Dugger

No, it was not and was never designed to be.

Well, yes and no. The Republicans are also really, really, really good at lying.

But also, Dugger, baby, were you not just singing me the libertarian blues a few threads ago about “Why should some farmer in Nebraska yada yada yada?” Be a wingnut, be a neocon, be anything you want to be but could you please just be consistent?

Any other low-hanging fruit here, hmmm. Well Jay, FEMA was a first response organization until Bush reorganized it. Did you happen to know that? There are plenty of timelines floating around that cover that, kos has a good one.

Actually, yes.

Maybe you do. But I don’t see our host saying people died because of their actions or lack thereof. I don’t see him throwing the word ‘murder’ around the way he has with the President. In fact, I’d like to see just one liberal blog that calls out Nagin and Blanco for their horrid performances. Just one. Brad DeLong is the only one I am aware of.

When the President declared a state of Emergency on Sat - it became primarily Federal responsibility to handle the crisis and the response.

No, that is not true. FEMA is not a first response agency. It is still up to the state and local authorities to put things in motion and to coordinate with the federal agencies. By invoking the federal clauses in their declarations of emergencies, all it does is trigger the feds to start getting ready what state and local officials ask for. It does not mean they take over. Primary responsibility in the first few days still rests with state and local governments. They failed. Miserably.

As for lack of local/state preparedness - Blanco, Naggin and more than a few other local and state officials in the affected states have been begging for more federal assistance that would allow them to address the potential disaster for years - what they got instead were deeper cuts, while tax cuts went to the rich and Alaska got a bridge to nowhere&

Uhh, sorry, but that’s not going to cut it. They had a plan. They knew over a YEAR ago that the plan they had in place was not adequate. And they did nothing. And you think whining that they begged the feds for more money is a valid excuse? Those buses they were supposed to utilize, didn’t sit there because of a lack of federal funds. Their delays in ordering evactuations didn’t happen because of a lack of federal funds. Their utter failure to recognize how serious a storm this was when sending tens of thousands of people to the Superdome with only enough food for one day, ignorantly thinking they’d be going home the next day, is not because of a lack of federal funds.

The DEMS are showing incredible incompetence in alot of things - but for you to suddenly say that it s the DEMS own incompetence to blame for the repubs being in power is too much like the current Repub talking point of blaming the victims of the hurricane& wait, nevermind - shouldn t be surprised.

You completely missed my point, which was to illustrate that the hard-left mainstream of the DEM Party lives in a fantasy world.

The Bush administration attempted to federalize the La National Guard on two occasions. Blanco refused on both occasions, failed to act in a timely manner, and then began pointing fingers when the federal government couldn’t immediately bail her out of a situation she exacerbated. In addition, the La State office of Homeland Security - a subordinate of the Governor’s office - refused access to the Red Cross, which was ready to bring food, water, and hygiene aid to the Superdome, as early as the night of Monday August 30th. Scandalous.

What exactly is your point? Because you have already arrived at a conclusion that President Bush should fire everybody that works for him, hire Oliver and all of his mind-numbingly disingenuous posters to go run things for him?

Nice to find out that your precious levee was not the actual culprit for all of this. Also pretty interesting reading about how the individual boards that run each of the levees were spending their money.

Marty, why do you hate competence?

If Bush et. al. are as evil, dumb, racist, and incompetent as today’s so-called Democrats say they are, is it not the height of incompetence that the DEMS have lost two presidential elections, and control of the congress to these people?

“America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected. Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call to conscience. And though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper fulfillment.”
George W. Bush, Jan 20, 2001

If Bush et. al. are as evil, dumb, racist, and incompetent as today s so-called Democrats say they are, is it not the height of incompetence that the DEMS have lost two presidential elections, and control of the congress to these people?

Well, that and five supreme court judges.

Millions of people fell for the okey-doke as we say ’round these parts - they were sold a false, and empty bill of goods.

They were lied to then, just as we’ve been lied to since…

The DEMS are showing incredible incompetence in alot of things - but for you to suddenly say that it’s the DEMS own incompetence to blame for the repubs being in power is too much like the current Repub talking point of blaming the victims of the hurricane… wait, nevermind - shouldn’t be surprised.