Tsunami Reveals Bush’s Dark Side

[hangloose]

It is said that adversity reveals character. Sadly, the tsunami that struck South Asia revealed a cold hearted, uncaring President. After three full days of silence, President George W Bush finally expressed sorrow Wednesday at the nearly 100,000 lives lost across South Asia. What was he doing? Vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

<SNIP>


Both British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder quickly voiced expressions of sorrow. But, not President Bush. He seemed curiously disconnected from the growing catastrophe –content, as he was, with issuing bland statements of dismay through his press office.

This cold-hearted response to the human tragedy was matched by an equally uncaring expression of help. President Bush pledged a measly $15 million in aid to the 12 nations hardest hit by the tsunami. This $15 million represents 0.00014% of our ($11 trillion) Gross Domestic Product.


<snip>

He could have pledged several billions of our money to tsunami relief on Sunday, the day after Christmas, and, then, challenged Europe and the Arabs to match his generosity. They would have been hard pressed to refuse, given their interests in the affected region.

Then, he could have put our unparalleled military air transport system at the disposal of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – appointed the retiring Secretary of State Colin Powell to coordinate the international rebuilding effort – and sat back and piled up political capital that he could have used to help him out in Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Palestine.

But, none of this happened because Bush does not have any empathy for the poor.

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http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_10630.shtml

[dave123williams]

1. I say pile on Bush; Sandra Bullock gave 1mm today...and we're supposed...

to believe that the United States could only have given $15mm ?

It's now not too expensive to make Bush look like the cold-hearted prick he is.

[Jo March]

2. Sandra B's gift = 1/15 of the US's first offer

That is so totally pathetic that I can barely speak.

[Worst Username Ever]

14. Devil's advocate here, but...

I thought the US relief was 350 million. I am sure some of that is loans, but not all of it. If Sandra's gift is one million, and that is 1/15 of the US's, wouldn't that put the US gift at 15 mil?

[Jesus H. Christ]

16. The initial offer was for 15 million.

That was before wide spread criticism.

So now Bullock's gift is 1/350 of what the US is offering in donations and loans. Which is still ridiculous.

[Worst Username Ever]

17. Agreed, but thanks for the clarification. n/t

[Jo March]

19. Their first offer of aid was $15 million.

Then they upped it some more until it reached $35 million and then they were further shamed into $350 million.

That's why I said that her gift was 1/15 of our first offer of aide.

:)

[OneBlueSky]

3. deep down inside . . . at the very core of his being . . .

George W. Bush really, truly, honestly and adamently . . .

doesn't give a shit about other people . . .

especially "furiners" . . .

and more especially non-white furiners . . .

he gets it from his mother . . .

[Bake]

27. I can't bother my beautiful mind with the soo-nami shit ...

So what if a bunch of mud people got washed out to sea????

That's the Bush*it mindset.

Bake

[ktowntennesseedem]

4. Even if he had done all that, it would have only been for polical gain.

Had the administration thought fast enough, they would have seen the great potential for political capital and done much more much sooner. But it certainly would not have been because any of them truely felt any compassion or sympathy. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on which side of the tsunami you are standing on), he is as stupid as he is uncaring. Too bad those who still support this compassionless idiot are just as stupid.

[Verve]

5. Poor Shrub! No one understands he was on vacation. His vacations are way

more important than a 100 thousand people dying in one of the biggest disasters of our lifetime. C'mon be easy on the guy.

[robbedvoter]

6. Not stingy so stop saying that - proof - Daily news cover:

[Worst Username Ever]

8. Cheney? Is that you?

[robbedvoter]

10. Ha!ha! Nope. Just noticing that they do protest too much.

Golden helicopters?

[Worst Username Ever]

7. Funny, I thought Bush'd dark side was revealed by

9-11, irag, afghanistan, election fraud, ken lay,halliburton, laughing at death row inmates, cutting education, raising the tax burden for lower income brackets, letting the assault weapon ban expire, swift boat liars, anti-gay rhetoric, ignoring the needs of our soldiers, brushing off the rest of the world, being tied to the saudi royals, etc etc etc etc etc

[robbedvoter]

13. Bingo!

[justiceischeap]

24. Thank you for saying what I was thinking! (n/t)

[CatWoman]

9. Did you know that initially * only offered 5 million?

I heard it today on Unfiltered.

[CrispyQ]

18. But he & his rich friends can pony up $45 million . . .

for their little "we pulled one over on the masses again" party. They are a despicable lot.

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. I remain firmly convinced his psyche is not firmly rooted in reality.

That man operates in his own universe.

[ktowntennesseedem]

12. Wait a minute... does this mean there's a bright side?!?!?!

:wtf:

[LSparkle]

15. Been saying it for ages ... now self-evident

His entire family doesn't give a shit about people not of their "class" (ironic, ain't it). Now that he doesn't have to worry about re-election, he's free to show his true colors. Makes me effing sick. On the positive side, I have new respect for Sandra Bullock; good for her.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

20. On Crossfire today, Democrat talking head said he had talked to the

Committee Chair (forgot her name) and asked if the Repugs would consider scaling back their little coronation and give the money to the relief effort. The chick said (paraphrasing here) that they were going ahead with the plans to celebrate and reward the many people who helped with this campaign. Begalia (sp?) then offered up the suggestion that Cheney or Rumsfeld kick in one of their many millions since one of the Hollywood Elite," Sandra Bullock had kicked in $1,000,000. The only answer the repugs and Fucker Carlson could offer was they thought that John Kerry should make a sizable contribution from his fortune - nothing about personal money from the repugs - I'm not surprised. (I'd bet a shiny silver dollar that John and Teresa and John and Elizabeth have already done something substantial, they just don't feel the need to toot their own horn.)

Those repugs couldn't get off the subject of individual donations fast enough.

[Kber]

21. And did Begalia or one of the other "liberal" hosts

remind *ucker about the many, many millions Theresa and John give to charities through her foundation already? Did they compare those gifts over the past, say, four years to those by the Bush foundation? (Do the Bushes have a charitable foundation even?)

[LSparkle]

22. "Bush charity" = oxymoron

They skipped over charity/charitable in the dictionary and went right to "compassion" (of which they also have none).

[Disturbed]

23. GW Bush the Silverspoon Sociopath and

Sock Puppet doesn't have a conscience or the abilty to come up with any constructive ideas. He is as compasionate as a scorpion.

[Gloria]

28. Oh, let's be fair!! Olbermann reported that the Repugs have collected

on $15 million of the $40 million their party is going to cost!! They can't scale back what they don't have!!! (sarcasm off)

[DemoTex]

25. The three days of silence?

That was what it took Rove to gel the plan to exploit the tsunami for maximum political impact. The result was typical Rove. Jeb Bu$h get maximum coverage, Bu$h, Jr. is next. Poppy Bu$h is in the lime-light again, as is Bill Clinton. Clinton is being used .. but maybe it will help. We shall see. Personally, I'm not giving a fucking cent to a charity that has a "Bu$h" name on it. Sorry, Bill.

[Donna Zen]

26. Christian (sic) base:

Someone in General Discussion took a trip over to Freeperville and posted the results. Essentially, junior christian (sic) base is totally against giving any money at all, because:

• They didn't give money to us after 911

• Taxes are stolen from us, and giving stolen money is a sin.

• The people effected cheered after 911.

• God's will

So it seems to me that junior was walking a fine line on this.

The worst part of this that I can see, is that although it was the neocons bashing Clinton for saying something sympathetic, the talking heads have created a meme that the Dems were bashing bush. Also, they are using this tragedy to play "get the UN."