New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman — no left-wing nut — let it rip today. He said that the Bush administration was well-suited to respond to Sept. 11 and to conduct a war on terror, but not to deal with Katrina. “These are people so much better at inflicting pain than feeling it, so much better at taking things apart than putting them together, so much better at defending ‘intelligent design’ as a theology than practicing it as a policy,” he wrote.
And here’s what he said about their budget priorities and about Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist, who visited Kansas earlier this summer: “An administration whose tax policy has been dominated by the toweringly selfish Grover Norquist — who has been quoted as saying: ‘I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub’ — doesn’t have the instincts for this moment. Mr. Norquist is the only person about whom I would say this: I hope he owns property around the New Orleans levee that was never properly finished because of a lack of tax dollars. I hope his basement got flooded. And I hope that he was busy drowning government in his bathtub when the levee broke and that he had to wait for a U.S. Army helicopter to get out of town.”
Now say what you really think.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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18 Comments
This will be predictable…
The New York Times is left as it gets.
Hmmm… Thomas Friedman isn’t known for his leftist slant. Could it be that some on the Right are beginning to wake up? “Predictable”? Maybe. But I’d say it’s about time. There comes a point where you just can’t stick your fingers in your ears and shout lalalalala! and drown out the problems.
Looks like Friedman found the point.
Sometimes it is better not knowing who some people are. I have never heard of Thomas Friedman. Is he somebody important?
New Orleans got “Bush-wacked.”…No big surprise there…But I am surprised that Thomas L. Friedman, who I often bash, is really so smart. Not like me being wrong, you know….{ I knew it would happen sooner or later }
Joe, I don’t know as it’s so much an issue of whether he’s important. He’s a well-known columnist. He’s also been an ardent Bush supporter. It’s hard to imagine he’d say anything that didn’t support the conservative line.
I disagree with the Americans with Tax Reform, but I do support the Americans for Fair Taxation, which is a totally different advocacy group.
Tom Friedman is a strong Iraq hawk; he and David Brooks are the only hawks remaining at the New York Times now that Wm. Safire has retired (I think, I don’t read it very often).
Friedman thinks the war was legally justified, the overall strategy was sound (creating another Western-friendly democracy in the Middle East, to act as a strong ally of Israel), but the Bush administration’s execution has been..how to put this. Flawed would be a massive understatement. Lackadaisical approaching black comedy is more accurate (my opinion, obviously).
I have come to the conclusion that President Bush is just as serious about Iraq as he was with Hurricane Katrina two weeks ago (i.e., not very). Looks like I agree with Friedman.
I suppose the traffic accident at woodlawn and central the other day was all Bush’s fault too…
Way to contribute, Nathan.
Yes the accident was Bush’s faultI saw the whole thing.Maureen Dowd was crossing the street and George crossed 3 lanes of traffic trying to run her over.
BushCo. couldn’t drop a bomb on it.
If they can’t drop a bomb on it, they don’t know what to do . . .
Welcome back, Nathan! Now that you’re here, the blog won’t be as boring as it is without you.
XXX, Friedman’s an ardent Bush supporter? Puhleeze. What color is the sky in your world?
Well Bisoni, the past few days, it’s been kind of gray and hazy. It rained Monday. You don’t know what color the sky is? You need to get out more often. Sitting in your mother’s basement in front of that computer all the time probably isn’t good for you. }8)
Somehow insults by someone named XXX just don’t have much sting :-)
Wasn’t an insult; just an observation, a swat if you will. Kind of a thin-skinned little fellow, aren’t you? The name bothers you?
What’s in a name? A Rose by any name is just as sweet.
I remain unimpressed.
As was stated somewhere else, small things occupy small minds. ;P
Why all this blame? I lived in LA for 20 years, and we were constantly told that when (not if) the “big one” hits, that all must be prepared to fend for themselves for 3 to 5 days in a best case scenario.3 to 5 days–regardless of who, where, how much money they have or anything else. That is what it takes to mobilize a rescue force.Unless, of course, you are willing to have a huge increase in taxes to have mobile emergency forces waiting on every street corner.