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"How a hurricane becomes a political opportunity"

If you answered, “Jesus, you’re still talking about that stupid rainstorm?” you’re wrong, but only about how a hurricane becomes a political opportunity.

As a practical matter, you’re right as, well, you know.

Seriously. It was like somebody televised an extended metaphor of my prom night. Only with flooding. And on-location reporters who, unlike my prom date, actually got a little wet.

Category 1, indeed.

40 Replies to “"How a hurricane becomes a political opportunity"”

  1. happyfeet says:

    next time around people are gonna ignore that bloomberg piece of shit even more than they did this time cause he’s a fucking loon

  2. mojo says:

    Ah, youse New Yorkers think a hero’s some kind freakin’ sandwich, so whadda you know?

  3. OK. My mom was refusing to leave her house at the Jersey shore on Friday and my wife was freaking out. I figured if my mom and her house got wasted by the hurricane then the horrible post-funeral fight with my five siblings over how to dispose of the shore house that I can only use one week a year would settle itself, so not a win-win, but a lose-win, right. So I wasn’t too worried. Then my mother saw Christie on TV say that if she stayed, there would be no rescue. So my mom left. Now she’s a fan of Christie. Go figure. Also, now I still have to figure out how to poison five people and their families… maybe tap water?

  4. geoffb says:

    Bloomberg had already, with salt and transfats etc., pre-positioned himself perfectly as the “little mayor who cried wolf”, so most didn’t listen to him. Thankfully it wasn’t a Katrina class storm and Bloomberg should be out of office before a real emergency hits and no one believes him then either.

  5. geoffb says:

    maybe tap water?

    Queenie says even bottled will do just fine.

  6. dicentra says:

    You’re all wrong.

    This is an opportunity for Glenn Beck to convert you all to Mormonism through the LDS tenets of “self-reliance” and “provident living,” an insidious campaign if ever there was one.

    Guess we’re bustid.

  7. Abe Froman says:

    This wasn’t a standard political opportunity so much as an opportunity for political redemption after the epic snow storm fuck ups over the winter. Well, Christie simply being on vacation wasn’t an epic screw up so much as Bloomberg’s incompetence was, but the local drama surrounding this hurricane was totally a case of overcompensating which was obvious to everyone. Bloomberg forced everyone’s hand by shutting down the transit system, and now he’s an even bigger joke than he was previously.

  8. dicentra says:

    Bloomberg had already … pre-positioned himself perfectly as the “little mayor who cried wolf”, so most didn’t listen to him.

    After the blizzard, people should also know him as the “little mayor who won’t do a damn thing to help during a disaster.”

    So be like all the other New Yorkers and run to CVS two hours before landfall and yell at the cashier for being too slow.

  9. Pablo says:

    It was like somebody televised an extended metaphor of my prom night. Only with flooding. And on-location reporters who, unlike my prom date, actually got a little wet.

    I shot this from Fort Wetherill at about Noon yesterday in shorts and a T-Shirt. A couple hours later on TV, I’m watching national reporters in full storm gear in Newport talking about it being fiercely pounded by winds…of 40 MPH.

    Meanwhile, there’s all kinds of stuff they should have been talking about, but weren’t.

  10. Jeff G. says:

    Shep Smith was desperately hoping he’d get to chronicle cannibalism at the new Meadowlands.

    Poor Shep. Still a bug-eyed douche in lots of makeup.

  11. JD says:

    I am glad everyone is alright, and glad that my friends out East got to experience Midwestern spring weather.

  12. cranky-d says:

    Like JD said, the last time we had driving rain and 40 mph winds was a few months ago. Add a few tornadoes just to mix it up and you have spring, baybee.

  13. LTC John says:

    #10 – Jeff, that would have been epic satire material….although I guess I am glad we were spared the whole thing, overall. I do work for an insurance company, and I don’t think we have any cannibalization exclusions endorsed on our recent policies.

    Our Gov sent NY some of our National Guard aviation assets – nice to see a Dem gov make a feeble gesture of support for another one, all while degrading our own capability – WIN!

  14. Pablo says:

    We get plenty of that here too. They call ’em Nor’easters. Nothing new to us.

    LET’S ALL FREAK OUT ANYWAY!!!!!

  15. B. Moe says:

    On the down side, Michelle Bachman spells out why I can’t get in her corner:

    “I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’

    Don’t have a problem with most Christians, but that is too far over the top for me, and would get her annihilated in a national campaign.

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/article1188559.ece

  16. Jeff G. says:

    I agree on that, BMoe. But because it came from a MSM source, I’d be happier with a transcript to make sure I’m getting the proper context.

  17. bh says:

    Sounds like she was joking. Bit awkward but that’s not uncommon with extemporaneous speech.

  18. Jeff G. says:

    See? Thanks, bh.

    I don’t trust the MSM on anything. And the pull that BMoe offered sounded just like they think all overtly religious people sound. That’s why it’s important that we get the context.

    And by we, I’m speaking of me, not of those who purposely shape the context we’re given in order to pretend someone is, say, making a death threat.

  19. geoffb says:

    Yuval Levin at NRO agrees with you bh.

    It’s all terribly interesting, but not so much for what it tells you about the right. There are some fascinating and important tensions between science and the right, but they have basically nothing to do with the left’s “war on science” fantasies—these critics have such a poor grasp of the reality of contemporary conservatism they seem genuinely to believe that Michelle Bachmann was serious when she joked to a crowd that last week’s earthquake and hurricane were messages from God about the deficit. It is interesting, rather, for what it tells you about the left and its self-understanding. The “war on science” stuff never moved many voters, but it was a powerful rallying cry for committed liberals, affirming their understanding of themselves as the party of science and of their opponents as an army of ignorance.

  20. happyfeet says:

    christians and their zany sense of humor I tell you what

  21. geoffb says:

    God’ll get you for that ‘feets.

  22. happyfeet says:

    just joshing

  23. Pellegri says:

    Is Yuval Levin married? I want to marry that man. And I’m definitely going to read his book because yes.

    Seriously. Even though I’m one to complain about having a hard time finding people among my peers in the Church who have my interests in science and academics, that’s because women my age regardless of religious affiliation aren’t interested in science. Even across the age spectrum, girls aren’t interested in science, mathematics, engineering, the whole lot. (Even a lot of boys aren’t.) We’ve got the public school system to thank for that nonsense and nothing more; the whole “war on science” is a lot of retarded idiocy fabricated by people who don’t even understand the science they pretend to serve.

    It makes me want to throw things.

  24. Pablo says:

    It was still a dumb joke and she ought to know better. It’s hard to get your message out with your mouth full of feet.

  25. LBascom says:

    Dogs and Christians need to learn to keep their yaps shut.

  26. newrouter says:

    i’m with mr. hermanator

    Another enjoyable moment was when I responded to a question about being serious about securing the border with a moat with alligators and a barbed wire fence. Spontaneously, I simply said, “America needs to learn how to take a joke.”

    Upon reflection, the American people do have much more of a sense of humor than a lot of media people, because people at rallies and town hall meetings get the joke. They laugh! Media people want to know if I’m serious. That’s a joke!

    Link

  27. geoffb says:

    _____ the other religion.

  28. geoffb says:

    When Did Irene Stop Being a Hurricane?

    Long before the news and weather people reported it apparently. Inflation is taking place in every place and thing. Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles, it’s a Welkian world

  29. B. Moe says:

    She needs a new comedy writer then. That isn’t all that funny from someone with a degree from Oral Roberts, is all I’m saying.

  30. Darleen says:

    B Moe

    The Lefts faux outrage over Bachmann’s bantering is very much the same thing they did to Reagan when he joked about bombing the Soviets or GW was looking for WMD around the Oval Office.

    Us humorless Republicans and Conservatives never joke… everything we say is but a mere window on our dark theocratic EEEVVVILLLLE motives.

    Don’t roll your eyes at Bachmann, tell the Left to piss off.

  31. LBascom says:

    “That isn’t all that funny from someone with a degree from Oral Roberts”

    Your reaction to it is kind of amusing…

  32. Pablo says:

    Dogs and Christians need to learn to keep their yaps shut.

    No, but people who hope to be elected POTUS need to keep their knowledge of the mind of God pertaining to natural disasters to themselves. It’s just bad form.

  33. Slartibartfast says:

    We’ve got Katia brewing, now, so there’s opportunity for tragedy lurking out there in the not-too-distant future.

  34. Slartibartfast says:

    I shot this from Fort Wetherill at about Noon yesterday in shorts and a T-Shirt. A couple hours later on TV, I’m watching national reporters in full storm gear in Newport talking about it being fiercely pounded by winds…of 40 MPH.

    By that time, Irene had been more or less eviscerated on the land side. The Atlantic side of the storm was still rather busy, but hurricanes get their life from ocean heat, so once they make landfall it’s a matter of time.

    Usually it’s the tornadoes and rainfall that are problematic once they go onshore. The rainfall has caused some problems. But you have to admit that if Irene had come onshore as a (for instance) Cat 3 hurricane, things could have been much worse.

    It’s the one you’re not prepared for that gets you.

  35. LBascom says:

    “but people who hope to be elected POTUS need to keep their knowledge of the mind of God pertaining to natural disasters to themselves. “

    Perhaps, but do you really think she was claiming knowledge of the mind of God pertaining to natural disasters?

    It was levity, and if it offended you, I would respectfully suggest your undies are a tad too tight…

  36. Pablo says:

    It’s not that it offended me, Lee. It’s that it’s politically stupid. She must stop sticking her foot in her mouth if she’s going to have a chance. I’d like her to do that, immediately.

  37. Pablo says:

    But you have to admit that if Irene had come onshore as a (for instance) Cat 3 hurricane, things could have been much worse.

    Without question. I did a whole lot of prep work that proved to be unnecessary, and I’d do it all again given the same potential. I’m just saying that I watched the end of the storm and then 3 after hours later had people doing live shots telling me what a beating we were taking. We just weren’t. It was over. It was windy. But that story wasn’t good enough, apparently.

  38. LBascom says:

    “It’s that it’s politically stupid. She must stop sticking her foot in her mouth if she’s going to have a chance. “

    Eh, I seriously doubt she has a chance at POTUS either way. I give ten to one odds it’ll be Perry, with only a long shot Bachmann will be the VP on the ticket.

    Remember who’s VP now? Hint: chewing a raw clove of garlic wouldn’t cover the smell of feet on his breath. Still, no one seems to care because he’s the democrat VP, and the media hasn’t told them Biden has to go to the podiatrist when he has a toothache.

    Whoever the republican candidate is, whatever they say, the media is going to paint them as idiots and insanely dangerous.

    I remember one of the first attacks on W Bush was, his extreme faith would have him forming a theocracy. It was stupid then and it’s stupid now.

    It was politically stupid only if we keep playing the lefts game.

  39. LBascom says:

    That is, politically stupid for the right is to be confined by how the left will spin their intent. It goes right back to the argument about Rush saying he hopes Obama fails.

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