False Equivalence, Again
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Predictable as usual, the cons are swearing that this video of Kathleen Blanco vindicates Bush. I’m not sure how that makes sense to any right-thinking person. Yeah, Blanco and Nagin both made horrific screw-ups, but this is the President of the United States – the buck stops at his desk in the oval office. He was the one in control of the federal response, which was supposed to be coordinated with the local response, they were the ones who blanketed television saying everything was going fine in New Orleans when in fact it was chaos.
It was them doing what they always do. Telling us: don’t believe what you’re actually seeing with your eyes, believe our propaganda.
24 Responses to “False Equivalence, Again”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
So what’s the answer, Oliver? When Blanco tells Bush “The Levees are not breached”, what should Bush have done?
* Yelled “LIAR!!!!” and invaded South Louisiana?
* Stuffed the report down his pants and walked out?
* Throw on his red cape, fly down to 17th Street and use his heat vision to seal the crack that Blanco assured him didn’t exist?
* Create More Global Warming to stir up another hurricane. (“This time, we’ll hit New Orleans head on! I’ll call this one ‘Rita.’)
* Mutter “I want those darkies to drown, dammit!” as he orders a barge rigged with explosives into the canal? [Oh wait, liberals already think he did the last 2...]
Tell us, oh Mighty Visionary. What’s the correct answer?
He could have turned on the TV, and said – hey, maybe it would be good to send in the national guard.
And it all happened rather quickly given the situation in Southern Louisaina. Remember, the city could only be approached from the Causeway bridge from the north, and the I-10 bridge from the west. Both of which had to first be inspected for safety. Don’t forget that both bridges are each over twenty miles long. Then there was the problem of clearing roadways of debris and floodwaters. Not to mention there was no electricity, so convoys had to find the fuel to get to NO somewhere. These are enourmous logistical challenges when you are attempting to bring large convoys of personel, supplies, and busses for evacuation. Many hard-working, dedicated people performed amazing acts to deliver relief to folks who fiddled away decades. The City was not prepared, that’s why the situation was as bad as it was. End of story.
Save Ferris:
What? It’s just a free ride for the prez as long as someobody told him something? No need to ever actually do something or accomplish anything–just get the video of someone misinforming him! What a crock.
But Bush did. And Blanco’s response was “Let me think about it for 24 hours”.
Bush can not “send in” the National Guard without a very specific set of triggers. He is not in charge of the National Guard until they are called to active duty service. Blanco can. And to her credit she did. The guard was mobilized and they were operating in NO along with the Coast Guard and the Navy, doing exactly the things that you seem to believe did not happen.
“hey, maybe it would be good to send in the national guard.”
And hey maybe it would have been good to understand that that’s Gov Blanco’s perogative – not the President’s.
Always trying to absolve those Democratic yahoos who had primary and then secondary responsibility for hurricane response, and balme it on the third guy.
Dugger, Maybe Bush should have called in the British SAS. Harry Reid and I demand Congressional hearings!!
C’mon Farris. We all know that Bush couldn’t have done any of that.
Instead, he did the only thing he knew how to do: loaf at the “ranch,” fly to Arizona for a little cake, then on to California for a photo-op clowning around with a guitar.
Yeah, yeah, I know. That’s what you think a president should do when a natural disaster strikes.
“He could have turned on the TV, and said – hey, maybe it would be good to send in the national guard.”
So Bush should have overruled Blanco’s authority as Governor to order in Louisiana state troops?
I can hear the howls of ‘Fasicist!’ already.
What he shoulda done.
What a Hurricane coming!! This could be a job for Super FratBoy! I’ll just fly around the earth fast enough to turn back time and let the weather service seed those clouds, create an opposite front and divert the hurricane.
Or. I can sense Gov Blanco and Mayor Nagins’ minds are so filled with overwhelming compassion, that they are not seeing to their hurricane duties. I’ll use my super Fratboy mind control to implant a responsibility impulse into their heads and that should get the job done. All in a day’s work for Super Fratboy!!
Dugger
The President of The United States vs. The Governor Of Louisiana. At some point you gotta say “hmmm, they’re not exactly equals, are they?”
Of course the Blanco video doesn’t “vindicate” Bush. Rather, it serves as a superb example of how easy it is to make misstatements in the midst of situations where the data coming in is confusing or ambiguous.
The question is: why has the media let Blanco get away with such an obvious misstatement, while at the same time trying to nail Bush for his similar error in stating that “nobody” anticipated levee breaches?
The AP story tried to build the case that Bush “lied” because the levees were a continual focus of his briefings. Unfortunately, the levee discussions were about overspill, not breaching or disintegration of the levee.
It’s simply a matter of the AP trying to twist the story, all the while hoping that most people don’t know the difference between the words “topped” and “breached.”
>>What a Hurricane coming!! This could be a job for Super FratBoy!
You couldn’t be any more of an insensitive jerk.
What did Rudy Guiliani do after the planes hit the towers? He got off his ass and walked down to the scene to assess the situation. He got on the horn to mobilize all availiable resources. It’s called being “proactive.” Good leaders do that, you see, Dugger.
In order to solve a problem, you have to first recognize that it exists, or be sensitive or aware enough to see that it *could* exist. Bush and his team didn’t have nearly enough respect for the kind of damage that hurricane could cause. That is now very painfully obvious.
Anyone with a TV set, and an IQ over 30, could very easily see what was going on before the hurricane, and after. I’m no disaster management expert….but it seems to me that if you’re getting multiple reports that people aren’t evacuating fast enough….you’ve got to step on some toes to make sure you get those people out of there. They don’t call it the bully pulpit for nothing.
Local, State and Federal agencies and officials cooperate every single day in very complex and complicated ways….why all of the sudden are some of you so willing to give Bush a pass on that very important part of his job?
JK
Sorry for the numerous typos
.
No, they are not equal. But they each have a role to play. In this case of the immediate response to a natural disaster, state governors have more responsibility, power, and resources than the feds (in the form on National Guard units under their command). Federal troops can not operate in the US without specific circumstances legally being met. Hopefully, everyone here will see that as an ideoligically neutral statement of fact. If its federalism that you have problems with, I suggest taking it up with your legislators. Laws can be changed.
Dugger,
Is there no middle ground between using the SuperFratBoy super powers and clear brush/eat cake/play guitar? Were those really the only options?
Quaker, that con response reminds me of the response to the “7 minutes” that Bush spent in the classroom after the 2nd plane hit the WTC. Do you remember the apologists saying “what did you want him to do, run out of the room screaming!!” So once again you see the cons trotting out the false choice.
Oh, how I wish we had a President who could handle a crisis.
“Oh, how I wish we had a President who could handle a crisis.”
FactCheck;
You sure you wouldn’t rather you had a Prez’ who would rather
wring his hamster hands while saying how bad he feels that all this
happened? That seems enough for some. Why should you expect more?
I guess if all that command and control equipment hadn’t gone to Iraq… vehicles capable of traveling through some of that mess, communications, frontline personnel, things the governor would normally rely on for information, verfication, response. … I think Blanco admitted before the hurricane hit that state resources were overwhelmed, hence specifically asking the federal government to involve itself.
It wasn’t long before state forces couldn’t recharge their walkie talkie batteries or use their cell phones.
“What did Rudy Guiliani do after the planes hit the towers? He got off his ass and walked down to the scene to assess the situation”
At which point all you leftists would have been screaming “photo-op”! Why don’t you get back to the phones an coordinate this rescue!
The only possible thing that would have made this any better is to have all the troops stationed in echelon just outside the disaster zone with full logistics back-up. Of course, we didn’t know where the disaster zone was going to be until it hit. And then if they were wrong about where is was going to hit, you would scream they were “unprepared”.
Unfortunately the lefties are disrepecting the citizens of this country by preventing any meaningful “lessons learned” response,instead substituting a “three-stooges” debrief of people pointing fingers back and forth. The side benefit to the democrats….we remain less well prepared as the next disaster happens and you can start winding up your talking points/attack ads again while families suffer.
Strong work kids, thanks for your support of your fellow americans (well, those of you lefty posters here that ARE americans).
Hey, Oliver, there’s this wonderful thing called the United States Constitution. If you have heard of it, you might want to give it a read. Especially the 9th and 10th Amendments, and the whole issue of state rights and responsibilities.
Also, FEMA stands for Federal Emergency MANAGEMENT Agency, not RESPONSE Agency. The FIRST responsibility lies on local officials — your buddy, Mayor Chocolate. The SECOND responsibility lies with your other buddy, Governor “My Mind Is” Blanco.
Or are you calling for the President to have the authority to simply overrule and set aside local and state governments whenever he wishes to declare an emergency? I guess you really ARE the big-government advocate, aren’t you?
I guess the next time Massachusetts gets hit with a blizzard, Bush oughta just take over the Bay State and toss out all the elected Democrats who run the state (into the ground) out on their asses, and run it by executive fiat.
Actually, that’s not that bad an idea…
J.
Farris – the mere fact that you begin building your argument on a false statement sums it all up.
Blanco said there had been reports UNCONFIRMED that the levees hadn’t been breached – she reiterated the fact that the report was unsubstantiated.
How in the name of all things logical does that vindicate bush… or prove that she was complict or duplicitous regarding the levee failure?
You guys crack me up sometimes… but keep up the good work, you’re doing a heckuva job
Quaker,
Plenty of options but of course if the game is “get Bush” why get realistuic and jump into the real world?
How about adding $ to the military and letting them handle emergency response – with a required go ahead from the state?
Dugger
“What did Rudy Guiliani do after the planes hit the towers? He got off his ass and walked down to the scene to assess the situation. He got on the horn to mobilize all availiable resources. It s called being proactive. Good leaders do that, you see, Dugger.”
Rudy Guiliani=Ray Nagin
Mayor=Mayor
Your comparison is not apt.
The collapse of the local and state response, coupled with individuals choosing to stay in the area after manditory evacuations were ordered caused the situation to spiral out of control, not a percieced lack of leadership from GWB.