With another monster storm bearing down on the Gulf Coast, the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and other federal agencies are scrambling to evacuate people, activate troops and ready food and supplies. President Bush reportedly is fully engaged, monitoring the storm hourly.
This might be an answer to those willing to give the feds a pass on Katrina preparedness by saying, "Oh, they really couldn’t have done much more."
Yes, they could have. Rita is showing how they could have done it right.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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24 Comments
Bush really is in a catch-22. Do a good job and you’re blamed as Randy demonstrates; do a bad job and you’re demonized. So, hopefully GW will be permitted to do the right thing, regardless.
Another lame invitation to bash bush. Let’s go Liberals.
Sorry, Steve. It’s the American people who are in a catch-22.
Since 1980, a tiny majority emerges (under our truly bizarre voting system of the electoral college) every so often that demands “gov’t get off our backs.”
Trouble is, when a hurricane hits, you don’t want “gov’t off your back,” you want gov’t to carry you out of there ON ITS back.
That’s the problem. Americans voted for a president who believes gov’t can’t do anything right, and he’s bound and determined to prove that correct.
Steven, I invite you to please list all the good things GW has done. If they are good, I will be sure to praise him and his administration, not blame.I don’t WANT to bash GW, even though Joe is cheering it on.
Right now they’re sitting on I-45 out-of-gas and no place to go to the bathroom. If Rita were going to make a direct hit, bingo, they’re just outside Galveston.
Tracy, Here’s one: We’ve only got him for three more years.
Thank you Ed.I don’t expect him to publish a list, as I couldn’t get Jimmy to either.BTW, the levies at New Orleans have broke again.
Good point, Trace.
I asked Jimmy B. the same thing and never got an answer . . .
If you say “Bush doesn’t do any good,” you’re a Bush basher, but if you ask them what he’s done that is good, you get met eith silence.
I was not meaning to defend Bush. He, and as Galahad points out, the American people, are in a bad spot at this time.
The first response team is the state, followed by the federal government. This time they did get it right. Funny how people sometimes learn from their mistakes.
Bush might just regain some of his credibility if he’d personally go to Houston and ride out the storm in his pickup with all those fellow Texans who are stuck on the highways without gas.
This thread has got me to wondering if this point in history is unique in that most all of our alternatives seem to be equally undesirable. As examples, stay in Iraq forever = bad; get out of Iraq quickly = bad; raise taxes = stiffle the struggling economy; don’t rasie taxes = Katrina aftermath.
Another thing I am wondering is where is the Democratic leadership. I would like someone to say, “Look people you can mortgage your grandchildrens’ souls to the Chinese, raise taxes, and/or honestly cut pork spending – but doing nothing is unacceptable.” Any politician, regardless of party, willing to give me the truth, would get my vote.
Sorry about wandering off the subject.
Steven,The politicians are ahead of us on that one. They know that any official who actually tells the truth about the way things are, or their stand on a particular issue has just signed his letter of resignation. We, the voters, don’t want to hear the hard truths. We just want to hear about how great we are and always will be. That’s politics, and it’s stood quite a test of time and disasters, and it won’t change until we do.
White House: Bush is monitoring the Storm hourly. Yeah, right.
Bush is watching TV. I’ll take the short odds, it not the storm.
There are plenty of civil wars going on in Africa right now, but Bush is not afraid to let them have-at-it. Other interests want the Iraq war to continue and that is why it’s not being allowed to play itself out.
But the American People may demand it stop and Israel, who started this war, { Made Bush do it } is starting to sweat. They’ve even backed-off asking for the 3.5 billion they were promised to leave Gaza.
Steve,You said it. Where are the democrats, and why arn’t they showing leadership in this mess? About all I’ve heard are the usual liberal pundits bashing Bush and his non-leadership. Well, duh, like most people don’t already know that? Where is the next J F K? Is there any democrat with his chrisma and intelligence out there? Sound off, for cripes sakes, give me someone to vote for. (God…not Hillary…I just can’t…)
Ahh, good ol’ Randy (and his lib allies on this blog) once again not on the battlefield, but walking it safely afterwards and shooting the wounded. Trying to find Randy’s posts about Katrina BEFORE it hit. Hmmm. Nothin’. Guess being a Monday morning QB is easier work.
A list of the things W has done? I’ve got two!1. No AlGore2. No Kerry
Now lemme guess….you don’t like my list. Tough.
What a legacy!!!
Seriously, if I were to give Bush credit for anything, it would be for “No child left behind”. I know that many of the Libs will get twisted out of shape on this one, but hear me out.
Bush did not adequately fund NCLB – True enough. He may have even had it in mind as a way to install private school vouchers. So, he may have done the right thing for the wrong reasons — I won’t argue that one.
But, one thing that NCLB does is that it forces educators to get kid-centered – they must ask -”What will it take to get Johnny to read?” Then they are obligated to figure out how to make the assessment/instruction work.
He has not done much otherwise, but, in spite of himself, NCLB has been Bush’s crowning achievement. I’m willing to concede that it may just be the least bad of the bad policies — but, I do believe it has benefitted some kids who would not have been helped without it.
Steven,If it was really no child left behind, it would be an accomplishment. Unfortunately, with no funding, it’s become no left behind because no children are getting ahead.
I think that Kennedy would not have been on board with NCLB if he had known there would be no funding going with it. But, I still contend that it has helped some kids. Those who it has helped are not kids already served by Federally funded special education – rather, the kids it has helped are those that were within the normal range, but slower for some reason. NCLB has made schools think about what is important in education – the kids and if they are learning, or not. Not a bad accomplishment, but I acknowledge it has been done in a decidedly imperfect way (with no funding).
Again, sorry for the digression.
In Congress, the left behinds are Democrats, and the right behinds are Republicans.
Natural disasters bring out the worst in people. Just to give you an idea what to expect if you’re in the path of the evacuees.
My brother lives in Lufkin, Texas. There is not one gallon of gas to be found in that town. It’s so bad, people are stealing gas in the parking lot at walmart. The police have had to break up knife fights that erupted because of it.Walmarts had to close it’s doors. It has no supplies to sell at all. Traffic was so bad businesses had to shut their doors so people had a chance to get home before the storms really hit.It’s nice of mother nature to give us two in a row so we can practise, practise, practise. Maybe next time we can get it right.