and move. Those less well-off had no such options at their disposal, and the government is supposed to be there for those people.
Here is the resume for Bush’s current head of FEMA.
So…what’s next for him? Secretary of Defense, Supreme Court Justice, or Secretary of State?
-Joe
Cite?
Yeah, right, it’ll come right after your cite for the Bush-haters blaming him for this storm specifically. I ain’t waitin’ up with the porch light on, though.
Please do.
When have you ever called for a Republican head to roll?
Well, I don’t know about that, but the first stop will be a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
C’mon Elvis, this is Sam we’re talking about. Given his natural leanings, I thought he did a damned fine Michael Moore impression. It’s just mean spirited to complain about the quantity of blood that can be squeezed from a stone. The miracle is that you get any at all.
Piss off with the cheap shots. You want to attack me, take it to the pit. I’ll be there with bells on. If not, learn to control your juvenile impulses.
I smell a Medal of Freedom!
Sam, I was agreeing with you. You’ve done a pretty decent job of looking at the situation objectively.
What I’m sort of concerned about is image. Yes, I know image isn’t truth, but it certainly makes it easier to spin in the way you want it. There’s a meme going around that left-leaning blogs and people are mostly ignoring the crisis in favor of scoring political points and making attacks on the current administration. Yes, I know many people may find it justified. Yes, I know the meme is coming from those most likely to be biased in that direction, and have the most to gain from it. But I can’t help but be a tad concerned, because no matter where it comes from, and why it’s there, it’s there, and when self-proclaimed liberals brag about their refusal to contribute to hurrican victims because they’re from red states, no matter how minor they may be, it just makes it easier for conservatives to dig up and trumpet in the future. To me, it’s not a matter of how justified it is or isn’t - it’s a matter of how and when to proceed. Does that make sense?
No. As Chris Rock might say, “what to you want, a cookie? You’re supposed to do that!” This is basic blocking and tackling we’re talking about, and an offensive lineman who allows a sack cannot defend himself later by pointing out a good block he made on the previous play.
As for the topic, I’ll just repost my comments from this related Pit thread:
Frankly, I just don’t have words strong enough in my vocabulary to articulate my complete and utter disgust at this point.
That would indeed be a disgusting thing to do, much less brag about. Do you have a cite for any “self-proclaimed liberals” actually saying any such thing?
Neither does Sam, obviously. Can’t expect either of them to say which blog they’re parroting, though, just complaints when pressed that they’re being attacked personally. Same tired old shit.
Dewey, do you seriously expect any sort of serious inquiry from the GOP Congress that won’t explore the Iraq clusterfuck either? We may be on the verge of finding just how strong partisan loyalty, or at least the calculation of it, runs among them
I actually do expect a serious inquiry, albeit one that will not be inquiring too deeply above the agency-head level. Then again, we don’t really need one: the mistakes made are readily apparant and mindnumbingly basic.
I don’t think this is the sort of thing that requires outright impeachment and removal, either. But in a more genteel time, resignation would be the only acceptable course.
This blog item is what I had in mind. The author claims selective quoting, but the fact that the author was considering, even for a moment, the course of action he was considering, just plays into the other side’s hands, which is what I was talking about.
I should add that the fact that the author chose to reveal his “first thoughts” at all, and in so much detail, adds to my impression that he’s really not all that sorry he considered it in the first place.