Damn… I hadn’t seen that yet. Hit me like a suckerpunch to the gut. Damn.
I still like the other one simply for the fact that a reporter was finally saying what needed to be said after years of the press kowtowing to the administration, but, damn… that was one hell of a powerful speech you linked to.
An important point. This is the Dust Bowl for our generation.
I think you’re right. In the thread on whether “refugee” is the right word for the victims, I was reminded of the Woody Guthrie songs about the people getting away from the Dustbowl, where they were called refugees mostly by others.
Re the blame game:
When people do not want to play the blame game, they’re to blame.
As far as dealing with folks in authority now vs. later, consider what happened after Pearl Harbor (Making Light):
Jon Stewart’s exact words on last night’s Daily Show.
Weren’t his exact words “He who denied it supplied it”?
Good references, ArcherGal, I like it!
Here’s my take on usage of the term “blame game”.
I believe that was Aristotle. 
Actually, it was a 7-y.o. boy. 
I’ll believe the Bush apologists don’t want to play the “blame game” when they stop trying to blame the Katrina fiasco on the governor and the mayor.
Well, McClellan should look on the bright side: No one is asking about Karl Rove anymore…
Seriously, this is how this administration eats their own. If you stated something as fact in a press briefing, and then later found that it was a lie (as happened to McClellan in the Rove debacle), and got shredded over it, wouldn’t your first words be “I QUIT!”? Unless they were words somewhat stronger in tone… I was starting to feel sorry for him being used as a punching bag, but then I came back to reality. He should be under no illusions by now as to whom he works for. If he wants to be the Mouthpiece of Sauron, he can damn well deal with having his head handed to him.
As a public employee, shouldn’t we know how much Scotty gets paid to be that punching bag?
Admittedly, it’ll just be a drop in the bucket compared to whatever sweetheart “we’re sorry about your soul, but at least you get a cushy job in compensation” deal he has worked out afterwards, but it’d be interesting to know. How much does Scotty’s soul sell for? How much could Ari’s be rented for?
-Joe
AP reporting Coast Guard leader put in charge of FEMA.
No, he wasn’t put in charge of FEMA, although this is what they want everyone to believe.
bizolding mine
See the difference?
Sure. He put in like 8 days hard bumbling and now it’s back to looking at porn in his nice comfy office.
-Joe, Arabian Stud
Yeah, I can already picture him shooting “threes” into his wastebasket.
And I’ll start believing both sides when they all share the fault like they should.
It was the combined faults on the part of all governmental officials from the Mayor on up to the President…nothing more, nothing less. This hurricane did one thing that no partizan effort could ever do so succinctly…exposed the ineptitude of each outstanding governmental official from President on down to Mayor. Once you wrap your head around that one, you will see how ridiculous the blame game is between the left and right.
The real blame game to be played (when some of you guys get around to stop playing the partizan one) is the citizens and the government that failed. Step up to plate for a change and stop fucking around with you partizan babble.
Congratulations, you’re a vector for memetic infection!
It’s not ‘blame gaming’, it’s accountability. Ironic, as that was even in the press briefing that started this thread.
See, part of the problem is that Bush and Co? They’ve taken no responsibility for this. None. And based on FEMA’s response, they’re not able to deal with another national disaster, let alone a deliberate terrorist attack on a massive scale. See, local mayors fucking up is bad, and all… but now I know that even if my state has got it together the feds will leave me high and dry.
This isn’t partisan.
That is, if we ignore the devestating talking point: blame game blame game blame game blame game it’s too soon to politicize the blame game blame game blame game freedom. Thank you my fellow Americans.
Absolutely, the mayor and the governor shoulder a large portion of blame, here, and most of the left-leaning posters I’ve seen on this board have acknowledged that. We tend to talk more about Bush, of course, because most of us do not live in Lousiana, and therefore aren’t directly affected by the governor’s (much less the mayor’s) stunning incompetence. So we’re tending to focuse criticism on the incompetents in this situation who are in a position to screw us all over: Bush, and his associated cronies.
Funny that very few Republicans on the board seem willing to trace the blame any higher than the governor of Louisiana. The ones that are, are mostly Republicans who had already become disaffected with Bush. The ones that supported him before Katrina seem pretty adamant that none of this mess be laid at his feet.
Seems to me you’re being a tad unfair, if you’re not going to listen to either side until they both start owning up to their mistakes. One side already has. If you’re not going to listen to us until they do the same, well… you’re not going to be hearing much for a long, long time.
Do you have a cite for this? I’m not trying to be a punk, but every word I’ve heard from local governments was placing the blame cleanly on the feds.