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View Full Version : Hurricane Katrina: Blaming Bush



Novanglus
2005-09-02, 04:50 PM
I see a lot of people playing the blame game here in the hurricane aftermath. People are blaming Bush for all kinds of things already. Many are saying that we are not getting them relief quick enough. They say that Bush rushed into Afghanistan and Iraq for oil, but he's taking his time with Hurricane Katrina as though we have no interests there.

I don't understand the "rushing into Afghanistan and Iraq" argument. We went into Afghanistan two months after 9/11. On top of that, we didn't go into Iraq until March of 2003....over a year and a half after 9/11. So no one "rushed" into the war.

On top of that, it's a lot easier to deploy troops and supplies to place that has things like electricity, functioning airports, clear roads. These are things that Iraq has and New Orleans DOES NOT. Not to mention that the wars did take months of planning (for deployment at least), while the hurricane is only days old.

As for the actual destruction, we need to remember two things:

1) The destruction spans 90,000 square miles (equivalent to over one and a half New York States!)

2) We've never dealt with anything so widespread before, bigger (in size) than many nuclear attacks.

So much was destroyed. Remember, no roads (debris and flooding), no electricity, airports that are only now starting to be able to receive supply flights. Does anyone seriously expect to be able to supply and/or rescue people from an area the size of a whole state in only three days? That's not practical, and blame is not fair.

This tragedy is very different from 9/11 because of how widespread it was. To compare the size, 9/11 was one city block, maybe two total if you add surrounding destruction. Hurricane Katrina was spread over a massive area. So you can't expect to have relief and all the problems solved within three days.

Things don't go perfect or smoothly and the first thing that people want to do is play the blame game. Who better to blame than George Bush, right? Granted, rescue efforts could be better, but we've never faced anything like this before, and Bush is not the man to blame for it.

The situation is horrible. But I think we need to fight our instincts to look for who to blame and concentrate on fixing the situation. I gave a similar argument to someone and his response was "Well who DO we blame then?" I snapped back at him "Stop blaming people and grab a ****ing shovel! Write a damn check! Standing there and crying won't do anything to help!"

The best thing for people to do is to take out your credit cards and call the American Red Cross at 1-800-HELP-NOW. Even $5 helps.

USAF Pilot 07
2005-09-02, 05:25 PM
Liberals are still sore after the 2004 election... If you haven't yet realized it yet, they'll blame Bush for anything bad that happens...

jakbar
2005-09-02, 05:25 PM
Liberals are still sore after the 2004 election... If you haven't yet realized it yet, they'll blame Bush for anything bad that happens...

Amen to that.

UrbanExplorer222
2005-09-02, 09:31 PM
Yeah you honestly cant blame Bush. He is the one who made the hurricane!???!! lol Im not the biggest Bush lover but he did the best he could. Troops are now there, food, water..w/e they need. He even admitted that "The results are not acceptable." And wants to change them. There is NO reason to blame Bush. For now things are gonna be a lil tough with gas and all, but at least we HAVE our homes. In my opinion these people should have new homes built for them in different states, by the government. New Orleans will never be the same again.

T-Bird76
2005-09-02, 11:37 PM
This is turning into one of the biggest political nightmares this country has ever seen. To blame Bush for the problems in New Orleans is a joke. It’s easy for the media to sit in their nice studios scream rant and rave, "Where's the supplies". This only happened five days ago!! Should we have staged supplies just outside the city to be destroyed by the hurricane to?

Tons of supplies have been flowing into the city today and the National Guard will be in full force within the next day or two to restore order. This goes back to the issue of personal responsibility. The Gov't of New Orleans was not prepared in the least bit to deal with this and they should have. It’s no secret that New Orleans is hurricane prone and large-scale storms have hit them in the past. The results of this storm should not have been a shock to the city Gov't. But blaming the President is really outrageous. The mayor of this city needs to be a leader! Rally your Police, Fire, and civil servants, and lastly rally your people.

It is just terrible what is happening and my heart goes out to all of those people but stop blaming other people and look in the mirror. Look at your own gov't, look at your police force, and look at the example your leadership is setting for the people and take a stand.

Matt Molnar
2005-09-04, 07:42 PM
Friday at Looney Toons Headquarters, also known as Union Square Park, there were a couple of hipsters, a guy and a girl...the girl was walking around with a poster sized cover of the Daily News showing the destruction in NO. The guy was yelling that the suffering down south is a direct result of "the most evil regime in the history of the world: the Bush Regime" and that he should be impeached as a result of the hurricane. I almost punched him in the face for getting all close to me and yelling in my ear, and for being stupid.

These people are quick to blame the Bush Admin, but of course don't mention the Dems who run the show down there who are truly to blame. The local officials had no plan at all. The governor is simply not up to the challenge. The mayor with his entourage look like a crew on Rikers Island. All they do is complain without doing much of anything to act. There is no wonder the city is in anarchy. With all the corruption in the government and police down there, bad guys running the show isn't really a giant step. New Orleans on a good day is the least civilized city in North America north of the Rio Grande.

They say Bush was asleep at the wheel while on vacation, but he declared states of emergency on Saturday before Katrina even made landfall. They talk about the unprecedented destruction and disruption of communications and transport, and in the same breath ask why it's so hard for the help to arrive.

Novanglus
2005-09-04, 07:51 PM
They talk about the unprecedented destruction and disruption of communications and transport, and in the same breath ask why it's so hard for the help to arrive.

Wait.

You mean to say that liberals were contradicting themselves? Are you SURE? Nah, couldn't be.

</sarcasm>

I wish I was down in Union Square to squareoff with those idiots.

Matt Molnar
2005-09-04, 10:17 PM
Matt Drudge is making some great points about the whole situation on his radio show tonight, echoing many of our thoughts and bringing up other ideas. 770AM in the NYC area, http://www.wabcradio.com/listenlive.asp to listen online.

He's been playing audio clips of New Orleans residents a week ago saying how they'd never leave, and how if New Orleans is destroyed they might as well die with it. One lady laughed and said she'd rather live and die in New Orleans than live and die in Dallas. He wondered if that lady is laughing now, or if she's even alive now. Drudge also pointed out something that I've been believed for awhile now, that even though North America deals with some of the earth's most extreme conditions, Americans typically throw Mother Nature the finger.... whether it's New Orleans built below sea level in a hurricane prone area, or the huge developments in Florida also in Hurricane Alley, or the 70-story First Interstate Tower built on a fault line in Los Angeles.

Matt Molnar
2005-09-04, 10:25 PM
Surprise, surprise...Reuters jumping on the Blame Bush Bandwagon with a bold opening paragraph:


New Orleans collects dead as officials dodge blame
Sun Sep 4, 2005 8:59 PM BST
By Mark Egan

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans began the gruesome task of collecting its thousands of dead on Sunday as the Bush administration tried to save face after its botched rescue plans left the city at the mercy of Hurricane Katrina.

This will likely be the jumping off point for the 2008 campaigns.