I need help debunking some RW spin on-of all places-a DIET board

[AllieB]

Hi everyone,

I am ready to puke reading the pat Rovian BS on a diet forum I subscribe to. There is so much info on DU that I can't get my arms around it. Here is what they're saying, and I'm sure some of you have already gotten this drivel in email. I have never read such bullshit in my life:

One: The city officials had hundreds of buses at their disposal that they let sit in their parking lots and get flooded. The buses could have been used to evacuate people or to load up with food and water to take to shelters. Let's face it, they had no plan and they couldn't wipe their own noses.

Two (she got this off of Free Republik):

An Open Letter

An Open Letter to Congressman Danny Davis and the Congressional Black Caucus (from Petruchio).

I am ashamed that you are my Representative in Congress. I am an independent, and there are a lot of things I disagree with the current Administration over. But, Hurricane Relief is not one of them. The efforts of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Democrat Party to spin relief efforts into political gain is deplorable.

Lets look at the facts and all possible relief senerios, shall we? There are only five possible ways for Federal intervention in a disaster.

1- The President could have walked out on the waters of the Gulf and commanded Hurricane Katrina to turn back into the open sea. If he had, the Democrat Party would have rushed to the microphones to accuse Bush of grandstanding for political gain! I guess we can scratch this one off the list.

2- The President could have just marched in and taken over. This is illegal and would have resulted in demands for his impeachment along with his head on a platter. Scratch two.

3- The President could have declared that the State and Local Governments no longer exist in any meaningful way and that FEMA had to take over in order to protect the citizens. Yeah, right. As if the Congressional Black Caucus would let him get away with that! Scratch three.

4- The President could have declared War on the State of Louisiana. This was tried once. A little over 140 years ago a Republican declared War on the Southern States. As I remember from school, a whole lot of folks got in a snit over that one. Scratch four.

5- The Mayor of New Orleans informs the Governor of Louisiana that aid is needed, and the Governor calls the President and asks for help. This finally happened four days after the fact.

Think about it. On Saturday, two days before the storm, The Director of the Hurricane Center called Mayer Nagin and Gov.. Blanco pleading with them to evacuate. Nothing. The President personally called and strongly urged Mayor Nagin and Gov. Blanco to order evacuations. Finally, on Sunday, less than one day before the storm hit, evacuations were called for.

However, The Mayor and the Governor failed to provide any form of transportation for the poor and the needy. There are hundreds of school buses in the New Orleans Metro area that could have been put into use. Instead those buses sit under water, destroyed. And the good citizens of New Orleans were left to fend for themselves while the Mayor hid in another city.

After the storm passed, Mayor Nagin was clueless as to what was happening in New Orleans. Why? Because he was sitting in Baton Rouge, not in New Orleans where he should have been. You cannot lead disaster recovery from out of town. From the time the storm left the area on Monday night until Thursday afternoon, Mayor Nagin stood in another City and complained that he was not getting any assistance when he never asked for it in the first place! Once Mayor Nagin and Gov. Blanco asked for Federal Assistance, that assistance was set in motion within an hour.

FEMA had pre-positioned equipment and personnel before the storm hit. FEMA could not legally act without being asked. The majority of the Gulf Coast was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Gulfport and Biloxi are cleaning up. Emergency Services are being restored. The difference between Gulfport and Biloxi and New Orleans is that the Mayors and the Governor of Mississippi reacted properly and asked for aid right away. In New Orleans, the elected Officials failed to act in the Public Interest, before, during, and after the storm.

You can't blame the Federal Government for the failures of the Local and State elected Officials. There is no excuse for Gov. Blanco not ordering the LA NG into the afflicted areas on Monday evening to provide aid and security. That responsibility falls on the Governor's shoulders and no where else. The failure to mobilize the school buses to evacuate those without transportation falls on Mayor Nagin and nowhere else.

Congressman Davis, it is not your fault that Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Nor is it President Bush's fault. Storms happen. Cleanup, Rebuild, and move on. Don't whine and cry. Perhaps I should blame you for the high price of gasoline. After all, you did not sponsor a Bill mandating that before a refinery can close, a new refinery with greater capacity must be built to replace it. If you had pushed through such a Bill we would not have shortages now.

[quiet.american]

1. Seriously, why waste the time on Kool-Aid drinkers?

They are cruel people who revel in displaying their ignorance.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Here is a thread with links to other thread on all kinds of Katrina info

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

------------------------------------------------------
Save the Gulf, then save the nation!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[AllieB]

4. Thank you, GreenPartyVoter!

That is a great link.

[Roland99]

3. FEMA can't act without being asked? WTF? FEMA isn't subject to

Posse Comitatus.


The morans are confusing FEMA with the military.


And, Nagin was not in Baton Rouge. Damn...they're just making shit up now.

[AllieB]

7. FEMA needs to go ahead from the White House, NOT local authorities

does it surprise you that these idiots read free republic?

[Catherine Vincent]

5. It just goes to show you how the right wingers get their talking

point out there to the ignorant kool-aid drinkers out there. Every bushbot is talking about those buses underwater in NOLA. That's all they have.

[Hamlette]

6. there is no way with someone this far gone

you might just post something like: "you are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts. You are wrong and really should try to find out what really happened. It is your responsibility as an American."

Leave it at that. You can't convince people that far gone.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. This is about the 250th thread pimping this bus argument by way of

saying "how do I debunk this?".

First of all, Gov asked Pres for help long before 4 days after the storm, that is well documented on numerous threads with links.

Then you go from there.