It's Good Enough For the Poor!

[Young Jeff Bridges]

The Nation -- Finally, we have discovered the roots of George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism."
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On the heels of the president's "What, me worry?" response to the death, destruction and dislocation that followed upon Hurricane Katrina comes the news of his mother's Labor Day visit with hurricane evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston.

Commenting on the facilities that have been set up for the evacuees -- cots crammed side-by-side in a huge stadium where the lights never go out and the sound of sobbing children never completely ceases -- former First Lady Barbara Bush concluded that the poor people of New Orleans had lucked out.

"Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them," Mrs. Bush told American Public Media's "Marketplace" program, before returning to her multi-million dollar Houston home.

On the tape of the interview, Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she observes just how great things are going for families that are separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and in some cases their friends may be lost forever. Perhaps the former first lady was amusing herself with the notion that evacuees without bread could eat cake.

At the very least, she was expressing a measure of empathy commensurate with that evidenced by her son during his fly-ins for disaster-zone photo opportunities.

On Friday, when even Republican lawmakers were giving the federal government an "F" for its response to the crisis,
President Bush heaped praise on embattled
Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown. As thousands of victims of the hurricane continued to plead for food, water, shelter, medical care and a way out of the nightmare to which federal neglect had consigned them, Brown cheerily announced that "people are getting the help they need."

Barbara Bush's son put his arm around the addled FEMA functionary and declared, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Like mother, like son.

Even when a hurricane hits, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20050906/cm_thenation/120080

~

yeah, she said it.

i was and still am speechless. living in a bubble much?

[Young Jeff Bridges]

oh, im sorry, could you move this to ontopic?

[AngryGoatFace]

<font face="trebuchet MS">this is relevant anywhere.</font>

[tater]

Wow, that ... there are no words for that. I can understand a mother wanting to make her son look good, but either she's more senile than I thought or she just didn't think before she opened her mouth. What an awful thing to say.

[J.T. Wasabi]

ha ha! Canadians love to hear what a dumb fuck Bush is. I heard this on the radio like, last week.

[RCCC]

he had no power to send federal help without permission. He contacted the governor of Louisiana to see if it would be okay to send help to evacuate(keep in mind he did this very early, days before it happened), and of course she refused. So blame her, Bush did nothing wrong, everyone just likes to point the finger at him. Mainly the people that will not come to their mistakes were the ones that started the entire ,blame Bush thing.

Then when the time came to interfere with the matter, Bush had no direct power to do so. He had no direct power to tell FEMA what to do. So it was a long process that he had no control over.

[trög]

It's kind of hard not to blame someone when they publicly take personal responsibility.

[Davey Rootbeer]

uh, the patriot act gives him the direct power to do a LOT of things that he's not supposed to do. and in a time of war (which the US has constantly been in since..oh...1941?), the president gets a lot more power to determine excactly what goes down, and how it should go down.

so, i'm gonna say, if he could override a whole bunch of shit already, why not do it in a way that would save a bunch of lives?

[RWaM Press]

Wait wait wait... Canada is a country?

[Vile]

Ok, that's it.

I'm wrapping your teeth around the curb, buddy.

[J.T. Wasabi]

SMILEY! :)


kick him for me baby!

[implode]

Then when the time came to interfere with the matter, Bush had no direct power to do so. He had no direct power to tell FEMA what to do. i thought that FEMA was a subsidiary of the homeland security department, which is a subsidiary of the U.S. government, which is a subsidiary of sears & roebuck. had this been five years ago, i would have agreed with you (actually, i wouldn't have known any of this and would probably be complaining about something trite like the cost of marshmallow fluff) but i do believe that mr. bush has full reign over all that is helpful, at this point.

[trög]

I heard that the director of FEMA used to do something with horses.

Apparently, appointing people in government positions that have nothing to do with their previous careers is the trademark of the Bush presidency.

[robot]

Trogg is an ass face!!

[trög]

I'm very senstive about my condition.

[Young Jeff Bridges]

he had no power to send federal help without permission. He contacted the governor of Louisiana to see if it would be okay to send help to evacuate(keep in mind he did this very early, days before it happened), and of course she refused. So blame her, Bush did nothing wrong, everyone just likes to point the finger at him. Mainly the people that will not come to their mistakes were the ones that started the entire ,blame Bush thing.

Then when the time came to interfere with the matter, Bush had no direct power to do so. He had no direct power to tell FEMA what to do. So it was a long process that he had no control over.

what are we talking about? i thought we were talking about bush's idiotic mother saying antoinette-like things.

[Adnama]

it is a myth that Marie Antoinette said "let them eat cake". even SHE wasn't that stupid.

[trög]

I thought she said it at a party.

When she was, like, drunk or something.

[Adnama]

no way, she didn't say it

NO WAY

[Magenta]

i do believe that mr. bush has full reign over all that is helpful, at this point.

The president cannot invade a state with troops, even for helpful reasons, without the consent of the governor, which was not given to him. There were busses and troops and red cross people outside of new orleans ready to go in, and the governor would not let them in.

Yes, Bush could have invoked the whatever-it-is act and invaded the state, but that defeats the whole purpose of this country's foundations on state's rights. He couldn't very well do anything until the governor let him.

[Davey Rootbeer]

Yes, Bush could have invoked the whatever-it-is act and invaded the state, but that defeats the whole purpose of this country's foundations on state's rights. He couldn't very well do anything until the governor let him.


call it a hunch, but for some reason, i doubt anyone would really have minded.

In a crisis situation, where time is your enemy, acting fast and cutting red tape is what it's all about.

[RCCC]

I don't know, but I think he would have been in a bad situation either way. It is like the people who didn't want him to be president try to find any little thing on him to bitch about.

I think he may have been better off with the decision that he made. The governor should have accepted federal help.

[when you are the moon]

Yeah, <i>he</i> may have been better off erring on the side of caution, but it's not really his job to look after himself. And a whole lot of people that he's ultimately responsible for were a <i>fuckload</i> worse off for the dawdling. Aside from invoking special provisions for this kind of situation, it was also well within his power to lean on the governor politically until she gave up whatever weird "we can handle it" ego trip she was on and accepted federal aid. He didn't; my understanding is he kind of took a "well, whatever you want" approach to the subject, instead of fucking paying attention to how quickly the whole situation degenerated into Dante's Inferno.

He kind of really dropped the ball altogether by watching his back, instead of watching out for the citizens of New Orleans.

[Corn 2.0]

Silly Spürgleshåkk/Ami, it's EVERY politician's job to look out for themselves.

[Young Jeff Bridges]

it is a myth that Marie Antoinette said "let them eat cake". even SHE wasn't that stupid.


i know she didnt REALLY say it, marat i think made it up. but that just makes mama bush look worse.

[tater]

AMI! letting corn get the better of you like that. tsk, tsk. ;) <small>oh and i gots a question for ya' check your pm's</small>

he had no power to send federal help without permission. He contacted the governor of Louisiana to see if it would be okay to send help to evacuate(keep in mind he did this very early, days before it happened), and of course she refused. So blame her, Bush did nothing wrong, everyone just likes to point the finger at him. Mainly the people that will not come to their mistakes were the ones that started the entire ,blame Bush thing.

Then when the time came to interfere with the matter, Bush had no direct power to do so. He had no direct power to tell FEMA what to do. So it was a long process that he had no control over.
Slow down there, cowboy. No one said anything about Bush. The article was about HIS MOTHER.

Yeah, I think Bush is a fucking moron and I'm not shocked at all that he didn't take the best path available. When has he ever? I'm also amazed at the lack of action taken at a local level. Some of the stories coming out of that area are horrendous and angering and can only be blamed on state and city officials.

HOWEVER, the isue in this thread is that Barbara Bush, mother of the President of the United States of America, walked into a stadium full of mal-nourished people living in sub-human conditions and had the gall to say "Well it's better than what they had before, isn't it?" (I'm summarizing, of course).

It shows not only a lack of compassion for the people that are suffering, but an ignorance of poverty that is on par with Paris Hilton's. The only thing sadder in life is that a majority of Americans agree with her.

[Magenta]

It is like the people who didn't want him to be president try to find any little thing on him to bitch about.
Yeah, like that hurricane he sat in his office creating (whilst eating cake) so he could shoot it at all of the poor blacks in New Orleans.I think he may have been better off with the decision that he made. The governor should have accepted federal help.I don't know that he (or anyone) is BETTER off, but everyone seems to be COMPLETELY IGNORING the governor who kept on saying "NO STAY OUT OF MY STATE WE DON'T NEED YOUR FILTHY TROOPS AND RED CROSS IN HERE." Why doesn't she need to take any responsibilty for HER actions as well?

Oh, sorry, I forgot. Its not cool to blame a female liberal politician for anything.

[Young Jeff Bridges]

calm down kids, this thread isn't supposed to be about blaming bush and liberal governors. it was just as much her fault as the federal government's. the local government blew, and the federal government blew. okay? okay.

[Magenta]

Thank you. :)

[Davey Rootbeer]

the hurricane blew as well.

<i> ba-dum tssssh </i>

[Young Jeff Bridges]

the hurricane blew as well.

<i> ba-dum tssssh </i>

davey

davey

i thought it was ba-dum ching

[Magenta]

Everyone knows that nothing on a drumset makes a "ching" sound.

Learn you your onomatopoeias better.

[Young Jeff Bridges]

but
it was a joke.

his drumset was made in taiwan.

i was referring to and old joke.

old

old joke.

like a week old.

[Davey Rootbeer]

I sold the ching to a guy named chong who smoked a bong and sand a song with amy wong.