[altroots] The Blame Game - It's Showtime

The Blame Game - It's Showtime

By Rodger French
September 7, 2005

Hear that sound? Finally... the well-oiled machine that is the Bush
administration has swung into decisive action in this time of national
emergency. I refer not to the Department of Homeland Security or FEMA. No,
I'm talking about the amazing right-wing, fact-rending, truth-sucking spin
machine operated by Karl Rove, Bush Junta Minister of Propaganda.

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up and be astounded as Mr. Rove and his
minions expound for the rubes in the American Homeland on how the inept
federal response in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was absolutely...
positively... conclusively... (wait for it)... someone else's fault.

You know, if the situation weren't so tragic, this shit would almost be
funny. Nevertheless, in the interest of fairness, let's take a look at King
Karl's Kavalcade of those who are to get the blame for making his
incompetent (but very fit) Commander-in-Chief look bad.

1. The local authorities: Why did New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin not do more to
evacuate the poor citizens of New Orleans? I don't know, but that's a fair
question and deserves an honest answer. Why didn't he do something about the
levees? Could it be because they're not in his jurisdiction? Why did he
allow the situation to get out of hand at the Superdome and Convention
Center? Could it be because he was fucking overwhelmed? Nah, spin away.

2. THE STATE AUTHORITIES: Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco's first
response was to call for a "Day of Prayer." Like maybe God would think it
over and take His hurricane back? Not the most pragmatic leadership, in my
view. But her real failure, according to the Rove spin meisters, was that
she didn't ask for help from the Feds soon enough.

Before we proceed, here's a message from your friendly, neighborhood
Department of Homeland Security website:

"In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale
emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary
responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response
professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a
coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and
mounting a swift and effective recovery effort."

Seems clear enough. Now here's what Governor Blanco wrote in an official
letter to President Bush dated August 27, 2005 (just the fun parts):

"I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that
effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected
local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to
save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or
avert the threat of a disaster. I am specifically requesting emergency
protective measures, direct Federal Assistance, Individual and Household
Program (IHP) assistance, Special Needs Program assistance, and debris
removal."

"I request Direct Federal assistance for work and services to save lives and
protect property."

Governor Blanco also provided a basic list of needs. And here's the
administration response, dated August 28, 2005:

"President Bush has declared a state of emergency for the Gulf Coast state
of Louisiana, as it braces for the expected onslaught of Hurricane Katrina,
set to make landfall on Monday.

Saturday's emergency declaration authorizes federal officials to coordinate
all disaster relief efforts and provide appropriate assistance in several
Louisiana parishes."

"Coordinate all disaster relief efforts." Sounds pretty darned unambiguous
to me. Of course, it didn't say when. There's your loophole, Karl; spin
away.

Incidentally, Bush neglected to tell Governor Blanco about his latest
photo-op visit to her state; she found out he was coming from the Associated
Press and managed to tag along. Nice touch. Needless to say, Mississippi
Governor Haley Barbour was fully informed.

3. THE CITIZENS OF NEW ORLEANS: Those pesky poor Negroes could have made
Beloved Leader George W. Bush's life a lot less complicated if they had just
left town. What possible excuse could they have? No money? Everyone has
money in Bush's America. No car? Everyone has a car in Bush's America. No
support system? Actually yes, the people of New Orleans had a support
system; it's just all happened to be in, well... New Orleans. Where their
homes were.

Wait, I've got it: they stayed in town so they could take advantage of
enhanced career opportunities for looting. Brilliant! Spin away, Karl.

[This update: All is well with the evacuees in the Houston Astrodome
according to no less an authority than Barbara Bush: "Almost everyone I¹ve
talked to says we're going to move to Houston." Then she added: "What I¹m
hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone
is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena
here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this - this is working very
well for them." Thanks, Barb. We can see where George gets his boundless
compassion.]

[Take a moment... OK.]

I have received criticism from people wondering why I'm being so hard on
Bush, Michael Chertoff (who, in my opinion, is an arrogant prick) and
Michael Brown (who is just clueless) while not saying nasty things about
Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco, both of whom are Democrats. That's a
reasonable question and I have a reasonable answer.

I have never claimed that either the Mayor of New Orleans or the Governor of
Louisiana are blameless in this mess; that¹s clearly not the case. But the
Mayor and Governor don¹t work for me; George W. Bush does and he didn't do
his job. While the nation held its breath waiting for the storm, Bush went
golfing.

One didn't have to be a Homeland Security expert to know five days in
advance that a Class 5 hurricane was headed straight for the Gulf Coast and
that it would unquestionably (1) inflict immense damage and (2) put New
Orleans' levees in serious jeopardy. Five days. Could it be that I had
access to more information than the most powerful man on the planet? Hell, I
don¹t even have cable.

And for those folks who claim that it was not possible to get massive
federal aid in sooner because of impassible roads and other logistical
nightmares, I have one word (altogether, now): Iraq. Geraldo Rivera got in;
Harry Connick, Jr. got in; three college kids from Charleston, SC in a
Hyundai got in. If the National Guard troops whose job it is to respond to
these kinds of disasters weren't in Iraq pissing their lives away in
Glorious Crusader George W. Bush's war, they could've gotten in too.

It's another tragic turn in the same sorry spectacle: Bush blows it and Rove
spins it. This is quite the polished little song & dance and it's the one
thing these guys are really competent at. But the usual spin may not get it
done this time, so Karl has come up with a new act. The Bush administration
is going to launch a thorough investigation into what went wrong. That
investigation will be personally overseen by... George W. Bush.

Spin away, Karl. Spin away.

[Rodger French has a weblog to which he will periodically post thoughtful
essays and opinionated rants for your consideration:

http://home.earthlink.net/~deluxevaudeville/rgfrenchweblog/]

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