Bush speech: Lots for both parties, ideologies of all stripes to hate

[Inland]

Bush suggests a huge increase of funding and spending controlled by an administration that hates government and is infested with cronyism and sweet deals for political patrons----a recipe for disaster whether you are conservative and feel that government isn't the answer, or a liberal and feel that government is the answer.

Bush is, in effect, the no-answer, or the negative answer--the government that is incompetent and corrupt AND expensive, that can neither help nor resist the temptation to engage in the pretense of helping by spending tens of billions with Halliburton and pork and tax breaks. You don't have to be Grover Norquist to want to find a big bathtub for this crew.

Those who see Iraq in Bush's speech are spot on. The current Iraq policy of nationbuilding was, like Katrina, forced on this administration by failures. It promises much, but nobody can clearly see any result besides big contracts going to private parties at the expense of the taxpayer and lots of bad planning and adverse results. So far, that's precisely FEMA. Bush promises more of the same.

The other aspect of the Bush speech to hate was, again, an Iraq policy parallel in the demand for more executive power without concurrent accountability or competence. For everyone who thought that giving the administration a free hand in Iraq was a means to a good end has got to be choking on Bush's call to federalize and militarize disaster responses, particularly as the incompetence of the administration leaks out after attempts to spin the best out of it.

[underpants]

1. (looks around) psst ... over here......dare I say "Triangulation"????

Ssssshhhh don't tell anyone....he makes strong decisions you know