Post-Katrina America
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A popular refrain of the right and the Republican party is that “9/11 changed everything”, and they’re mostly right. 9/11 did change our national posture towards terrorism and the middle east, and we’ll never be completely ignorant of international forces building up against us again. But there was also another event that changed a lot, if not everything. Hurricane Katrina.
The media has moved past it, but America hasn’t. It put for the first time in clear contrast the difference between the right’s rhetoric and reality. It’s one thing to say everything’s running great in Iraq, because the media will cover it for two seconds and grow bored as the bombs increase. But it’s a whole other thing when the President declared that his appointed head of FEMA was doing a “heck of a job” when in fact New Orleans was under water and old people were being drowned in their homes.
It hit Bush’s approval ratings in a way John Kerry and the Democrats were never able to, and they have not significantly recovered since. Suddenly, it became clear to many what progressive partisans like myself have been going on about for years: the rhetoric doesn’t match up with the reality, and the negligence directly lead to the deaths of hundreds of our fellow citizens. We now live in a post-9/11 AND post-Katrina America.
But the events at the King funeral today exposed an even stronger shift among a subgroup against Bush and the right. Republicans and the mainstream media tend to see black Americans in politics through the lens of Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell. But each election has told us that among their race, Rice and Powell are dramatically out of step with the mainstream. And that was pre-Katrina. All of black America saw their fellow black Americans pleading on television for the President to simply do his job in alleviating the madness of Katrina, but beyond the news it is largely black America that has done the job of absorbing the massive migration of New Orleans’ black population to the rest of the country. I believe it is a significant story that the media has all but ignored — it’s no coincidence that the president’s approval among blacks dropped to a miniscule 2% at the height of the crisis in one poll.
But Bush has been in his bubble, one in which all the black faces he meets are smiling and spouting RNC generated talking points about what a great man he is. Today he met reality. He met the majority, the black America that never really liked him and hasn’t forgotten his negligence during the hurricane — is it a coincidence that the site of one of the worst natural disasters in American history received a piddling two mentions in the state of the union address?
For the first time, Bush met the people on the front lines of post-Katrina America. It was not a pleasant encounter for the 43rd president.
Good.
73 Responses to “Post-Katrina America”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
yea buddy….keep preaching the word of racial divisionism. Keep stoking the fires of hatred….THAT will help keep america safe, free and prosperous…..
I gotta tell you Ollie, you really make a good argument for tightening up the immigration laws in this country…
one more time – drpedro shares more w drmengele and drgoerring than w drking.
Yes, keep pretending that MLK and his wife were cute little civil rights icons who were beloved by conservatives.
And if you want to talk about putting words into dead people’s mouths…looking no farther than the G.O.P’s use of Terri Schiavo.
Far worse than anything we’ve seen at any funeral. She wasn’t even dead yet, for fuck’s sake.
I gotta tell you Ollie, you really make a good argument for tightening up the immigration laws in this country&
What the hell is this comment about anyhow? True colors shining through, Pedro?
yea buddy& .keep preaching the word of racial divisionism.
What country do you live in Pedro? ‘Cuz I want to move there. It sounds like there’s no racial inequality, no divisionism, heck, you dare not even speak it’s name (other than veiled bigoted comments about banning the families of those you’d disagree with from entering this country – wtf?)…it sounds really great. People of all colors walking hand-in-hand, blue-blooded prodigal sons of oil barons walking side-by-side with poor, downtrodden black folk and everyone is happy. Equal.
Sounds like a fantasy world…like, maybe it doesn’t even exist.
You’re right about it being epidemic. About 55% disapproval right now, isn’t it? Go, BDS, go!
Ohdearohdear. Someone said something that might displease His Majesty.
If Mr. Bush has never before been shamed by something a preacher said, he doesn’t spend as much time in church as some might think.
Point to me, I think.
It was your president who preached racial divisionism when he let New Orleans drown. Are you saying my family shouldn’t have been allowed in America? That’s a funny thing to say.
Hey, if Coretta’s family wasn’t offended, then I’m not offended. PPG, I don’t tell you how to run your biology textbook burnings, where do you get off telling liberals how to run their funerals?
drpedro shares much much mor
WTF is it with Democrats and funerals anyway?
First Paul Wellstone, now Coretta Scott King.
Not a shred of decency or class. Take an opportunity to praise and celebrate a civil rights icon, and turn it into a purely partisan attack on the President. Fantastic image to put before the public.
BDS approaches epidemic proportions. Why does it only seem to make Democrats look sick?
It’s a stunning realization, how little the Republicans have to spend on opposition research and political ad copy writers. The Democrats do all the work for them.
Not a shred of decency or class. Take an opportunity to praise and celebrate a civil rights icon, and turn it into a purely partisan attack on the President. Fantastic image to put before the public
How long was the ceremony? How many “purely partisan” attacks occured? How long were they?
Way did these comments receive a standing ovation? Was the crowd “manipulated” into agreeing with the sentiments expressed in these so-called “indecent” comments? Was the African-American GOP caucus not properly represented?
Me’thinks the only people upset here are crusty old Republicans who think they can spin away the utter shame Bush faced in front of those he’s “left behind.”
What’s worse, that someone made a comment that hurt Baby Bush’s feelings? Or that you nutjobs on the right will talk about it from here to kingdom come?
Let’s keep this simple WELLSTONE WAS A LEFT-LEANING POLITICIAN! CORETTA SCOTT KING WAS AN ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST AND CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER! Their lives were POLITICAL! The sentiments expressed at their funerals were appropriate and unsuprising, unless you’re a dimwitted moron.
I’m surprised those protestors, I mean speakers, weren’t arrested, dragged off to barbed wire “free speech” zones then forced to give their speeches to NSA agents via wiretapped international phones calls.
drpedro is off his meds again. You and ppg go and have a good cry about how the ‘bad people’ hurt the leader’s feelings. There was no way that Bush could skip this event. There was no way that the organizers could disinvite him. But if he went in thinking it would be another photo op one of his handlers should have hipped him to life in the reality based world. This is the first time he’s had a non handpicked audience that is not afraid of him and the politically retrograde people he represents. His hollow talk of community and sacrifice wilted in the face of a real community that has made great sacrifices, many in blood. If you think those folks were going to shut up and act respectful when he came in their house you’re not paying attention. Just because we’re shut out of the media doesn’t mean we aren’t talking amongst ourselves. When you uptown folks come down to our part of town you’re gonna hear a lot of opinions you might not like.
[...] stand up and applaud. I ll even pay my own way. I think this is very white of me. Oliver Willis: For the first time, Bush met the people on the front lines of post-K [...]
It was your president who preached racial divisionism when he let New Orleans drown.
Right, because we know not a single white person was affected by Hurricane Katrina. Of course, as has to be repeated ad nauseum, had Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco issued the mandatory evacuations they should have ordered, and utilized resources they had at their disposal, things wouldn’t have been so bad (And no I am no absolving the administration of blame, but the fact is, disaster preparations start at the local and state level and the leadership was not there). But they can’t be at fault. They’re DEMOCRATS! And we know that Ollie knows that Democrats do no wrong – except when they’re not being Democratic enough.
Besides, the whole racial angle that people like Oliver are using to score political points against Bush has been debunked.
This is an absurd entry because Hurricane Katrina is nowhere on the radar of the American people. Look at any poll of national priorities and it doesn’t show up. Why is that? Because it was a natural disaster, and there’s no doubt there will be others. Earthquakes, blizzards, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, etc.
I call Godwin on that.
Why is it that anyone to the left of Howard Dean is considered a Nazi? You do realize that it is exactly this type of stuff that keeps your party from winning elections.
They re DEMOCRATS!
Well, if you want to get specific, Nagin is a republican who only switched parties in order to run in New Orleans. But that doesn’t really matter anyhow because your whole point is irrelevant. No one on the left is absolving them, we’re under the impression the LA voters will handle the situation come election time.
For all of us living *outside* the effected areas, it makes much more sense to focus on the federal shortcomings. But you know that already. You just can’t stop whining about Blanco, simply *because* she is a Democrat. Talk about hypocrisy.
The funniest part of the mengele comments is….I am a first generation american who’s family is jewish! Half of my family died in the holocaust!
Don’t let that get in the way of your little tirade though, I’m a blue-blood no question. ( would LOVE to see you sit down with one of my uncles though, and do the mengele thing, he has this funny number tattooed on his arm…I suspect he would break your skinny little neck)
The immigrants that I descend from came to this country, assimilated and tried to make it a better place. Dissension and differences of opinion are American traditions, but only when done in the service of improving the country for all. This lefty BHD is all a show and simply to put more democrats in office, and thereby get jobs for more democratic flunkies.
The unfortunate truth is that the leftist that post commonly here would know shame if it bit them, and that explains a lot.
Farris,
Shouldn’t that be anyone to the right of Dean? Not only would your argument make more sense, but the extreme conservative end is facism, the extreme liberal end is socialism.
Jay,
I think that’s pretty f’ing sad. What is this, the Gilded Age? Are we all social darwinists? Oops! You live in a shitty city! You deserve it! C’mon, Bush tried to milk this with his whole “you’re doing a heck of a job” and then it spun out of control. Then he rodeo clowned our attention away and hoped we’d alll forget about it. That’s why Fox News is isntead spending all their time talking about ANOTHER poor dead, middle class, beautiful white chick who’s been murdered. Much better than an entire CITY. Jesus H. Cripes…
Just like Willie Horton, the Wellstone memorial is a key division between wingers and people who deal with facts and reasonable burdens of proof. And leave it to Pedro, who along with his WMD and Horton misteps (which he won’t acknowledge and seems to disappear from a thread if anyone proves him wrong and pretends it never happened, rather than apologizing for his lies) is now taking the words of conservative pudits with a vested interest in portraying the memorial as a farce, who were not there, most of which never even saw a recording of the memorial, rather than the words of EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO WAS THERE (I’m assuming he’s taking his points from the conservative puppets because they’re the only ones who said any of this slander, but I could be wrong, he could have been there).
Pedro, you still working on that correction/retraction of your lies about WMDs being found and your dishonest citing of an article which proved the opposite of your point? I’m sure it’s coming soon.
No one on the left is absolving them
Sure you are. You’re absolving them by default by blaming everything on Bush.
For all of us living *outside* the effected areas, it makes much more sense to focus on the federal shortcomings.
It doesn’t make more sense, it just makes it that much more convenient because the President is a Republican. Disaster preparedness and response starts at the bottom, not at the top. And until you’re ready to start assigning a good portion of the blame where it really belongs, than they only ones being hypocritical are the very ones waving the “It’s Bush’s Fault” banner.
State officials cannot account for something $60 million in federal aid that was supposed to be for disaster preparedness. Three state officials were indicted over $30 million that was misspent. New Orleans officials routinely used money that should have been spent on strengthening levees on other projects. And of course, there were no mandatory evacuations ordered until it was too late. Governor Blanco has lied repeatedly saying she ordered mandatory evacuations 48 hours prior to Katrina making landfall, when in fact she did no such thing.
But it was Bush’s fault and he did it all because he like that intellectual Kanye West tells us, “Bush hates black people.”
I love how crazy these conservatives get when people speak truth to them. Hilarious!
As usual, even with the simplest things, right-wingers like Jay can’t help but to make things up.
Yeah Jay,
Kayne never said “hate.” He said, “doesn’t care”…which seems obvious.
Jesus…do you get *all* your spin from Drudge, et al.?
Do you EVER poke your thick head outside the right-wing echo chamber? For even a second?
It’s called reading comprehension Jay, take a class. Where did I call FEMA first responders? I don’t think Bush sent FEMA to Iraq. That would be the National guardsmen, particularly the combat trained ones who historically are the ones manning the levees, as well as their vehicles that are able to operate under flood conditions and their communication, control and command gear that was sadly missing. I said Bush ruined FEMA, I did not imply that was because of Iraq, I will now state that was because of his own corruption and/or incompetence. Your inability to read and correlate information makes most of your points null, void or questionable at best.
mr.curmudgeon, understand this. So Kanye West said, “doesn’t care about” not “hate.” BIG. FUCKING. DEAL.
If that’s what you’re going to focus on (my misquote of West), that’s pretty lame. I was wrong. I corrected it.
Now, care to address Lousiana’s wasting of $60 million in disaster preparedness or does that remove you from the “IT’S BUSH’S FAULT!” echo chamber where you reside?
Sure you are. You re absolving them by default by blaming everything on Bush.
Wrong. There’s two portion to this disaster. Preparedness and response. Nagin, Blanco, and the NO gov’t in general failed to adequately prepare, and the fedreal gov’t, run by Bush and his cronies…absolutely failed to response once the disaster struck. The rub is, had this been a terrorist attack, one that occured *without* the type of warning we had with Katrina, the reponse would have most likely been worse. This from the team that claims to be keeping us safe in the face of Terrah. It’s a joke.
But it was Bush s fault and he did it all because he like that intellectual Kanye West tells us, Bush hates black people.
Bush is the one who appointed a horse breeder to run our federal disaster response mechanisms…not Kayne. And like the Kayne inspired song says,
Midderpidge, as long as you keep repeating the lie that FEMA are ‘first responders’ the rest of your points are equally null and void. FEMA is not and has never been a first responder.
Jay C.-I try to follow these corruption stories around Katrina but I missed the newspaper articles about the disappearing “$60 million in federal aid that was supposed to be for disaster preparednessr” or the “Three state officials were indicted over $30 million that was misspent.” Please cite sources, thanks. (And the comment section of LGF doesn’t count as a source.)
Anyway, I found Coretta’s funeral to be quite exhilarating. She would be proud.
Jay, so should Clinton get extra credit for running FEMA in a way that when it did respond it was first and capable? Or is the Bush/Brownie way preferable to you?
Read it here. The original LA Times story is no longer available for free but this is a full copy of the piece.
I don’t read LGF, thanks.
Oh brother. Typical Oliver. Focus on semantics.
An editorial correction:
But it was Bush s fault and he did it all because he like that intellectual Kanye West tells us, Bush hates black people. “Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
Blah Blah Blah Jay. Still beating a dead horse. We all are aware that local officials had some blame to share. But, Bush gets the lion’s share. He played guitar while people died, he turned down foreign aid at the height of the disaster, he kept other cities and states from sending timely aid, he sent large numbers of first responders away to Iraq, he sent their useful equipment away to Iraq, he ruined FEMA. What do you want? Bush to get a medal for visiting the disaster area and holding up rescue personel for his photo ops? Most of all, Bush gets the lion’s share because in the aftermath of 9-11, it was Bush’s responsibility to put in place the necessary ability to coordinate rescue response. How many $billion$ was spent on homeland security to fail to this degree? So much for Bush’s national security credentials.
Oh brother. Typical Oliver. Focus on semantics.
Oh brother. Typical right-winger…spread lies and then brush it off when called out.
The Drudge spin using the word “hate” certainly changes the dynamic of what Kayne said, and you acting as willing tool to help spread it around without question only further deludes his point.
How much of everything you say is based on false right-wing talking points and outright lies? If you can’t be trusted to even *quote* someone correctly…how can anything else you say be trusted?
Jay-Thanks for the reference though it seems to me to be more accusatory than evidentiary. It is more evidence of systematic corruption in the state that gave us Huey Long though. Here’s one story you may have missed…
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_02_03.html#110187
“Earlier this week, federal Homeland Security officials announced they would send 30 investigators and auditors to the Gulf Coast to ensure relief funds were properly spent,” (from the Sept. 17, 2005, LA Times article you reference). I guess this one slipped through the cracks. It seems there’s plenty of blame to go around in this one, Brownie’s FEMA included. Does naming one thief excuse the others?
Jay, if you re going to get the little things wrong, why even bother the rest of your fallacious argument?
Oliver, I made a mistake. I admitted it was wrong. Contrary to what you might think, there was no malice in what I did.
And what did I write that was fallacious? Governer Blanco not issuing mandatory evacuation orders? The state of LA wasting $60 million in disaster preparedness money? The fact that disaster preparedness and the initial response is the duty and responsibility of state and local governments? Where exactly is the fallacy Oliver? It’s easy for you to just dismiss with a wave of your hand such facts. Why? Because it puts a crimp in your “Bush is at fault for everything related to Katrina” rant.
When you acknowledge that most of what happened is the responsibility of the state and local officials (Democrat and Republican), then maybe I’ll take your criticisms of President Bush a little more seriously.
Jay, so should Clinton get extra credit for running FEMA in a way that when it did respond it was first and capable? Or is the Bush/Brownie way preferable to you?
Funny, but nobody had a problem with the Bush/Brownie way prior to Katrina. Oh and ask victims of Hurricane Floyd, especially those in North Carolona about the bang up job FEMA did after Floyd swept through.
I won’t get into it too much, but I think FEMA is a complete waste of time and resources and shouldn’t even exist. The problems with FEMA are institutional and go much deeper than than the person who runs it or who the President is.
Yes, because the aftermath of Floyd was just like the aftermath of Katrina.
Yes, because the aftermath of Floyd was just like the aftermath of Katrina.
You know Quaker, if you were one of the more than 10,000 people stranded because of flooding in the aftermath of Floyd, maybe you wouldn’t be so quick with the snark.
“Jay, so should Clinton get extra credit for running FEMA in a way that when it did respond it was first and capable?”
Bill Clinton did not do this. FEMA’s mandate and responsibilities did not change when Bush took office. Even during Clinton’s turn, it was up to the locals to be the first responders, and be prepared to handle things as best as possible for 48-72 hours. And anyone that knows much of anything about Louisiana politics (especially South Louisiana politics) knows that very little is surprising in the way Nagin and Blanco handled the situation.
Oliver’s continuing attempts to politicize this natural disaster of epic proportions, though predictable, are rather off-base.
Jay, if you’re going to get the little things wrong, why even bother the rest of your fallacious argument? In your world, the President is absolved of all culpability unless its a Democratic president, then he’s responsible for everything that goes wrong, even things beyond his purview.
More:
Maybe, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Your point seemed to be that FEMA (under Michael Brown) was up to the challenge of Floyd, so we shouldn’t criticize the agency or its director for not being up to the challenge of a different storm in a different location.
Coule you explain that more fully?
But you can’t possibly believe the GOP could throw money around for political gain like that, do you?
*cough* Abramoff *cough*
You seem to be ignoring the praise heaped on the Clinton FEMA during most of the disasters during his tenure, most of it because FEMA took much proactive action to coordinate those local responses, which I m sure even you can admit that Bush s FEMA did not do.
That is part because of the decisive action taken by the state and local officials. They were the ones who were proactive, not FEMA. They issued evacuation orders earlier, made specific requests beforehand of what they would need, and made better plans to deal with those who would refuse to evacuate. In sort, the locals were better prepared and that made their dealings with FEMA run that much more smoothly.
Now, as I pointed out, residents of North Carolina pilloried FEMA for what they didn’t do after hurricane Floyd passed through. Of course, nobody had any idea the flooding would be so vast and it’s hard to fault FEMA because theres nothing they could have done about flooding which made getting to the affected areas nearly impossible – just like with Katrina.
And as I also said, nobody was calling for Michael Brown to resign prior to Hurricane Katrina. He oversaw 150 disasters and the 4 hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 and without complaints. Of course, there were conspiracy theories abound that it was well done only because it was a swing state in the election. None of which were ever proven, but a lack of evidence never stopped anybody before.
“I won t get into it too much, but I think FEMA is a complete waste of time and resources and shouldn t even exist. The problems with FEMA are institutional and go much deeper than than the person who runs it or who the President is.”
You seem to be ignoring the praise heaped on the Clinton FEMA during most of the disasters during his tenure, most of it because FEMA took much proactive action to coordinate those local responses, which I’m sure even you can admit that Bush’s FEMA did not do. But if you feel that a loose amalgamation of local, disperately funded agencies without a federal presence although these disasters usually effect many states and cost billions of dollars is better, then go with that. But you don’t want to get into it too much.
None of which were ever proven, but a lack of evidence never stopped anybody before.
Ahem…
Jay, if you were a U.S. citizen held in jail without recourse to the legal system, you wouldn’t be so quick with the snark either. But you aren’t, and Quaker isn’t a Floyd victim, so what the fuck is your point?
Katrina was the first true test of the Bush/Brownie way
You’re right. I suppose 4 hurricanes in a span of two months – 2 in three weeks (four hurricanes hadn’t hit one state since 1886) was nothing.
Your point seemed to be that FEMA (under Michael Brown) was up to the challenge of Floyd
No, that was not my point at all. Floyd occurred in 1999 under President Clinton. Contrary to the assertion that FEMA was this tight run ship during his tenure, FEMA was blasted by North Carolina residents in the aftermath of Floyd. I was being sarcastic when I talked about the “bang up job” they did.
Funny, but nobody had a problem with the Bush/Brownie way prior to Katrina.
Katrina was the first true test of the “Bush/Brownie” way…and it failed miserably. So, yeah, all sensible Americans should have a problem with it. Your comment is apologism at it’s best.
Again, what if it had been a terrorist attack, or dreaded “dirty-bomb”? The failure at the federal level to plan for, and respond Katrina abruptly laid bare Bush’s complete ineptitude and exposed the reality of just how ill-prepared he and his administration is to deal with this level of disaster.
With all the lip-service he gave about “protecting America” before, and during, the election..you’d think his supporters would have at least felt a tiny bit of shame over his complete and utter failure to do so.
Our esteemed host wrote:
Well, it wasn’t the Republicans who were bugging Dr King’s telephone.
Whatever you may think about President Bush, he was at the funeral to pay his respects to Mrs King. Why is that a difficult concept? What part of “paying respect” don’t y’all understand?”
Now I get it.
Floyd wasn’t under Brownie. It was under James Lee Witt. You’re playing, “But what about Clinton?” again.
Jay, the 150 disasters talking point is ridiculous. FEMA claimed that he had managed over 160 disasters as a deputy at FEMA, not while he was director. And the 160 came from double, triple, quadruple counting because each different declaration during any single hurricane was counted. So one disaster could count for a dozen by their counting scheme.
TomY wrote:
No, Mr Y, we don’t both agree that Mr Hoover was a bad, bad guy. One of us believes that he was an effective and efficient law enforcement leader.
It was the conservatives of the day, most of whom are now dead and buried, who called Dr King a Communist, a seditionist and a rabble rouser. Their argument died with them, and very few people say that about Dr King today; I’m as conservative as you’ll find, and I don’t say that.
But if J Edgar Hoover’s FBI was spying on Dr King, it was at the behest of President Lyndon Johnson (a Democrat) and Attorney General Robert Kennedy (another Democrat), both of whom were considered liberals in their day.
“Their argument died with them, and very few people say that about Dr King today”
Go read Free Republic and see what you’re fellow conservatives are saying today. This argument lives. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/829049/posts
Jay C: if you want to talk comparative racial politics in the sixties, liberals come out way, way ahead of conservatives on the issues. I’ll be the first to castigate Kennedy and Johnson for wiretapping King, clearly (as though Nixon wouldn’t have), but they got the Civil Rights bill passed, and split their own party to do it. You only bring up RFK to distract from your ideology’s hideously destructive racial past.
“Well, it wasn t the Republicans who were bugging Dr King s telephone.”
I think we both agree that J. Edgar Hoover was a bad, bad guy. It was, however, the Conservatives who were calling King a Communist, a seditionist, a rabble rouser, etc. In fact, you can still find them on Free Republic.com.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/829049/posts
I think we both agree that J. Edgar Hoover was a bad, bad guy.
Oh come on! Can’t you be intellectually honest enough to say that it was Bobby Kennedy who approved wiretapping MLK?
No, Mr Y, we don t both agree that Mr Hoover was a bad, bad guy. One of us believes that he was an effective and efficient law enforcement leader.
Then one of you is on crack, and it ain’t Mr. Y. Hoover was a thug who was dressing up like a lady while fluffing his own legacy and violating people’s civil rights.
Allright, Jay.
Now that I’ve finally caught on to your ironic reference to the “bang up job” done after Floyd, please enlighten me further.
What were the complaints of North Carolina residents about FEMA’s response?
Dana-as far as respect y’all…actions speak much louder than words. W’s actions, ie. the budget, belie his words. You may choose to ignore this fact but some of us do keep track of what happens not just what is said. If the Bull Connors’ of the south hadn’t been dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th Century they’d still be using dogs and fire hoses on church ladies, working people and little kids. Coretta and Martin and Rev. Lowrey and Medgar and Malcolm and Fred Hampton, etc. etc. etc. paid the price for those changes. J. Edgar Hoover was a paranoid self hating cross dresser (Damn, I wish I could quit you Clyde!) who ran the FBI as his personal fiefdom on blackmail and threats of revelations of personal secrets. This is not an ‘urban myth,’ it is documented. Thank God people can no longer be too obviously racist, unless you count Mexicans and Asians, but please don’t give the ‘conservative’ movement any of the credit for the changes brought about by the Civil Rights movement ya’ll. I was there. Have a nice day. P.S. In case you think I’m prejudiced against folks with a southern accent, I’m using it like I hope you were, ironically, rather than as a contextual confederate subtext.
Hoover was a thug who was dressing up like a lady while fluffing his own legacy and violating people s civil rights.
I thought it was conservatives who were always seeing things in black and white?
While I will not defend anything Hoover did with regard to his paranoia when the world was changing around him and what he called ‘subversives’, Hoover did revolutionize the FBI and turned it into a premier law enforcement agency. Thanks to his leadership, the FBI was able to apprehend and foil attacks by Nazi agents that were sent to the US to commit acts of sabotage on our soil. So it’s a little silly to just write him off as a “thug.” Oh and don’t lecture me about getting things wrong when you’re citing urband legends as fact.
Jay C,
From The Final Report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities- April 26, 1976:
All of these activities, as well as the FBI’s use of electronic surveillance without a substantial national security predicate, also infringed the rights of countless Americans under the Fourth Amendment protection “against unreasonable searches and seizures.”
The abusive techniques used by the FBI in COINTELPRO from 1956 to 1971 included violations of both federal and state statutes prohibiting mail fraud, wire fraud, incitement to violence, sending obscene material through the mail, and extortion. More fundamentally, the harassment of innocent citizens engaged in lawful forms of political expression did serious injury to the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech and the right of the people to assemble peaceably and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The Bureau’s maintenance of the Security Index, which targeted thousands of American citizens for detention in the event of national emergency, clearly overstepped the permissible bounds established by Congress in the Emergency Detention Act of 1950 and represented, in contravention of the Act, a potential general suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus secured by Article 1, Section 9, of the Constitution.
A distressing number of the programs and techniques developed by the intelligence community involved transgressions against human decency that were no less serious than any technical violations of law. Some of the most fundamental values of this society were threatened by activities such as the smear campaign against Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the testing of dangerous drugs on unsuspecting American citizens, the dissemination of information about the sex lives, drinking habits, and marital problems of electronic surveillance targets, and the COINTELPRO attempts to turn dissident organizations against one another and to destroy marriages.
This is what President Jimmy Carter referenced in his remarks at Mrs. King s Homegoing Celebration. The truth hurts conservatives. It unmasks their motives and deflates their religiosity and pomposity. It should be the weapon of choice for committed Liberals of all persuasions.
Mrs. King led a political life dealing with the most vexing issues of her time. To reference her struggles and the attacks she endured by our government in the name of all of the people is not only right, its mandatory to put these inflammatory incidents in the proper context of her crusading struggle for justice.
Oliver,
I concur completely with your post. Well said as usual.
[...] verty. Update: If you want to read about how Katrina has really affected the country, read this masterful piece.
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Our esteemed host wrote:
Sorry, Mr Willis, but Director Hoover built a fine, professional and effective law enforcement agency, virtually from scratch. The fact is that the FBI did defend us against Nazi saboteurs and Soviet spies as well as “regular” crime. If Mr Hoover’s personal life was suspect (and I wonder how much of that is just urban legend), it didn’t seem to make any difference in his effectiveness as a law enforcement officer.
Perhaps all you “tolerant” lefties could explain these references to J. Edgar Hoover as a “cross dresser”. Have you never heard of the politically correct term “transvestite”? Has no one told you that Hoover’s sexual identity is totally unrelated to his ideology, and should not be referred to by people of understanding, when writing about him?
Tsk, tsk.
Dana,
You truly exemplify the hear no evil, see no evil brand of conservatism. I suppose the fact that Hoover violated the constitutional rights of thousands using the illegal cointelpro program that I previously discussed at length, allowed his agents to harass, illegally wiretap, and engage in extortion are just small things that distract from Hoover’s “greatness”. It is sad you don’t see Hoover criminality for what it was.
[...] dn t know they should have been applauding George W. Bush, right? Silly! Welcome to Post-Katrina America.
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Kayne never said hate. He said, doesn t care & which seems obvious.
No, guys, Kanye was wrong.
George Bush doesn’t care about poor people, regardless of their race.
[...] ncluding the president, how grave a human and political disaster they were facing. >> Post-Katrina America
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