This Is Not Over’s Miss Alli:
People are going around and around about who should have done what at what time to get food and water to the victims of Katrina, and to get the buses there to evacuate people from the city who didn’t get out on their own, and to get medical care to the elderly so they wouldn’t die, and to get control of the shelter areas so that people wouldn’t be beaten, raped, and murdered at the convention center and the Superdome. Let’s assume we’re not deciding who should have done what at what time.
My problem with Bush—and here, I do indeed address Bush individually, as a guy—is that during the time that the crisis was developing, from Monday to Friday, he never seemed to experience any actual sense of urgency as a result of the simple fact that people were, minute by minute and hour by hour, dying.
Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt that he was being prevented from acting by bureaucracy and the sheer magnitude of the situation. Where are the stories of how he was in his office freaking the fuck out because there were tens of thousands of Americans trapped without food and water? Where’s the story of how he ripped a strip off of somebody, demanding to know what the holy hell the holdup is getting water and food to those people?
I want to hear about how he was demanding that extraordinary steps be taken. I want to hear about how he sent his lawyers into a room—he had four days, you know—and demanded that they come back in an hour with a plan for him to send the Marines into New Orleans with 100 trucks of food and water, posse comitatus or not. I want to hear that he was panicked. Because I was panicked. Everyone I know was panicked. Everyone I know was gnashing their teeth with helpless rage because they couldn’t get in a car, drive down there, and drive a load of homeless Louisiana residents back home with them for soup and a goddamn hot bath. I want to hear that he acted at some point out of genuine despondency about the fact that citizens of the country he is supposed to be running were being starved and dehydrated in a hellish, fetid prison. We are dancing around now about whether it is his failure or not his failure. Where is the decency that would tell him that he is the president, and FEMA is part of his administration, and this failure is his to own and apologize for, whether other people also were wrong or not?
Or, shorter: WHERE IS PRESIDENT JOSIAH? WHERE ARE THE TEARS…? WHERE IS CLINTON, BITING HIS BOTTOM LIP, FEELING MY PAIN?
Me. Me. Me. Why didn’t the President act like me? Or at the very least, couldn’t he at least fake it?
Well, there is a simple answer: He’s the President, lady. He needs to remain in control.
Personally, I’ll be very happy to learn that a calm, level-headed President didn’t “freak the fuck out” and attempt to throw the baby out with the floodwaters.
Because, your feelings aside, the Constitution is not a document of convenience, good for keeping law and order and setting up the checks and balances of government until, y’know, we really really really really want to see it’s guiding powers pushed aside in favor of meeting the demands of people looking for the President’s “human side.”
Bush pushed the Governor for a mandatory evacuation. He cleared the pipeline for federal help. In short, he did his job—which, as a crisis unfolds, consists of remaining firm, resolute, and in control, and not contributing scenes to a made-for-TV movie.
Christ. The Oprahfication of America is just about complete, I fear.
(h/t Lisa)
****
update: Evidently, if you don’t agree with Miss Alli or her Amen Corner of anti-Bush harpies, your comments are not allowed on her site.
Because, just to be clear, it’s important we know how BUSH feel. But you Biblethumping, banjo-playing cousin fuckers? Not so much.
That is all.
****
update 2: Is there a correlation between geographical proximity to the disaster site and a hesitation to apportion blame?
And more importantly, has anyone bothered to tell Shepard Smith and Anderson Cooper?
Everyone you know is a nancyboy
I think there is something here that is because of the HYPOCRISY, but I simply cannot find it.
This man just wants to see Bush cry. Cannot stand that the “STOOPID TEXAN EVANGELICAL CHIMP” is calmer than he is in a crisis.
Y’wanna know what I think? I think Miss Alli is over. And that her website’s name is therefore a lie.
MISS ALLI LIED AND THE PRESIDENT … DIDN’T CRY!!!1!
Dangit, Monkeyboy not only beat me to the post, he beat me AT posting. Dangit. You win the thread so far, monkeyboy.
This is exactly the type of calm, reasoned discourse we’ve come to expect from the contemporary left.
So that would have made it all better? If Bush had thrown a hissy fit? This just proves what we have always know. It’s all about how you FEEL. Emotion rules the day. If you FEEL for the poor then you have done your civic duty.
You couldn’t be more right Jeff. I want a President who is calm, resolute, and in control. Not some emotional basket case.
Who ARE these people??????
Think Progress has provided us with a Blame Bush timeline. Go check it out.
Maybe it really is a slippery slope.
I can imagine back in the repressed 1940s, some tight-jawed exemplar of iron will being told to get in touch with his feelings, and being asked “what’s the worst thing that can happen?”
Well, the worst thing that can happen is apparently that the entire country will turn into a pack of sobbing empath antirationalists.
You know, having a few of those people around is healthy. They’re canaries in the coal mine – when their sobs start to turn into shrieks, then those folks with a little more steel in their spine can be aware that maybe the stress is getting too high. But when the whole damn nation is one fucking therapy session, it’s just disgusting.
Well if by Oprahfication you mean a strong person who stood up and made herself a force through sheer determination and stick-to-it-ness then I have to disagree. If you mean it based on the crap that comes out of her mouth, then yes, I agree.
Do as she says, not as she does.
Well, at least we still have internet p0rn. For now.
I suddenly just experienced an actual sense of urgency as a result of the simple fact that people are, minute by minute and hour by hour, dying in car crashes across the country. As I set here typing somewhere someone is trapped in a mangled, smoking wreck, dying.
I am going to write my congressmen demanding that 6-point minimum roll cages be mandantory in all cars, as well as full racing seats and 5 point selt belt harnesses for the driver and all passengers. Nomex or Proban fire suits and full face helmets will also be required for everyone in the car.
Combine this with the removal of all carpeting, vinyl and any other flammable material, and a full halide fire suppression system, we could easily cut highway deaths in half, probably over 75%.
GODDAMMIT PEOPLE ARE DYING OUT THERE!!!!
the Democratic governor, who has clashed behind the scenes with the Bush administration since the storm hit, refused.
There it is. WaTimes and WaPost agree on this basic element. They must have been clashing about something. Somehow I don’t think Jeb and W do much clashing during disasters so it’s reasonable to suspect one was playing partisan politics.
The words and behavior of Blanco and her advisors have that distinct aroma of political mistrust and preemptive self defense. At every critical juncture we find out that W was on the sidelines calling out the proper play and Blanco was second guessing based on political considerations and partisan suspicion.
Posted at DrSanity:
B Moe
Don’t forget silverware. Some of that stuff is dangerously sharp. Plastic sporks, safety goggles and helmets for everyone.
Has anyone really considered that apparently no joos died during the hurricane or it’s aftermath? I’ve heard, that all the joos left town hours before the hurricane hit.
TW: given; as in, it’s a given someone is thinking this.
You’ll forgive my fan-girl squeal at your posting this, won’t you?! I feel so VALIDATED!
You know, my ex-wife and I went through two big crises together: shipwrecked for several days on one occasion, and she was in a major car accident for the other.
In both cases, I remained calm, did what I could, tried to keep her calm — took her to the doctor after the wreck (she wouldn’t go in the ambulance), figured out how to get the boat off the spot where we were aground (the guy who had taken us freaked out)….
And this was her big complaint too. I wasn’t scared enough. I didn’t emote enough. I was calm and competent and occupied with making things work.
It’s like I was saying “grownups and children”. Sheepdogs and sheep, as Bill Whittle put it.
Read Alli’s comments. Morons; all of them.
You’ve probably seen it, but Drudge is linking to good commentary here: http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007219
This actually dovetails nicely with the “constructive criticism” to date.
There were demands that Bush get down there and do photo ops to inspire the nation, then immediately following Bush’s visit there were complaints that Bush was down there doing photo ops.
It’s the perfect Catch-22.
Where were the up-armored semis???!!!
I heard the same crap from our, get this, sportstalk radio station yesterday. Bush is too stupid to get rattled, I’ll bet his pulse stayed in the 40’s, blablabla. Yep, we’d much rather have someone run around shrieking and flapping his arms around.
These ninnies don’t understand about organization or delegation or leadership. There are times to kick some ass. This is not one of them. Unless it’s the mayor and governor you want to kick.
Bush does have a couple things working against him, Jeff.
For starters, Michael Chertoff suffers from <a href=”http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/04/recount.wrap/link.ginsberg.jpg”>Ben Ginsberg Syndrome . Ben Ginsberg Syndrome is a media condition which afflicts people who appear on television.
BGS causes the message to be lost as viewers focus on the appearance of the messenger – in Ben Ginsberg’s case, he looks like The Leprechaun, so his rebuttal of criticism of Ginsberg’s role with the Swift Boats is rendered moot. Michael Chertoff evokes … well, Michael Chertoff is just plain scary looking – Michael Chertoff could play Vincent Price’s roles in any future remakes of old horror films.
Secondly, Bush is, for the most part, inchoate in situations which have a public expectation for prefabricated rhetoric. There’s a stumbling-bumbling aspect as Bush appears to think through his response rather than letting words fall trippingly from his tongue. It doesn’t bother me, in fact it strikes me as being somewhat authentic. Bush gets better over time.
But, the job comes with its PR aspects. While you can decry the Oprha-ization of America, it’s reasonable for the Left to consider Bush’s ‘The Chevy-Chase Show’ act less than fulfilling.
Lastly, Bush has made several rather tin-eared responses to Katrina. Bush could have/should have cut short his trip to San Diego, though the trip was to commemorate VJ Day … and Bush wasn’t playing golf.
At the end of the day, this tragedy will come down to the lack of effective local response by the city and the state.
The dead bodies are the direct result of local failure of government to adequately prepare their populations for the hurricane and the immediate aftermath.
The federal government can take the blame for the length of time those corpses float around in the water.
O Dubs and Co. will, of course, fail to see the distintion.
If Miss Alli didn’t exist, Jeff would have to invent her…
That’l teach me to read the entire post, starting at the top. For a moment there, I thought that you had LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND, because, for a moment there I thought this was your post.
Sanity prevailed and I started over.
Mr. President, calm, collected, yet a sense of urgency; managing the crises, delegating authority to competent people, staying out of their way, getting barriers out of the way.
Simply by the way he manages the crises, imbues subordinates with confidence; a “can do” attitude.
Contrast with “President” Kerry. “Christ, where’s my brush?? LOOK at my hair!! Get that photographer in here!! OK, get a boat on Air Force One. Get Sean Penn. I’m going to go to NOLA and let everybody see me rescue people. Where the hell is my LUCKY HAT???
When in danger or in doubt,
Run in circles, scream and shout.
OT. It is till not safe in the streets of NOLA.
Miss Alli,
You can’t handle the truth! Lady, we live in a world that has floods, and those floods have to be fixed by men. Who’s gonna do it? You?
I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for New Orleans and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know – that the time it took to get FEMA to New Orleans, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.
You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me in charge—you need me in charge.
We use words like “honor,” “code,” “loyalty.” We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a woman who rises and sleeps under the Federal Emergency Management Agency that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it.
I would rather you just said “thank you” and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a shovel and build a levee. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to!
Sincerely,
George W. Bush
Don’t y’all just LOVE the name of the site? They (there’s more than one contributor, god help us) started it right after the 2004 election.
“This Is Not Over”? Yeah, honey, it kinda is.
HERE IS TRUTH:
To the leftwing, IMAGE REALLY IS EVERYTHING.
Please read the following:
Vision of the Annointed by Thomas Sowell
Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell
While we’re on the subject of overly-emotional reactions to the Katrina crisis, consider this fresh specimen from the fever-swamps of rumor:
the levees were deliberately breached (in some accounts by high explosives, in others by a barge’s deliberate ramming) in order to spare the more expensive properties in New Orleans.
Yes, I know – it’s completely absurd, and like most FOAF-type stories, has all the hallmarks of a very nasty urban legend, most particularly in the absence of any corroborating proof.
I post it only because this rumor is very much in circulation in both Mississippi and Louisiana, and because it’s only too likely, given some of the other nonsense that’s being reported, to make it into national news coverage.
Which is depressing, to put it mildly.
What the fuck happened to Cole’s comment threads? It’s almost like dumbasses are funneling their sharpest marbles there by the dozen.
Bush assumes the best in people – that they will respect a calm and reassuring leader.
Unfortunately for him and for us, there are plenty that don’t… they think if you are not upset, you just don’t care. These people relate much more strongly to the crying Governors and cursing Mayors, so they vote for them again and again. Eventually, they win the Darwin award.
Great, just what everyone needs, a Prez who is freaking out.
Yep, that would solve everything.
.
After the speech, he met with hospital staff and visited with wounded military at Balboa Naval Hospital. Call me selfish, but those are the kinds of trips that I’d rather he not cut short – PR or no PR.
The comments at ThisIsNotOver.com were fascinating. Obviously the Oprahfication of this country is very advanced indeed.
I particularly liked one woman who referred to W as “this ‘man.’” Does anyone else remember the Church of the SubGenius? They worshipped a guy named Bob who looked like a pipe-smoking Fifties-sitcom dad, and some of their literature asked the provocative question: “Who is this ‘man’ Bob?” At this point, the left’s hatred of Bush has gone way beyond the political into the metaphysical.
TW: not, as in, “Not the way I want to see the President behave, Miss Alli.”
Ah, the Church of the Subgenius – the only religion that offers a money-back guarantee if one suffers eternal damnation as a result of their teachings.
Speaking of ugly urban legends being formed before our very eyes, did anyone catch Oprah’s interview (stop laughing. My wife TIVO’d it for me. Sexists. Like a guy can’t watch Oprah and still retain him masculinity.) with the Chief of Police in N.O.? He said babies were being raped inside the Superdome.
Can that really be true? I mean, because that’s right up there with cannibalism, possibly a rung or two below cannibalism. If it’s true, its a horrible indictment of the sort of humanity that lives in N.O.
If it’s false, why the heck is a public official spreading awful, awful lies?
I want to hear about how he sent his lawyers into a room—he had four days, you know—and demanded that they come back in an hour with a plan for him to send the Marines into New Orleans with 100 trucks of food and water, posse comitatus or not.
This from a real fan of the Patriot Act. Can’t these knotheads keep their talking points straight?
I had a book about the Church of the Sub-Genius in college many moons ago.
Great stuff! I loved the philosophy of “slack” because it dovetailed quite nicely with a friends theory that we dubbed the “Niemeyer Postulate”: the grade received is always inversely related to the amount of time spent studying for the exam.
Kill Bob!
Jeff, you da’ man! And so is Bush. Bring it on world, we’ve got a Chief Executive that doesn’t wet his jeans when it tough out there. And he doesn’t treat his people like so much compost either. No wonder we’re the envy of the whole world.
W’s not perfect, and sometimes on the wrong side of an issue, but I’ll follow a calm, cool and collected President to storm the gates of hell. Hell, of course, is anywhere a blubbering, sweaty, and panicked metro-sexual rules the roost.
Hey kids, let’s play make-believe!
Let’s pretend that, if Bush had spent his time panicking and “freaking the fuck out”, the left wouldn’t be using that as proof that he’s unfit for office and needs to be removed immediately.
Gosh, this is fun!
Bill Whittle touched this very subject:
I have to say, I’ve been mostly impressed with Bush and the federal response. I am curious about what y’all might have to say about FEMA head Michael Brown. He was a bit underqualified for his position. Furthermore, he was Joe Allbaugh’s (former Bush Chief of Staff and head of FEMA) college roommate. Allbaugh left FEMA to start a consulting firm that represents engineering firms that deal in disaster recovery. While I don’t know of any specific wrongdoing, here, that sure sounds like a classic patronage scandal to me. Thoughts?
Brendan,
That is a fun game. I play the one where he does everything perfectly and the one where he does exactly the same thing but his name is Bill Clinton game. Very enjoyable.
He read “My Pet Goat”!!!
But then he didn’t!
What a racistfacistnazicowarddictator!
“I want to hear that he was panicked. Because I was panicked. Everyone I know was panicked. “
And that, thank God, is why your party is not in political power right now.
Fred,
There were unsubstantiated reports of rapes of children. I would hope that the NO Police Chief wouldn’t be getting his crime reports via second-hand reports from blogs, though.
Compare Bush’s response to the alternate reality where Schwarzenegger is President.
Arnold would have personally led the rescue in an armored Humvee, taken out FEMA director Michael Brown with a flamethrower (“You’re fired”), and cried real Cyborg tears while rescuing a little girl’s cat from a tree.
God, how I miss that universe.
”…in his office freaking the fuck out…”
I only scanned the quote—is that about Howard Dean?
Yes, of course, the President should have wailed and rent his garments; thrown lamps; chased Donald Rumsfeld from his office every time he tried to bring up the ongoing activitites in Iraq and Afghanistan, or that damnable BRAC; chastised Condi Rice for trying to discuss Iran’s and North Korea’s ongoing nuclear proliferation plans or the unfolding U.N. crisis; told Alberto Gonzales to take a hike if he asked about a nomination for the pending Supreme Court vacancy; smacked John Snow upside the head if he asked about the estate tax bill, reforming social security, dealing with the loss of the Federal Reserve Bank branch in New Orleans, or how to finance an extra $100B; screamed loudly at Elaine Chao if she tried to work out the details of how to provide long term unemployment insurance for 500,000 people; perhaps only snarl at Carlos Gutierrez as he presented his plans for addressing the economic impact of Katrina’s aftermath; manhandle Alphonso Jackson if he says another word about temporary housing for a whole city; and take a swing at Scott McClellan if he dares suggest that the president should even respond to the most egregious and hateful accusations thrown at him every day.
No doubt our therapist-in-chief is letting us down. The only question remaining is whether it is because to the hypocrisy or because of the flies.
Turing word: call, as in who ya gonna call? Or as in Blondie’s Call Me. Or as in The Call—“They blew their horns and the walls came down, they ain’t laughing anymore.”
“of”, “to”, whatever.
Turing word: local, as in think globally, Blame Bush!
I assume image is all. Image and mind-reading.
tw: across. The image of Clinton laughing at Ron Brown’s funeral keeps running across my mind….
Charles:
It’s “on account of the flies.”; )
I resent that….
So, how’s that workin’ for you, Chimpy?
You may know that Miss Alli writes for Television Without Pity, which is a great site for often-witty TV recaps, but infested with a sui generis contempt for Americans, especially Red Staters, religious people (at least of a non-Unitarian site), Republicans, and, of course, Dubya. The site is populated with Coasters (left and right), Canadians, and upper Midwesterners.
They are as platitudinous and judgmental as any Alabama preacher.
Anyway, to get to the TV part: I think a lot of them see the prism of the presidency through The West Wing. That show, of course, shows us the private moments and titanic emotional “on-the-one-hand-on-the-other” gyrations of Jeb Bartlett and his aides.
They do NOT, of course, have any glimpses into the interior life of Dubya, or his possible reaming out of underperforming aides, or any of the quiet moments he might have with Laura.
Despite that, Miss Alli and her ilk know – they know – that Bush doesn’t have them, because they long ago decided that Republicans bad, Bush robot chimp minion of Big Oil and Big Jew.
Which, of course, they pass off as an educated, sophisticated, nuanced vision of the world.
Now I don’t have to tell you good folks what’s been happening in our beloved little town. Sheriff murdered, crops burned, stores looted, people stampeded, and cattle raped. The time has come to act, and act fast. I’m leaving.
TW: country. He should’ve cried like it was a country song.
Susan, yes, thank you. I really should use preview.
Turing word: part, as in no more rehearing and nursing a part…
Scenes from the Presidential Debates, September 2008:
Moderator: And now, a question about hurricane Katrina. What the American people want to know is not how you would have handled the situation, but you would have felt. Your feelings on the subject candidates?
Candidate A: I was extremely panicked during hurricane Katrina.
Candidate B: I shit my pants.
Candidate A: Well I was so hysterical that I broke everything in my office.
Candidate B: I just shit my pants all over again.
JeffG: Where are my pants?
Fucking hole.
And that little blog is apparently an echo chamber, because my Typekey-regulated post hasn’t appeared.
HOW DARE YOU STIFLE MY DISSENT!
“I want to hear that he was panicked. Because I was panicked. Everyone I know was panicked. “
And that, thank God, is why your party is not in political power right now.
Sheesh. I posted that on their website, and it was deleted almost immediately because;
“Scott’s comment was removed because it was snotty and had no actual content.”
But not before it got a few of the weepers panties in a twist. Heh.
Oh, and I was also castigated for taking the Lords Name in Vain. Eh?
Heaven forbid one should bring a dissonant voice to the echo chamber.
Prats.
so i’ve been thinking they either A)want the President to do nothing but watch tv all the time and react to it, or B)have him hire someone to watch for him and let him know what to react to. so where can i sign up for that job?
phreshone,
I actually quote a Blazing Saddles line in my posting over there, the part about “a whompin’ and a whoopin’”. Never got posted, or got deleted.
Thoughts?
Yea. Shutup Johnboy, the adults are having a discussion here.
In other words, she wanted him to act like Bubba Clinton.
I lived through Bubba’s visit to Des Moines in ‘93 after the 500 year flood. The water works had been flooded—no potable water for 250,000 people. The National Guard had a chinook helicopter ferrying sandbags. But Des Moines International Airport is only so large, so when Bubba visited to feel our pain, as a result he shut down the chinook because of the security requirements for Air Force One.
Bubba actually increased the pain we were feeling with no drinking water. Bush is doing something about that situation in New Orleans. There’s a wee bit of a difference between the two and it’s called LEADERSHIP.
I don’t really want my president to be panicking. But it would be nice if he showed some “urgency” , urgency meaning that he was going to y’know, get stuff done, or make sure other people were getting stuff done, or… something, involving stuff that is not being done and it getting done ASAP. Unfortunately to me seemed like he did a lot of talking slowly about stuff that was already done. And then you change the channel and Shepard Smith and Geraldo are freaking out about all the stuff that is not actually done. (Or maybe the media made it all up and no one was living in their own filth without food or water. This is also possible.)
I can see how it might be nice to have him being all serene and saying everything is under control. But, Sadaam and his people were doing the same thing while we took over their country.
There are a lot of ways to remain calm in a situation and still show that you are aware of it, and that it has affected you and that you are doing things about it. But I really never got that impression. Maybe he needs a new image consultant or something.
It is important that we have a President who exists in the same plane of reality as the rest of us. And while we may, I think that it remains to be seen.
Shinobi, please point me to a major failure in the relief effort. Not a pundit’s opinion, but a real failure. Everything I have read everywhere indicates relief got there as soon as it possibly could. The fatal mistake was not issuing a mandatory evcacuation order. Which is not in the province of the feds, but the locals.
BTW, I’ve noticed the local authorities have cried alot. Are you asking for histrionics for histrioics sake? Are you saying the locals mistakes are a good because they were followed by crying, screaming and gnashing of teeth? I’m assuming not.
Tell me you didn’t just … OK, no, I will give you the benefit of the doubt.
As to showing urgency … well, how do we know he wasn’t showing urgency from his office/plane/palatial vacation estate from which no communications are ever available?
I just can’t get worked up by someone who doesn’t go on the TV pounding his fist (a la Kruschev and his shoe), gnashing teeth and so on. As far as I can tell – and knowing what I do about massive logistical efforts – there’s nothing to indicate to me that he personally failed. Wasn’t perfect? Of course, there’s no way to deny that. But it’s the same people that NEVER give him the benefit of any doubt at all that are piling on.
These people accuse us of defending his every move, regardless of circumstance; those same people are guilty of condemning every single move he makes, regardless of circumstance. But I know which group has the most trouble acknowledging further information as it comes in, nor do they seem to have any appreciation of the burdens that come with the office. In fact, if you even bring that up, the dodge is either “He’s not really in control” or “Like he cares”.
It’s impossible to know for sure, but I wonder how many of the people griping about him not showing urgency would have accused him of playing politics if he’d gone immediately on TV and started emoting and stuff.
I don’t count you in that group, Shinobi.
Because, just to be clear, it’s important we know how BUSH feel. But you Biblethumping, banjo-playing cousin fuckers? Not so much.
I got upset about that a couple days ago when it happened to me with Pandagon. Then I remembered an old post there, written just shortly after the election, in which it was speculated that maybe Democrats had harmed themselves by retreating into an echo chamber. And then I felt GREAT.
Really, the disappearing acts lefties do with opposing viewpoints? It’s like that briar patch that I don’t want to be thrown into under any circumstances.
“Gnashing” is such a cool word. Right, Corvan?
Patrick
Blazing Saddles is still the ultimate anti-PC movie.
Did you mention the number 6 dance as well?
TW: former. Say hello to former Mayor Nagin.
So… Shinobi, you wanted Bush to talk faster? What are you, some kind of fuckin’ idiot?
You know, Andrea, that was another one of my ex-wife’s complaints.
Maybe she was just a closet Democrat?
TW: “material”. How the fuck do I know?
No, actually I was hoping he’d say something intelligent. Which may also make me some kind of fucking idiot.
Fortunately I can’t be executed for being stupid. Or unfortunately, depending on your point of view.
And I don’t blame Bush, I am simply critical of his handling of the situation. As I am similarly crticial of all of the officials and politicians involved. However unless he (or any of the others) are a catagory 5 hurricane then this is clearly not their fault.
maggie,
I don’t think they could pay me enough to sit around and watch TV.
tw:money. There just ain’t enuf.
maybe Jeff does type those words in??
Forget this politicul shit. She waz my sekond cuzin and i only did it wonse. and i wuz only helpin that sheep over the fense.
Is America buying the relentless “blame the feds” media blitz?
No. Not really.
Which, does this mean Shep won’t get his Pulitzer?
I don’t know. Is his Pulitzer his left hand or his right hand?
Here’s my comment to ThisIsNotOver. It appeared, and I took a screen shot of it. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts (5:13 pacific time).
I’ve been reading the comments, and many seem to refer or pertain to comments by people whose views may diverge from yours. I hope I’m wrong, but it seems as though a diversity of opinions are not encouraged here, and all dissenting comments are deleted.
Please tell me that is not the case, because I would love to provide some relevant facts and experience that would be useful in analyzing the issues being discussed here. However, I will refrain from wasting my time until I see that this post is not deleted.
Really, this is not one of those wholely out-of-touch ultra-liberal echo chambers, is it?
LA Sheehan: BUSH KILLED NEW ORLEANS
*
Okay, I missed the press conference where he drooled and wouldn’t say anything but “Life is like a box of choc-o-lates,” and “my dog eats cat food.”
TW: ‘what’—as in “say what I want to hear, that’s what I call intelligent!”
I don’t get this sudden fascination with urgency. As if anything gets done because the chief executive of anything gets all frothy. Maybe on TV, but that’s not a part of emergency mitigation. Anything other than calm application of established plans, with constant re-evaluation and revision where necessary, is exactly chaos.
TW using. What’s in your wallet?
Maybe you need new impressions.
Or something.
That’s an extremely interesting observation.
Now that I reflect back on comment threads I’ve been in the past few days, as a rule people who live in Florida (like me) and have seen the huge ass-whuppin’ of hurricanes that still didn’t cause nearly the scope of loss of the Katrina catastrophe, generally have been withholding judgment until all the facts are in (like me).
Maybe it has to do with possessing a firsthand understanding that relief fairies don’t normally appear with Dasani and Fig Newtons as soon as the wind dies down.
Which may also make me some kind of fucking idiot.
You know, Shinobi, self-insight like yours can be very valuable.
From Miss Alli:
Dissenting opinions are not deleted. Trolling is deleted.
Posted by: Linda at September 7, 2005 10:27 PM
Please, read my post above, and tell me how evil it was.
Wow, are you gonna have to take sensitivity training.
Relief fairies indeed.
Miss Alli-bawl-bawl and her minions are being echoed at the DU, where this bumpersticker is being promoted (not to worry, it’s NOT a DU link) said sticker
The blood of New Orleans is on Repubican hands
And the post contains just this Alli-like complaint
Their president? Obviously, this idjit has renounce his/her American citizenship. My hope the gate doesn’t slap his/her ass on the way over the border.
The part that completely cracked me up was the…
As if I voted for W. ‘cause I wanted the CIC to pull a Butterfly McQueen every time trouble came along.
Idiot.
Alrighty then:
I posted this in response to Miss Alli’s deleting my polite request to offer a different opinion. I am apparently banned from commenting.
“I’m curious to know how you define “trolling?”
Since you don’t know anything about me, and I said nothing except that I might have some different insights, you deleted my comment and prevented your faithful from reading it. Does that sound fair to you? Does that promote diversity and the cherished right of free speech?
I was censored before you had any clue about my qualifications to comment, or what my observations may be. You merely sensed that I might view things from a different angle than you, and you squelched me. Nice.”
I don’t know firsthand because I wasn’t around to see it, but I hear that when JFK went on the air and began tearing out handfuls of his hair during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it really had a calming effect on the nation.
ok, I just posted my own comment over there and took a screenshot of the posting time… does this sound “trolling”?
posted at 11:29
Mark
Alli seems to be keeping anyone that comes to her site via Jeff’s link from signing in through type key.
I opened a new window and typed in by hand. Refreshed once can got the comment window.
But let’s see how long I last.
Sean, you’re right. The part I liked best was when he started screaming “WE’RE DOOMED! WE’RE ALL DOOMED!” It’s steady leadership like that what made America what it is today.
Oh, that didn’t happen? Damn.
If I don’t get at least one screamed chorus of ‘Run for your lives you fools’ from my elected officials during a time of crisis, I know I feel shortchanged.
well, you know, harrison ford handled it so much better.
Personally, I like to hear “every man for himself!” That’s leadership, Baby.
Darleen is right: we get no warning before an earthquake, and little warning before a wildfire. And after one hits, the local, state, and Federal authorities try to, um, work together, rather than at cross-purposes.
This has actually worked well under both Republican and Democratic administrations. And a lot of other sites of natural and man-made disasters around the country have experienced the same thing.
So why is the situation in NO/LA different?
Miss Alli’s Ideal President: “Okay, what have we got happening in the world today?”
Miss Alli’s Ideal President’s Chief of Staff: “There’s a car parked on Constitution Avenue next to an expired parking meter.”
Miss Alli’s Ideal President: Jumps to his feet, shrieks so loud he ruptures the Chief of Staff’s eardrums, and runs right through the bulletproof-glass windows into the Rose Garden. He runs across the South Lawn, leaps the fence, runs past the Ellipse and into the Washington Monument, climbs the stairs three at a time, reaches the top, and leaps to his death.
Miss Alli’s Ideal President’s Chief of Staff: “Wow. He cares!”
I always try to refer my patients to a surgeon who will get ratlled and show it -especially if it’s a bypass or something life threatening.That way,I know they care.I don’t know-maybe someone who keeps cool in a crisis(Ted Kennedy certainly wouldn’t panic when rising water threatened innocent people)-would be a better C-in C.
Let me add this as a posible response to stressful situations:
“When in danger,or in doubt
Run in circles,scream and shout.”
I have no doubt that would have satisfied the readers at Miss Alli’s
TomB–That was inappropriate. The facts are clear, and not inconsequential. Further, Rep. Wexler (R) called for Brown’s resignation after last summer’s hurricanes. Sure, I’m nobody, but I think he probably counts as an “adult.” Finally, I generally support Bush. Brown’s lack of qualifications fits perfectly into the old politics of personal destruction meme–“ignore the issues–go after the individual, instead.” Progressives are generally better at that than conservatives, for a variety of reasons.
This is probably getting to be a deadish thread, but I wanted to add some info on the “lovely and talented” Miss Alli. She is Diva of TWoP as another poster noted, and absolutely treated as a goddess there – she and her many minions will ban or warn a poster for posting pretty much anything she doesn’t like.
There’s an evil alternate universe to TWoP – the very crass and sometimes funny “PlanetSucks” site – where they have a whole thread dedicated to Miss Alli: “The Twat of Twop: Show Miss Alli Some Loathing”.
She banned me, during the season of the Apprentice where Kelly won. Thus the reason I sent Jeff this link. Teach her to mess with ME.
Plus someone needed to smack down those moonbats.