Buried near the bottom of this Washington Post article is a very interesting political note that could, perhaps, throw into sharp relief much of the politicizing (and pushback) we’ve seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
“In 2006, if there isn’t some turn of events, Iraq combined with Katrina and the large budget deficits to follow will create an opportunity for non-incumbents to move in,” said James A. Thurber, a political scientist professor at American University.
Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg briefed a group of Capitol Hill Democrats last week on the political fallout of Katrina, telling them Bush is losing support and that Democrats stand to benefit from the public’s discontent next November if they manage the Katrina aftermath shrewdly, participants said.
Now don’t get me wrong: I have no doubt Republican consultants and pollsters are briefing the Bush Administration on how to handle the political fallout from Katrina (and poorly, I might add: they seem to have settled on scapegoating FEMA head Mike Brown and advocating a pushback campaign to turn blame back onto the Democratic local government—a strategy that is being used by the partisan Dems to “prove” both federal culpability and an unwillingness on the part of the President to take responsiblity); but it is interesting to note that the Dems were poised to politicize Katrina by denigrating the federal response as part of an electoral strategy even before the facts on the ground were understood.
Politics as usual, perhaps, but that doesn’t mean we need to find it palatable.
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update: But hey, if it gets results, right…? (h/t Allah)
Good point. This criticism, from the get go IMO, has been all about 2006 and has had very little to with the any actual ‘belief’ by the usual suspects that the fed response was slow. Regardless of the facts that are coming out slowly but surely, the Dems will continue to milk this for what it’s worth.
If I were into the “gotcha” game, I’d consider sending an email to the RNC suggesting they take the DNC to task for politicizing the Katrina much in the same way the Dems got themselves worked up into a frenzy over the alleged “politicizing” of 9-11 by the RNC. I just shake my head in wonderment at how a political party so routinely gets away with hypocrisy in this country.
Ok, well I really *don’t* wonder. I know why they get away with it. I see it everytime I open a paper or visit a news site. Thanks for nothing, as usual, MSM.
Well, sure, that’s why the Dems are boycotting the investigation. They don’t want a real discussion, or they will be blamed as well.
The Reps who are facing reelection had better speaking up, or they might face a challenge. What does Bush care? He’s a lame duck and doesn’t want the spotlight back on Iraq…until we win.
Makes one wonder if there is actually anyone in the President’s administration that reads the blogs that are doing the real legwork on this issue. I have a feeling they aren’t stretching themselves beyond The Corner @ NRO.
What the Dems fail to understand is that just because people are disappointed/frustrated/whatever with the Bush administration, it doesn’t mean they are willing to vote for the current Democratic party.
The race baiting I’ve seen latley from the Dems have pushed me only further away from wanting anything to do with them. They’re a disgrace to liberal people everywhere.
Let’s face it. If not for the willing media, lapping up every anti-Bush angle they can get, this would be VERY bad news for the Democrats. It’s why the mayor and governor and senator all have turned up the PR heat full blast. They spend a week bitching about FEMA, and then Mary Landrieu has the audacity to get on the Sunday shows and whine about the “blame game”?
Complete ineptitude on the local and state governmental leadership level, moderate ineptitute (performance, hideous ineptitude on the PR front) on FEMA’s part.
The problem is a major misunderstanding of how this is supposed to work. FEMA isn’t a lightswitch that, when turned on, floods the situation with everything needed. FEMA, like most government agencies, is glacial.
Remember the dick who yelled “Go fuck yourself” to VP Cheney last week in Gulfport, MS? He now has a website (with CafePress store, natch).
hurricanekatrinasucked.com
Ah, if I knew how to get the trackback right, I wouldn’t have to stick my trackback link in the comments box….
But since I have, I’ll go ahead and say that I don’t think the GOP has to fear the Democrats in 2006… at least not because of Katrina and Iraq.
I agree, especially down here in the south. This shit the Dems are pulling about “help from Washington” doesn’t play well here. Especially when you are bug-eyed, frothing at the mouth, batshit crazy when you are screaming it.
Most of my fellow working stiffs don’t buy into the racial thing either, we work with one another and know better. Ironically enough, it seems to me that mostly works on uptight whities who aren’t around black folk enough to know it’s bullshit.
I preferred Thurber’s funny drawings and that short story “The Night the Bed Fell In.”
Bob Somerby continues to be a lonely voice of reason on the left on the Katrina stuff.
Boy, that guy who created that site seems like a real asshole.
I hope he gets the Bush shirt I’m donating to Catholic Charities for hurricane victims.
And what might said shrewd management entail?
If it means making sure the public remains discontented until next November, that a)won’t work and b)will cause me to rip my hair out.
If it means they will actually look for good solutions, I’ll be all for it. But I mean real solutions, and not a rehashing of the old solutions, ‘cause I don’t think that 23% of NO in poverty just popped up during the Bush administration.
What about Faith-based initiatives?
It must be a shock for the civil servants at every level to all of a sudden be judged by their results, rather than their efforts or seniority.
Turing = black
Quote from the above mentioned “fuck Cheney” dude:
This guy is an emergency room physician.
Maybe we do have something to fear.
This guy is an emergency room physician. Maybe we do have something to fear.
Only if that fucking retard happens to be the one operating on you in an emergency.
His whole shtick is like “Ooohh.. look at me. I said “Fuck you Cheney” so won’t you buy my fucking T-Shirts?”.
If everyone had the mollusk-like mentality of this guy, we’d be printing out <a href=http://hurricanekatrinasucked.com/db3/00259/hurricanekatrinasucked.com/_uimages/1MrTshirt.JPG>his photo</a> and videotape ourselves taking a big fat shit on it. Or get the dog to do it, if you can’t bear the thought of your perfectly good shit touching his hideous face. Then auction the video off.
Ah, indeed. There’s the very gist…..
okay my fav “hide” the results ploy by the msm is when they
S P E L L out the G O O D numbers…
(in the 2nd graph)
“Fifty-two percent of respondents agreed that Bush was a strong decisive leader and 47 percent did not.”
When I see a poll where more people approved of Ray Nagin handling of the hurricane than Haley Barbour, I have to question their data. I think CNN may be polling the choir again.
B Moe—I can believe those poll numbers. How much time has the press spent on Mississippi vs. New Orleans? When the only pol being highlighted is made into a saint, despite his clear incompetence and failures, then he’ll come out ahead on name recognition alone.
I guess, the thing that worries me, is if people are that ignorant, and so vapid as to believe this:
Frank Rich in NYT:
is there really any point in trying to keep a democracy alive?
Someone yelled “Go fuck yourself” to Cheney? Doesn’t he realize how much danger that puts him in? I mean, won’t he be chained to a steel beam and dumped into the Gulf in the dead of night never to be heard from again?
What a hero!
John Cole’s got a regular “go fuck yourself” fan club, these days. I doubt I’d put up with more than a few dozen milliseconds of that kind of nonsense; John must have skin made of carbon nanotubes.
I am not sure the GOP yet has much to worry about. Let’s remember for a second who the competition is, and who they currently have in charge of their strategizing. Also, during the last presidential election, the Donks had the MSM fully in their pocket, were actually lying and still couldn’t pull of a win. The people, G-d bless us, are far smarter than the politico types give us credit for.
As to the emergency room doctor and his brilliant retort to the VP, I can only offer this. Perhaps a few more classes in meteorology or environmental issues and a few less classes in ‘creative expression might have been in order. I mean for Christ’s sake, how can you build your house that close to the Gulf of Mexico and not expect that Mother Nature is going to knock it down eventually. This genius blames Cheney for his problems? Some one get the man a mirror.
TW – wrong, as in they were the wrong party then and nothing has changed.
I’m putting him up for Sainthood. That place is a cesspool. The only way to “take it back” would be a full frontal assault from about 30 of our brightest. Sort of like a Delta Force of Reason. Then they would have to spend probably 3-4 days dedicated to hand to hand combat with the Borgs.
How can an ER physician justify spending his time baiting Cheney, putting together a videotape and pimping himslef on the web?
Several things about the poll.
1. Weekend polls almost always skew to the left by a few points.
2. The margin or error is wide on a lot of the questions, esp. on Nagin.
3. Bush still comes off better than the state and local officials.
4. Did pollsters stop asking the “blame” question (which started with Bush at 13%, then at 5%), or did the linked CNN story just skip it?
Also, I wonder how good polls are. I never answer polls, and I am conservative some of the time. Okay, most of the time.
It seems to me the libs are more likely to want to vent their political opinions in public than conservatives. I would imagine that translates to a higher phone poll response. Whether they self-identify as republican or democrat probably has nothing to do with it.
and the busheep went baAAAAAAAAAAAA
Well, it’s better than having to gargle on Kos’ cock, I guess.
Which, enjoy the progressive pudding!