Nice Roundtable, Assholes
Posted on August 27th, 2006 by Brad
So This Week featured a Hurricane Katrina roundtable of Donna Brazile (the one “liberal” who wasn’t appalled by the president’s inept response to the hurriance), George Will (who spent the whole time arguing that government failures in the region were a clear indication that everything should be privatized) and a former White House shill (who took up huge amounts of the segment by praising the president’s “firm commitment” to rebuilding and comparing it to his “firm resolve” in Iraq).
Thanks for doing your job, press corps.
Anyone remember the enormous firestorm that erupted over at dKos when kos criticized Donna Brazile? This is one of the few dKos dustups in which I think the host was actually correct.
I’m a recovering Democrat (Green that is), so it ain’t my party. But if it were still my party, I’d want Brazile marginalized, and quick. Her basic function, at least since 2000, has been to carry water for the Bush administration.
Howie K. had Nagin on this morning, and he ducked a question about how miserable the Bush administration had been – said something about how the money from the feds was there and now the issue was getting it from the state to the city. Useless.
That on top of the oral sex that the Washington Post gave the president on how he has really worked hard to improve the situation in Louisiana and that Katrina was the only small blemish on an otherwise resolute leader. I have to puke now.
I just finished watching the segment. God, why do they trot our Donna Brazile? She, Geoprge Stephanopolous, et al. are such lukewarm leftovers of the Clinton era. There are so many new, strong, and engaging Dem voices who slam dunk hacks like Willl and leave them stuttering.
I guess the answer is obvious.
Joe, that’s exactly why they trot out Donna Brazile. Don’t speak out, don’t talk loudly, be nice and play along. I’ve stopped watching those shows.
Amazingly I’m a recovering Green, and now an actual Democrat. I blame Howard Dean. I also blame the Donna Braziles of the party for keeping me away for so long.
Has anyone read the NYT piece on NOLA reconstruction that’s frontpaged over at HuffPo? Jeebus, I made it about halfway, and was literally shouting at my monitor, startling the hell out of my pets and neighbors.
What a classist piece of shite it is. The stenographer blithely writes off the Ninth Ward and other poor (and black, what a coinkydink!) neighborhoods as ‘unlikely’ to ever be rebuilt. Chirpily reports on the spiffy new ‘charter’ schools that have been rescued from the Horrible Corruption of the former school administrations (less corruption is always good, how ’bout we send hurricanes and floods to rectify all instances of, say GOP corruption, hmm?), and basically saying that if your kid doesn’t get into one of them, sucks boo to you. Oh, and well, there really aren’t any hospitals, but I’m sure some private ones will be coming right up. And golly but the Garden District and the French Quarter are doing just A-OK, with lots of bidness and all. Then blathers on some more in a really sickeningly smug way about how much more ‘middle-class’ a city NOLA will be, Come the Great Jubilee Day.
Disgusting. I hope they get their asses kicked over it. Think we could maybe help them out with that?
If there’s any doubt that the NYT is turning into the official paper of record for the coming plutocracy, this article should fix that right up.
The media, clearly have a right wing bias now, and we should constantly point this out.
speaking of New Orleans, everyone keep thinking positive thoughts that the storm brewing in the Carribean stays OUT of the Gulf region. The last thing those poor folks need is another hurricane on the anniversary of Katrina.
Ahh, Brad, c’mon. Not a new condition. The fix is in. I don’t waste my time with these “news” shows. I mean, other than to get a sad little laugh or to get pissed, what’s the point? There’s no information contained within. The signal to noise ratio is effectively zero. They can’t, or more accurately, WON’T deal with the issues directly. The only people allowed to specifically criticise the administration in strong, direct terms are foreigners (and you know they hate freedom), people with arab-sounding names (just the fuckin enemy, what would you expect?) and howard dean (bugfuck crazy bark-at-the-moonbat). Otherwise, you get mild complaints that are completely offset by stacking the panel with he-said she-said pundits.
When you think about it, even Murtha’s complaints are pretty damn mild. He’s all over them about the war (which he supported initially), but nobody seems willing to talk about the 800 pound dead gorilla rotting in the parlor. The lies, the hypocracy, the secretiveness, the blatant willingness to ignore the constitution and the other branches of government, the results of their incompetent behavior, the fact that they are 100% campaign and 0% governance. Until the people stand up and speak the truth, nothing will change. And until the press uses it’s power to speak the truth, the people will go on snoring. Yeats was right…
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
mikey
Were any of these people THERE? Have any of them talked to the people who lost their homes, who are still waiting on trailers and bulldozers? Have any of them seen Spike Lee’s documentary in which whites and blacks rip the government a new asshole?
The fact of the matter is that the Katrina anniversary should remind people that Democrats can’t handle disasters.
Democrats like Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco dropped the ball on Katrina. Nagin refused to order a mandatory evacuation. Blanco was pretty much useless for the entire week of Katrina.
Contrast that with George W. Bush’s strong leadership after 9/11, Jeb Bush’s strong reaction to numerous hurricanes, Rudy Giuliani’s reaction to 9/11.
The fact of the matter is that Democrats can’t handle pressure.
If we’re attacked when a Democrat congress is in power, they’ll continue to try and appease terrorists.
If there’s any doubt that the NYT is turning into the official paper of record for the coming plutocracy, this article should fix that right up.
Uhh, “turning into”?
I think Gary just referred to a hurricane as a ‘terrorist’.
shorter Gary
“Bush is infallible”
The fact of the matter is that Democrats can’t handle pressure.
There has GOT to be some kind of award for the stupidest statement EVAH!! Gary is saying that your political affiliation determines your ability to handle pressure. Yep, that’s right, folks. There’s never been a democratic physician, a democratic major league hitter, a democratic platoon leader, a democratic cop, a democratic fund manager. Nope, there can’t be. In fact, if you switch your affiliation, you automatically gain (or lose) this capability. And in that case, you could game the system. You could become republican when under pressure, deal with it with aplomb, then go back to being a democrat. Gary, you are as dumb as a box of retarded hammers…
mikey
The fact is that I’m completely blasted. I knew it was a mistake to start drinking before noon.
That’s why I sleep through those news shows and wake up in time for NASCAR or football games.
Gary, you must’ve had one too many before posting your first comment.
En vino veritas.
Gary, it takes two hands to clap.
If the Right hand ain’t there, the Left hand is left hanging.
nice try… actually, lame try,
Nagin’s a what now?
I didn’t know Gary had learned to combine ‘that’ with ‘the fact is’. Can we get a reality check?
“George Bush’s strong leadership after 9/11” – sitting in a children’s classroom looking dazed until it was determined that Cheney, the real president, was safe, then flying around the country peeing his pants in terror, going anywhere BUT the location of the attack; until the rubble had stopped smoking and camera crews could be safely mobilized to create a stageset that presented Preznit Pullmyfinger in a faux-heroic light.
Cuz we just can’t get ENOUGH of that kind of leadership, no sir.
Gary, how does your brain process the news when it says things like “Mayor Nagin orders evacuation” in order to say things like “Nagin didn’t order a mandatory evacuation”? Does the piece of grey fluff that’s blown into your brain-hole pretend there’s some kind of difference by adding the word ‘mandatory’? What, exactly is a mandatory evacuation, and how is it effected? Magic freakin’ wand?
What’s a Mandatory Evacuation, you ask? TC, under this administration’s policies, you order a “Mandatory Evacuation” in order to save people’s lives. Then, if they don’t have any way to leave or anyplace to go, you can shoot them. Typical bush problem solving…
mikey
What Gary forgot to mention is that President Bush dropped everything on his agenda when hurricanes threatened Florida. If you don’t believe me, check out his response time when Ernesto makes landfall in a few days. I bet he’s down there in FLA the next morning.
Well, okay, mdhatter, but the fact is it only takes the right hand to do what Gary does best.
Nagin did order an evacuation, by the way.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08.html#074564
Gary is a troll. It’s getting obvious.
What’s a Mandatory Evacuation, you ask?
When Bush was reading My Pet Goat to those schoolkids and found out that “America is Under Attack”, his bladder had a mandatory evacuation.
Pumpkin head played this clip from Bush’s recent press confrence, and then didn’t address the most critical statement held within:
(bold = mine)
Mr. Greenwald has more.
Short version, congress can only “cut off the money” to stop King Bush? …ya, that doesn’t warrant discussion at all…
Don’t feed the
creep fucktard gibbering moron shithead loon dumb tit o leaginous excretion wankah Ken Mehlman’s butt-buddy bozo feeb asshat berk spotty-bottomed, drooling pratt short-bus rider idiot lame-o maroon cretin bloviator greasespot fascist dilettante piggly-wiggly dingleberrytroll, folks!If it was a mandatory evacuation of the city of New Orleans, the Superdome wouldn’t have been open.
I know he was speaking specifically about global warming, but the same is true for all administration talking points in what Al Gore said today in Scotland. The networks are controlled by people who have a vested interest in skewing the facts. The sooner ALL Americans tumble to that and start seeking information in many other forms, the better off we are. One would hope.
former White House shill should be current WH shill….she actually used to admit to working there..no she pretend to be independent…
Why George S. can’t figure out how to put together a balanced panel every week, instead of one that has 3 to 4 people, including George firing at liberals from all directions is beyond me….and why Democrats are willing to simply put up with is even more dumbfounding…
wow….
Presumably, Gary, the Superdome was designated as an evacuation point to go to. Like bomb shelters and what have you. I dunno, just a guess.
WaPo had an interesting article today about how NO is still mostly abandonded and that many families feel no need to return there.
If Gary Ruppert weren’t a cunt, he wouldn’t be posting here.
Can you imagine what it would be like to have a ‘mandatory evacuation’ in a city like Los Angeles, or an area like Orange County?? Everyone, with all their crap, cramming onto the freeway at once, going the same way. Seriously, what would that take? Five days to get from L.A. to Vegas?? (I’ve had that trip take 12 hours before, and that was just because of one bad wreck.)
Do you really think you can clear a city at the drop of a hat? Not bloody likely.
Gary’s confused about what “mandatory evacuation” means outside of authoritarian dictatorships.
In Cuba, a mandatory evacuation means that government trucks come around and pick everyone up and take them to evacuation centers. If you try to say no, you find yourself dealing with angry military officials.
In America, we can’t use our military for local police matters, and no area has enough police to enforce a “mandatory evacuation”. This is a good thing; it means we do not live in a police state.
And there is no metropolitan area in this country I am aware of that has an actual, useable evacuation plan that would allow for all of its inhabitants to evacuate safely. Our “evacuation plans” tend to center around allowing substantial percentages of our people to die.
As we’ve already seen.
The fact is at least 100,000 NOLA residents did not own motorized transport and so were directed to the Superdome after Nagin ordered the mandatory evacuation 20 hours before landfall.
Marsupial, you don’t have to imagine, and that clusterfuck was for a town under 1/8 the size of New Orleans.
Hey, where’d my link go?
OT – but who are these guys in the SN! helmets?
The fat is I’m no spring chicken and I’ve never seen a city the size of New Orleans totally evacuated. The fact is there is no contemporary historical yardstick against which to measure the evacuation of New Orleans last year for success.
Closest thing to it would have been the evacuation of San Francisco in 1906.
Tigrismus — what, you wouldn’t want to face a Cat 5 hurricaine as a sitting (literally) duck in the middle of the roadway, surrounded by thousands of tons of unsecured sheet metal??
What do commentor ahem and Dr. Mike Adams have in common?
Ans: they both fear and hate women.
Go back where you belong, ahem, with the wingers, until you get your head out of your dick.
Here we go again.
Do I need to make a list of hypersensitive feminists who jump at every shadow so that I may monitor their subsequent posts to vouchsafe they never call any male by a derogatory euphemism for male genitalia?
That’d make me feel like such a cunt, though.
/you don’t own our words
wow Goat Boy, at least you don’t abuse hyperbole.
I am the best in the universe at avoiding the abuse of hyperbole!
And modest, too!
“…Contrast that with George W. Bush’s strong leadership after 9/11, Jeb Bush’s strong reaction to numerous hurricanes…�
Wondered when we’d hear all this drivel.
“Strong leadership�? (in whose opinion?) A “strong reaction�? (is that like an allergic attack?)
Notice there’s nothing about G’s “strong leadership� during and after Katrina. And gee, the federal government responded to events in a state where this president’s BROTHER is the governor. Who’d a thunk it? (and agreed, watch how G will be all over the next Florida hurricane.)
The fact is, after every major event on this administration’s watch, the only thing we ever get is yet another report from some specially convened committee, a congressional committee, or non-government outsider detailing everything that went wrong.
Real leadership makes folks sit up, take notice and say “Now THAT’s how it’s done.�
But all we ever get from these assholes is hindsight, and “next time.�