I guess Bush has totally lost Andy Sullivan because he has just been rip,

[MSgt213]

ripping him apart lately.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "3:32 P.M. Ben Morris, Slidell mayor: We are still hampered by some of the most stupid, idiotic regulations by FEMA. They have turned away generators, we've heard that they've gone around seizing equipment from our contractors. If they do so, they'd better be armed because I'll be damned if I'm going to let them deprive our citizens. I'm pissed off, and tired of this horseshit." - from WWL TV.


THREE SOPHOMORES SAVED SEVEN PEOPLE: But the feds were helpless. If you're not outraged yet, read this story. Money quote: "We found it absolutely incredible that the authorities had no way to get there for four or five days, that they didn't go in and help these people, and we made it in a two-wheel-drive Hyundai." But this is the Bush administration, buddy. They still haven't secured the road to the Baghdad airport, remember? (Hat tip: Alex Whalen.)

THE SILVER LINING: Americans have already donated a record $404 million to help the victims of Katrina. That's the America I have come to know and love. As an immigrant, the one thing that has always struck me very forcefully about Americans is their willingness to volunteer and their readiness to lend a hand to others in need. Most Americans don't realize how striking this is. I grew up in England and my view of America was often related to their helping people in need and their remarkable hospitality. I know the proportion of foreign aid is not that high compared to other countries, but when you really needed help, America came through with the bulk of the money: from AIDS in Africa to the tsunami victims, and especially with domestic disasters. The ethic may come from the legacy of building a country out of a raw continent (where helping strangers was contingent on their one day helping you), but helping others out when in need is part of the American way. I also associated American government with a kind of benign competence - maybe out of a collective memory of GIs' rescuing Western Europe from Nazism and, eventually, Eastern Europe from Communism. I think part of the collective shame is that this didn't happen this time in America itself - at least quickly enough. It violated a core American value. This is the second basic American value this administration has violated. The other is humane treatment of enemy prisoners in wartime. Perhaps the reason people feel more than simple frustration with Bush - the reason it amounts to anger - is not "Bush-hatred" (although that irrationality exists), but this president's squandering of so much of what is best about America and his pandering to so much that is worst. I don't fully understand it. I don't think it's malevolence. I think it's a mixture of arrogance and incompetence. But the damage it is doing to some of the core meaning of America - that this is a country that rescues people who are in dire straits, and never, ever abuses prisoners in its military custody - is deeply distressing. And it will take time to restore that kind of reputation and, yes, honor.

http://www.andrewsullivan.com/index.php?dish_inc=archives/2005_09_04_dish_archive.html#112595711640127756

[OldCurmudgeon]

1. Andy needs to grow up

And needs to grow up, and realize that he's been one of Bush's enablers.

Yes, Andy did give a last-minute lukewarm endorsement to Kerry in '04. But that was just butt-covering, just in case the voting machine "fix" wasn't in, and Bush went down in flames.

Other than that, Andy's been carring Bush's water for a long time.

Just wait a week or two, Andy will be back to his old ways.
Like a dog returns to his vomit, he'll be back on his knees, side by side with Gannon, before his neocon masters.

[calimary]

2. Good one.

I'm liking what I'm seeing from this guy. Former republi-CON? Hopefully he'll stay this way, instead of slumping back into being an apologist/excuse-maker/enabler like so many of the rest of 'em...

Always appreciate seeing evidence of another saved soul. I hope this epiphany is for real, and that it lasts. And maybe makes a difference.