Some of his remarks seem bizarre to me, e.g. when he suggests in the first paragraph
that a majority of people in the region will benefit from this in the end.

“My packets of compassion go to all who have been really affected – especially those whose relatives have died (not the casualties themselves because I doubt that it is allowed to read
my blog in the Heaven or the Hell); those who have stayed in the critical area; and finally to the
CEOs and CFOs of insurance and re-insurance companies who will have to make sure that
most of the people in the area will actually benefit at the end.”

“Don’t play the guitar while New Orleans is experiencing Armageddon” seems like intelligent criticism to me. This President really does not know how to project commanding leadership in the face of a crisis. Remember his immediate reaction to September 11? If you’ll recall, he found it most strategic to finish a children’s story.

Yes. There is plenty of intelligent criticism out there. But also a lot of foaming-at-the-mouth hatred. Let’s try for more of the former, less of the latter.

Joanne said: …it would be possible to stand up and criticize the government’s mishandling of the situation without being accused of being a radical leftie.

Free speech goes both ways, Dr. Joanne.

Zero

I was glued to the television today, watching this horror unfold and one line from a CNN reporter (sorry, forget the name) summed it up best, at least for me:

`This is not the America I grew up in.’

Anderson Cooper, I believe. At least, I certainly heard him say that on Tonight with Aaron Brown.

Why the hell isn’t the general infantry in there, on every street corner, with an M-16?

Hell, parachute in the 82nd airborne, if you have to. Yesterday.

This would be absurd if it weren’t so unimaginably awful.

`This is not the America I grew up in.’

In the America I grew up in, people would have been evacuated by now, food water & supplies would have been dropped from helicopters, the National Guard would be stationed here in the US and would already be there to keep law & order, and it would be possible to stand up and criticize the government’s mishandling of the situation without being accused of being a radical leftie.

Even in the midst of this tragedy they are figuring out how they can position themselves so that another state can be swung over to the dark side. It’s truly sickening when you can see through their spin.

Shudder.

Is there any way to criticize the President without having you dismiss it as partisan whining? Or do you really consider his side gig as a pop idol defensible during the current crisis?

Mr. President, if you MUST ignore a national emergency and play the guitar, do it in the Oval Office where there are no cameras to make you look like a dumbass. At least be a dumbass out of the public eye.

Why, in just the last 24 hours I have learned that Republicans want black people to die, and see this as their big chance.

You just learned this? Where’ve you been?

This administration ripped the funding out a FEMA and dumped it in a wholly unmanageable bureaucracy headed up by a brave man of action, a lawyer. The lack of federal response is embarrassing and verging on criminal. I can’t imagine the funding mess when this is added to the optional, expensive war and the unprecedented tax cuts during war time.

You stand by this doofus if you like. The me-first ideology of this administration will on the curb with the rest of the trash after the next election.

And just keep chanting: “the recession of 2006 was Clinton’s fault.”

Why, in just the last 24 hours I have learned that Republicans want black people to die, and see this as their big chance. (I credit readers of this blog for introducing the idea of dragging Bush to the ICC over this — very original!) Moreover, I learned that even if Republicans did want black people to live (a big if), there are no NG troops to help them because they are all in Iraq, subcontracting for Bush’s oil cronies, who will use this tragedy to further gouge the American consumer. And, finally, I learned that this hurricane would have likely never happened had Bush sent the Kyoto protocols to the Senate for ratification (since apparently no hurricanes ever struck the US prior to that illustrious conference).

So, the next time you want to push that tripe about “America needing a uniter, not a divider”, please take a good hard look in the mirror.

Your pal,
Zero

Have any super-rich died in the catastrophe? I didn’t think so.