Why no democratic leadership statement on NO?

[Erika]

Where is it at? FEMA dumped their responsibility and skipped out. But still no leadership from the democrats. They're all on vacation and can't respond?

[Jim Sagle]

1. They're actually Republicans.

And no, I'm not kidding even one little bit. :mad:

[Mass]

2. For a start.

http://www.dnc.org/a/2005/09/federal_respons.php

Federal Response to Katrina Unacceptable
Five Days After Katrina Struck, Why Hasn't President Bush Taken Responsibility? Where is the Leadership, Mr. President?

Washington, DC - A full five days after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States, Americans are without food and water, and chaos has gripped New Orleans. Perhaps rather than posing for photo ops and making statements about the obvious truth the people of New Orleans already know regarding his failure to respond, we need leadership from the President. Again Americans are left to wonder, where is the leadership Mr. President? What is your plan?

DNC Communications Director Karen Finney issued the following statement:

"The number one job of the President of the United States is to keep Americans safe. We’ve heard the President’s rhetoric, what we haven’t heard is his plan to address this national crisis on the Federal level.

"As the President visits the Gulf Coast region, we hope he will tell us his plan to relieve the suffering of our fellow Americans and ensure that there is an acceptable response plan in place both in the gulf coast and for the victims who have been evacuated.

"As our leader and the head of the federal government he also has a responsibility to answer:

"Why is it that five days after hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast many of our fellow Americans are still without food and water, living in squalor in dangerous, inhumane conditions?

“Why is it that President Bush was able to send food and supplies to Afghanistan the same day our invasion began, but it has taken five days to even begin to send supplies to New Orleans?

"Why is it that Secretary Chertoff, while launching national preparedness month yesterday, still can’t answer basic questions about the Federal response and preparedness to this disaster, and instead blamed the victims?

"Why is it that five days later, as chaos ensues, it's still unclear who is in charge of leading and coordinating the Federal government's efforts?

"The victims of this tragedy are our friends, family, colleagues, our fellow Americans. The lack of leadership from President Bush is unconscionable. This is not the way we should treat our own.”

[BattyDem]

5. As usual, it's Howard Dean who's not afraid to stand up to Bush!

Thank you so much, Doc! :loveya:

Now ... where are the rest of them???

[natrat]

13. as usual black caucus are the only one speaking up

[BattyDem]

14. That's right, I forgot they spoke up ... my bad.

:blush:

My brain is so full of sadness and anger that I'm not thinking clearly. The CBC is AWESOME! They can always be counted on to stand up for what's right. :loveya:

[katsy]

15. A great statement...

on DNC's website is just preaching to the choir.

That's not loud enough. It's not good enough.

A good point was brought up on another thread: Why was it the Congressional Black Caucus standing alone on MSM today?

This is a good press release to the faithful, but incomplete. When will the DNC, DLC, Progressive Dems just stand up and call this for what it is? A war based on race and class.

If we're not one of the haves & have mores... we need to stand together against these neocons.

Until our leadership admits that there is a class/race war in America, we're going to keep losing.

[BattyDem]

3. The ones that I have heard REFUSE to criticize Bush!

:wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

[Walt Starr]

4. They're hidng behind their couches in fear of the BIG BAD ROVE

They're wimp ass do-nothing nobodies.

They are invertebrates.

They have yet to evolve into chordates.

[FightingIrish]

6. Nancy Pelosi's statement today was presidential.

I watched the chimp on C-Span after a replay of her address. She nailed him for his lack of leadership and low standard of performance in a crisis. He had the "My Pet Goat" look on his sorry faced all damn day.

[RummyTheDummy]

7. She did?

Because someone posted here earlier today that she said calling it a "failure of leadership" was too strong at this point. Doesn't sound like she was nailing anybody.

[FightingIrish]

10. It wasn't a manic rant but a very skillful rebuke

"I think we have a problem if the President thinks that this response is satisfactory. That's why Congress has to exercise its role, and this has nothing to do with partisanship. I don't care who the President is, if he said that, I would criticize him, Democrat or Republican. This is not a satisfactory response."

"So, no I completely reject the President's characterization and I'm sorry that he made it. Because there are people out there who are suffering who need hope, and to say that this is a satisfactory response lowers the standard for excellence of the American people - of their generosity, their compassion, behooves us to do better. And this compassion, the President, I heard him talking about compassion. Compassion is great. It's a wonderful thing; we should all have it. It's no substitute for food, water, shelter, a job, education for children. So let's not hide behind compassion."


http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=52590

[Erika]

8. Agreed, No Dems have the Guts to Speak up?

They just go along with W and act as Bush lights like they do on Iraq?

Maybe they didn't cut their vacations short.

[newswolf56]

9. Strong statement from John Edwards:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4595222

(If I knew how to "kick" the Edwards link -- which I assume means making it a current item -- I would. Is that indeed what "kick" means, and can someone please tell me how to do it?)

[BattyDem]

11. Posting in any thread will kick it to the top of the list.

If you have nothing to add to the thread, you can just put "kick" in the subject line ... and you can put the "kick" smilie in the message if you want, like this: :kick:

I just gave the Edwards thread a kick. Thanks for posting the link - I hadn't seen it. :-)

[RoyGBiv]

12. Let's see ...

I have 27 e-mails in my in-box from various Democratic leaders. The majority of them are press releases sent to those signed up on the mailing lists.

What's the question?

[thethinker]

16. Their silence is sickening

Why aren't they speaking out? Do they just not care?

[TahitiNut]

17. I look to the CBC for their political 'leadership' - the rest are cowards.

:shrug:

[RandomUser]

18. Wes Clark is way ahead of you

He's been attacking Bush over his failure in NOLA for the past few days. Here are the DU threads.

OMG! WES CLARK calling out BUSH'S handling of KATRINA! (tpmcafe)

WES CLARK DECLARES BUSH Mishandled Storm! - DesMoines Register article (DesMoines Register)

[incapsulated]

19. Wes Clark (Twice!)

On the TPM Blog and in the Des Moines Register:

TPMCafe:

"Again, just this past week, there was at least 36 hours notice that a major hurricane was going to hit the Gulf Coast, including likely a devastating blow to New Orleans, which certainly came to pass. The President continued with his regular schedule on Monday and Tuesday in California, Arizona, and Texas to hold some staged Medicare events and enjoy more vacation time, while finally returning to the White House yesterday. The joint task force including National Guard set up by the Pentagon failed to be on the scene in New Orleans in a timely manner to stop the looting and assist in the evacuation.

Where is the leadership?

Then just this morning, the President claimed that no one could have anticipated the levee breaches we've seen in New Orleans after Katrina hit. That's not leadership, that's an excuse. In fact, people have predicted this kind of disaster for many years, including President Bush's own FEMA in 2001, when they ranked hurricane flood damage to New Orleans among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing America. Instead, funding was significantly cut back, leaving key engineering projects on hold. Instead, this Administration focused on the war in Iraq, tax cuts, and private sector economic growth without asking the American people to make needed sacrifices for the good of the country.

Again I ask you, where is the leadership?"

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/1/123536/7907

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4580498

Des Moines Register:

Sioux City, Ia. — Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, traveling in Iowa on Thursday, was sharply critical of the Bush administration's preparation for and response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

"I think it's awful that we left 100,000 people stranded in New Orleans," Clark told reporters at a Sioux City news conference.

He said federal officials had plenty of warning and should have been more prepared.

"First of all, we all saw the storm coming. This did not come in the middle of the night like a terrorist attack. It was very clearly presented for hours before it struck," he said.

"We should have mobilized a joint task force, pre-positioned the National Guard, and lined up the evacuation assets," Clark continued.

"We can do much better than this in our country," he said.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050902/NEWS09/509020383/1056

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4587483