What we can blame Bush for and what we can't

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First, we can blame Bush for the fact he cut the budget for NO flood control. Doing this despite the fact that FEMA stated that this very thing could happen in the same document they accurately predicted that NY could suffer a terrorist attack. Would this have saved NO, I have no earthly idea. But it was still monumentally short sighted.

Second, we can blame Bush for FEMA's dismal performance. It has been several days and still no water in NO. FEMA did nearly as poor a job back in 1992 when Andrew struck Florida. Bush lost, certainly not solely due to that but it was a factor. Under Clinton, FEMA was fixed and became a well oiled machine. Bush proceeded to appoint a hack to run it into the ground. FEMA is a shell of itself and that is Bush's fault.

Third, the National Guard is in Iraq. That is Bush's fault. The National Guard would have been immensely helpful had they been here.

Now for what Bush can't be blamed for.

Bush didn't create the hurricane. Bush didn't directly cause the inequities that made NO into a deathtrap for the poor. Bush didn't come up with the close to bizarre idea of housing people in the Superdome.

This wasn't a purposful plot by Bush and his minions. This was the utterly forseeable result of the parsimony and incompetence of the current government. Bush is to blame for this due to his blinding ideology that government is without merit and his utter incompetence.

This is about the biggest example of why Presidents matter that can be found. This wouldn't have happened under Clinton. Yes, there would have been a hurricane, yes there would have been flooding, but no there would not have been this. These people would have water by now.

One final note, the next time this comes up we should use every public vehicle imaginable to evacuate people. School busses, taxis, police cars, vans, church vans, any and every vehicle should have been used to evacuate those without cars. Even if that only cut by half the number left in the city it would have helped.

[Rex]

1. I blame Pat Robertson

He said that he had the power to stop hurricanes, clearly he let this happen. I'm glad Bush is staying away from NO. They have enough to worry about, stay home Mr. Bush!

[Hubert Flottz]

4. I blame Mad Pat too, he pissed God off bigtime!

Preachers aren't supposed to preach murder thy neighbor and act like God want's them to kill! Pat is an abomination and so is Bushco!

[RageFist]

2. Did you see the pic ..

of the 20+ school busses all flooded out? Pretty enfuriating...and sad at the same time.

[dsc]

5. No I hadn't but I assumed they were there

given that they hadn't been driven out. At 45 to 60 people per bus that is between 900 and 1200 people who would have gotten out.

[NNadir]

3. Ever hear about global climate change? The hurricane had much to do with

Bush, yes, right, the existence of the hurricane.

[dsc]

9. Global warming isn't all his fault

Let's face it, we won't give up our fossil fuels.

[noiretextatique]

12. especially not if the leadership is vested in oil

as is this administration...the oil administration.

[dsc]

16. Kyoto went down 98 to 0

and that was under Clinton. I would love to lay the gas guzzling culture at his feet but sadly many Americans have to take a long look in the mirror on this.

[1932]

18. We can blame the goverment. CAFE requirements, anyone?

Michigan Democrats shoulder the blame for this as well. And remember Clinton's push to make airconditioners meat higher standards? How about oil wars and and black op intervention into oil naitons in order to create a big fat subsidization for the profitability of the oil companies.

I'm not ready to blame the American public for things its government has done to help out powerful corporations.

[1932]

6. Bush has contributed to the polarization of wealth that has made

some people unable to afford to evacuate and he is responsible for the destruction of the tax base which could have funded a strong infrastructure.

[sickinohio]

7. We can blame the chimp for everything except the

Katrina herself!!

[Old and In the Way]

8. What I've learned through Katrina

Incompetence at the top is reflected by incompetence through the mid-levels of government. This administration puts a premium on fundraising and loyalty, at the expense of expertise and qualifications. We've seen this administration fail spectacularly this week...but, its only the latest and biggest notch of failure on this cowboy's pea-shooter.

Can you imagine the legacy this guy will have in our nation's history?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. we can blame Bush for vacationing and ignoring the imminent storm

on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
We can blame Bush for being out raising money instead of rolling up his sleeves on Monday.

We can blame Bush for how HORRIBLY divided this country is that it is just now that people are beginning to see how inept he is.

And I DO think they are waiting for these people to die and the stranded people to die. It is cheaper to bury people than to house, feed and rehabilitate them. Welcome to Hooverville.

[dsc]

17. I did leave out the vacation

which is a big problem.

[expatriot]

11. We can blame Bush for a lot more than that....

We can blame Bush for him not getting everybody out of the city (this has been discussed often in the past few days, I was screaming about it on Sunday afternoon with more than 12 hours until landfall. We can blame Bush for there not being all the resources needed the day after the storm hit. We can blame Bush for not getting the country's attention on the crisis earlier, instead of canceling his political appearances and photo shoots and addressing the crisis and showing the country that we needed to do something NOW he has not responded until now... when it is too late.


We can't blame Bush for the storm but we can blame him for MUCH of the tragedy. He could have ordered LITERALLY thousands of choppers (af, navy, army, marines, state ANGs) there to the scene immediately. Even if he didn't evacuate everyone before the storm there could have been 100,000 security personnell there within 12 hours of the storm at least.

He could have signed an emergency executive order for bottled water to stop being distributed to non-critical areas and sent immediately to the disaster areas for distribution (a cat 2 storm would have knocked out every community's water system).

It goes on and on. Of course there would have been death and destruction with Clinton but Bush has nearly singlehandedly caused this to me a TRAVESTY (

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. I really haven't seen anybody blame bush for the hurricane

Except maybe rw pundits speculating/hoping that "liberals" will try to pin it on him and look foolish

[HysteryDiagnosis]

14. Major huge hovercrafts..... docked and ready during hurricane

season... if in harms way, send 'em down coast a couple hundred miles.... bring 'em back when things clear.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[wli]

19. the "parsimony" is quite selective, applying only to dem regions

All the Homeland Offense Gestapo pork went to rethug regions for pepperspraying protesters, just like BRAC is likewise targeting dem regions.

[dsc]

21. I live in a pretty red state

and we have no disaster money either. Also LA, MS, and AL are all red states. The fact is even states which got more than their fair share still are probably underfunded due to the fact we are spending all our money on tax cuts and on Iraq.

[applegrove]

20. Bush can be blamed for not using the might of the Army & marines -

all of whom are in great physical shape - to shut down the violent crimes asap. He can be blamed for all the decisions he takes. He is the president..

AND I AM NOT HIS SOOKIE.

When he takes some action and actually attempts to change the growing lawlessness...then we will be happy. He chooses not to. The Federal Government is really, really smart. They know full well the cycle of growing lawlessness. They know how to bring pressure to bear to snap the back of the violent criminals and put them on the defensive. Bush & his cabal choose not to.

But he won't - it pays off in so many political ways.

[tjdee]

22. On Sunday night, a CATEGORY FIVE STORM was headed right FOR

NO.

Fuck that. I'm sorry, but FUCK THAT.

They're not airlifting food or water four days into this. They are not making efforts to inform the scared people in NO what is happening. They have left the people on the overpass there.

We can blame Bush for that.

We can blame him for eating fucking CAKE and playing GUITAR on Monday and Tuesday.

I'm probably too angry to say much more in this thread.