The PR Offensive
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Is anyone watching this photo op with FEMA and the Alabama governor and Bush on CNN? What is the purpose of this dog and pony show? Why does Bush have the same “I have no idea what I’m doing” look on his face that he did on 9/11?
I’m wondering if Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin will get to be a part of the show like Republican governors Haley Barbour and Bob Riley have been?
>> Robert Cox finds out that Goodyear’s blimps have been unable to fly over NO and provide information because of the security situation.
UPDATE: Those photo-op helicopters could have been used to save lives in New Orleans.
A TV insider emails TVNewser: “The buzz in all the hallways here at ABC, and I’m told among my friends at NBC is how astonishingly unprepared Bush seems for this. Can we even be impartial about him anymore?? We’ve already gotten many e-mail calling for his impeachment…”
Indian headline writers could teach our domestic press a lesson or two.
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
I have said it numerous times, if you’re poor and/or brown, this administration doesn’t give a shit about you, period.
It’s this Calvinistic world view of if you’re poor or not white, it’s somehow your fault. And the only thing that gives me hope at night is rereading the book of Luke and the passage about people being shut out of heaven because they didn’t get it.
If those people still stuck in NO were white, the Gov’t would have most of the people rescued by now.
First you were all bitching about Bush not being there. Then, we he does get there, you all bitch about it being a meaningless photo-op. I guess the only thing that might have satisfied you is if Bush had stopped the hurricane. Of course, then you would be bitching about him interfering with the environment.
Is it time yet for moderate and conservative supporters of Bush to face the fact that in two elections, they were sold a bill a goods.
What would satisfy me is if we had a leader instead of a confused, frightened child. What would satisfy me is if the Bush administration had, after repeatedly saying “9-11 changed everything,” made good on its word to get the big cities ready for major disasters like this. Why do you continue to put Bush’s poll numbers ahead of the lives of your countrymen?
No – we were not bitching about Dubya not being there – we were bitching about Dubya not DOING ANYTHING!
A LEADER would have dropped everything and spent the last week making damned sure everything possible was done as fast as possible or there would be Hell to pay. It’s another ‘My Pet Goat’ moment.
We need a LEADER who cares about all his fellow citizens, not a moron who gets a deer-in-the-headlights look every time something unexpected happens.
Who we elect DOES matter. Government policies DO matter. We are seeing the stark reality of that in the desperate faces of our fellow citizens throughout the disaster area. The conservative ‘hate-all-government’ mantra has failed us miserably. It is time to bring compassion, caring and shared responsibility back to the forefront of our governments’ reason for existing.
You would think that, even though this was a natural disaster and reports say that money was diverted from the levee maintenance to homeland security “stuff”, that these levees would have fallen under that heading. What if instead of a hurricane causing this some terrorist just used a bomb to blow a hole in the levee?
And “AMEN!” to what you said TomY. We need someone in charge who isn’t so far removed from reality that they can pull together the psyche of this country and make things happen to help these people. He should have some practice from 9/11 for crying out loud!
I’ve been following the Katrina story, simply speechless at what has been going on. I’ve read the comments here day after day and tried to understand what has been going on in your country. I am still at a loss for words at the sheer size of this tragedy.
I work for a power company in one of the largest cities in Canada. I have been involved in emergency planning and response as a Project Manager and know what it’s like when emergency response plans are not followed. It’s obvious that the emergency response infrastructure that should have been in place to help direct communications, response and strategy is not working. There are two basic reasons for this: either the authorities–who had ample notice to prepare–did not plan adequately, or those responsible for the execution of the response plan did not follow the plan. A third, most likely reason is a combination of the first two.
The fact that information coming from FEMA and the president himself has been unreliable (or just plain wrong) and late in coming is particularly disturbing.
As a fellow human being, I am aghast at this devastation; as a professional, I am appalled at how poorly prepared this administration is to deal with a catastrophe of this magnitude. As the neocons like to remind us, it reeks of a pre-911 mindset.
nudnik, yeah it is great that he finally got off his backside and got down there. Pity that he didn’t go down to the Superdome to talk to the people there – that’s the iconic image for this story, as the rubble of WTC was after 9/11. Of course, even with 400 secret service agents, the people there would have ripped him limb from limb. So we get a photo-op stage left instead.
Compare this to pretty much any disaster in any other country in the last 10 years. The leaders of those countries are on the streets in the devastated area *the next day*, with only minimal bodyguards and as much local military as they can muster at their backs. Then it’s back to the office to get other world leaders on the horn and start co-ordinating additional relief. People thank leaders who do that. They fall over themselves to pull up their sleeves and help get through the crisis.
Bush has failed to follow the most basic script for how a leader deals with a natural disaster. And he is a coward – unwilling to look the worst victims of this crisis in the eyes.
Rhys, you’re exactly right about Bush. But his “advisors” know better than to go down to the Superdome at this point, because our dear leader will definitely be exposed to the kind of dissent that Rove loves to shield him from. You are going to get the same reaction from the black faces, that you got from those white ones after 9/11. People are angry and upset about a lot of things, but Bush is right near the top of the list.
I don’t usually watch FAUX, but just now Geraldo reported from outside the converntion center in NOLA that as of 5:20 PST, there IS NOT ONE SINGLE BUS there to evacuate 30,000 people.
The NOLA police chief was on the air PLEADING for help.
What the hell is going on?
Perhaps the NOLA mayor was right….suspend all self congradualtory PR events until these people are saved.
On CNN some paid-military analyst was saying “we didn’t expect a total failure of a city.”
What the hell would a dirty bomb or some other type of massive terrorist attack do to Chicago or Seattle or Miami?
Even Andrew Sullivan is calling the four years since 9.11 a MASSIVE f-up.
We are not ready. We’ve had four years and this NOLA debacle is proving that this administration…at ALL LEVELS (City, State and Federal) did not heed the warning of 9.11
This goes beyond politics.
And to all the politicians talking about “the blame game”…did you ever notice the first people to complain about “finger-pointing” are usually the people at which the MOST fingers are pointed?
As in other hot spots, the neo-con trolls are waiting for the embedded reporters with the National Guard units to tell them what to think.
Hmmm … where did all the neo-con trolls go? Awfully quiet in hereand the other threads all of a sudden. Must be off having a meeting to formulate the next round of blame-redirection talking points.
Obviously there is more than enough blame to go around here and that blame has to start with the City and of course, end at the White House.
Why was the City so poorly evacuated under threat of a Category 5 hurricane?
Where was the City’s law enforcement when rescuers are being shot at?
It took less than 10 years to put a man on the moon. Why has it taken the Federal Gov’t nearly 40 years to build NO’s levee system and why was it to take almost another 10 years before the system was estimated to be able to handle a Category 4 or 5 hurricane?
Why is Geraldo crying?
Why don’t parents move heaven and earth to get their children out of the path of a Category 5 hurricane?
While it was acknowledged that a storm surge could go over the levees, why wasn’t a break in the levees anticipated?
Why isn’t Texas getting the credit it deserves for doing a better job than the Federal Government?
Will Pink Floyd reunite again for the U.S. or only for Africa?
Where’s Bono?
Should the National Guard have been able to mobilize faster?
Are there enough troops?
Where was FEMA?
How soon before Giuliani’s plane lands in NO?
And the list goes on, and on …
One thing this shows is that we as a people are completly incapable of imagining the unimaginable. This inability impairs our response at all levels of government. That is not to excuse government’s failures, but to exacerbate them.
Mouse,
I think you’re on to something – we’ll definitely be hearing a lot more about the “pre-Katrina mindset.”
And Hedley, both you and Mouse are asking good questions. Regardless of who is in power, we are fools if we expect the Feds to fly in on magic carpets within ten minutes of a major disaster and wave their magic wands to make it all go away. Cities have got to be prepared. And New Orleans city officials have a lot to answer for in the wake of their unbelievably poor response to the flood.
There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for having no police presence in the city. There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for not having adequate food and medical supplies in the Superdome, if indeed the Dome was *the* storm shelter for the entire city. There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for the city not having a plan to evacuate large numbers of poor, especially since we watched the storm on radar for FOUR DAYS as it headed toward the Louisiana/Mississippi coastline.
And there is NO EXCUSE for the residents of New Orleans to have been caught off guard so completely by the flood. I live in the middle of “Tornado Alley,” and in my basement we have two Tupperware storage containers with blankets, a first aid kit, food, bottled water, a radio, and various other items we will need if a tornado strikes our home. Why didn’t the city work with residents, particularly those who live in the most flood-prone areas, and help them establish flood survival kits? Again, the residents had a four-day warning before the storm hit.
As for the President, he is not making most people happy, even on the far right. I will be the first in line to call the “blame Bush for everything” crowd a bunch of idiots. But the sad truth is that we apparently don’t have any kind of Federal plan to provide the massive relief aid that the region will need. And we are not seeing any kind of evidence that Federal authorities had any kind of a realistic plan for rescuing flood victims. Their failure is on an equal plane with that of the City of New Orleans. And coming after 9/11 and the billions we supposedly spend on “preparedness,” it is an utter embarassment.
And don’t think for a moment that Al Qaeda isn’t taking a lot of notes right now.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur said this in 1940:
“The history of failure in war can almost be summed up in two words, too late. Too late in comprehending the deadly purpose of a potential enemy. Too late in realizing mortal danger. Too late in preparedness. Too late in uniting all possible forces for resistance. Too late in standing with one’s friends.”
I’m afraid that the words “too late” will become synonymous with the New Orleans disaster. Fortunately the individuals of this country seem to have a lot more sense than their government, and have rallied in unbelievable ways to provide for the storm’s victims.
rhys – hopefully the “neo-con trolls” are out doing something constructive, like helping with refugees who are flooding into every city within 500 miles of New Orleans. That’s what I’ll be doing tomorrow.
I have been reading the replies and comments by Brown and CHertoff in regard to what reporters and police have said to them…”oh, no, ‘everything is okay, its under control…I havent heard of any dead bodies, etc. etc..the troops are here and doing a good job.”
This is what you elected, people, dumb bastards who dont have a clue. No matter what…’gee, Brownie is doing a good job.” no he’s not! He is a moron. ANd Chertoff….he looks like one of the corpses and about as animated…these guys are idiots…they do not know what they are doing and they will not succeed no matter what because they are white collar office geeks. They are scared out of their wits because it is their failure to comprehend that is part of this whole stinking mess…THe police tell them what is happening and they just smile and say everything is oky doky…
For the first time since this cotton candy administration has been in office, the media people are starting to act like reporters. Anderson Cooper, etc…even Elizabeth Vargas is acting indignant…if you reporters had done your job four or five years ago, the President might be worried enough to actually do his job, but you have let him skate through everything.
Christ…where is the dignity? People in Bangladesh have this crap happen every year and they dont start shooting each other…oh, wait. Walmarts in Dacca dont have guns. But anyway, I am embarrassed to witness my America coming apart at the seams.
And quit defending him…Bush is an incompetent fool. I know it and so does the rest of the world. Wake up. This yellow elephant is just about tits up.
“rhys – hopefully the neo-con trolls are out doing something constructive, like helping with refugees who are flooding into every city within 500 miles of New Orleans. That s what I ll be doing tomorrow.”
And I’m sure they’ll be all here bragging about it and beating down on us liberals for not helping. To head that off, let me just point out that moveon.org’s Hurricane Housing project, which has been running for several days now, has already resulted in pledges of 74,672 beds as I write this (hurricanehousing.org).
Insult to injury…word coming out now is that during the entirety of Bush’s Photo-op today, air-space needed to be secured…which meant NO HELICOPTERS for rescues and supply drops.
The company I work for has helped raise >5 million dollars for the Red Cross – I am playing a show and both bands have agreed to donate the door – if I was closer I would bring a shovel to help move debri – all I have is some money to help and as it is the first of the month I have a little more then usual.
What I don’t have is patience for the yahoo’s who show up here and spew their excuses and try to play a game of chess with who owns what and that aint the Security of States Job crap…
Where I work – we don’t say that ‘ain’t my job’ we just do what needs to be done. Where I work we are held accountable for safety – if I create and unsafe work environement for my crew – you can believe I am gone looking for a new job. If I don’t clean up a safety issue the moment I see it – I have failed those whose job it is mine to protect.
I am sure that there are those who will say the “Bush-haters” are just making a lot of noise or this is a tempest in a teapot – History will prove them wrong and the ‘Bush-haters’ right to have been completely blown away by the dumbest President ever.