wouldn't it be nice...

[solipsistnation]

...if we could come up with a Democratic presidential candidate who can figure out how to most effectively say "THEY are the ones who LEFT YOU TO DIE" without coming off like he's exploiting the crisis? Democrats typically lose unless they're politically unknown and Southerners. This time around, they'll have a big in with the South to start with. Any bets on whoever it is screwing it up so bad that even destitute survivors of Katrina decide that the Republicans are _still_ a better choice, even with their blatant contempt for anyone who doesn't own a company? I thought not. I don't have great faith in anyone this time around.

Maybe this potential candidate should hire whoever ran Bush's campaign, where he shamelessly exploited 9/11. Remember that? You know, setting up a monumental failure as a positive point? Let's just hope the Demos figure it out before the fascist team can get somebody credible into place.

Not that it'll matter if any more Supreme Court justices kick over dead or retire in the next year or so, but still, it's a nice thought.

Oh, plus we have to survive, as a country, through the massive upcoming economic doom festival we've just been handed.

Yup, the next couple of years will be A BLAST.

Comments

[xinie.livejournal.com]

I want a Jon Stewart/Barak Obama ticket. :)

[qedrakmar.livejournal.com]

Did Somebody Say BLAST?!?!

[jehanna.livejournal.com]

This is precisely what I've been on about as well. Nicely put.

[amymarr.livejournal.com]

Even if they did, it would be a lie.

No one left anyone to die, and to say that is a complete misrepresentation of what actually happened.

If you look at federal laws regarding disasters and assistance, the federal government did its part by declaring a federal state of emergency on the Saturday preceding the storm. The president told the governors and mayors to evacuate their people.

Fact is, the state and local officials are the ones primarily at fault here, but of course no one, democrat, or republican, is saying that.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Mm, okay. I really try very hard not to argue politics with you because I like you but we disagree on pretty much everything. 8)

That said, there are actually people arguing that it was a failing of the local governments. There are then counter-arguments that the local governments were crippled by having federally-allocated funds cut by the Bush administration (the levee-repair fund from two years ago is a good example of this), and so on. It goes back and forth and back and forth and so on... There's been mismanagement everywhere.

There's going to be a LOT of finger-pointing over this, and I suspect it'll take two or three generations of historians to come to any conclusions, by which point it'll all be academic.

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

Well ... not to get into a big argument, but actually, the city's been underfunded for about ten years, not two, starting in the Clinton administration. Though I don't have the links right to-hand to support that claim, and I apologize for that.

I think just about everyone fell down on the job this time -- feds, state, and locals.

[amymarr.livejournal.com]

And of course, FEMA's underfunded, as well - that's nothing new, either. Hindsight's 20/20 - we've KNOWN something like this could and would happen years ago. In fact, National Geographic ran an article about it just last October. Here's a snippet that is, quite eerily accurate:

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City...

"The killer for Louisiana is a Category Three storm at 72 hours before landfall that becomes a Category Four at 48 hours and a Category Five at 24 hours—coming from the worst direction," says Joe Suhayda, a retired coastal engineer at Louisiana State University who has spent 30 years studying the coast."

[jon3.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

There are enough legitimate things to complain about that we don't need to start adding in the whackjob stuff.

[kittenexploring.livejournal.com]

Vote for X!

She's never left millions to die (started wars, etc)

[krzzl.livejournal.com]

It doesn't matter either way. Now that the "poor black people" are homeless, the Republicans don't have to let them vote w/o proof of address or ID.

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

What shocks me the most is the fact that Bush&Co. are finding buyers for their bleatings of 'Waaa! You are playing the blame game! How dare you question us about our inefficacy while people are still suffering?' Umm, sir, maybe *because* your inefficacy worsened the suffering?

I am taken aback by their effrontery really - they are too incompetent/callous to do their job but everyone must patiently suffer/choke down their anger and let them bumble on. Bah.

[delicarose.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Thank you, it was well put.