New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller took a break from burnishing the Bush action figure to write about Republican concerns that the deaths caused by the administration’s incoherent response to the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe may negatively impact the president’s second term agenda, but Missouri congressman Roy Blunt insisted that abandoning efforts to repeal the estate tax would deprive the nation of exactly the medicine it needs.
In a story cowritten by Adam Nagourney, Bumiller reports that the White House is scrambling “to gain control of a situation that Republicans said threatened to undermine Mr. Bush’s second-term agenda and the party’s long-term ambitions.”
The “situation” is not the desperate conditions still afflicting tens of thousands of Katrina refugees in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast — and however bad you think it is, it’s probably worse than that — but the potential political fallout from the failure to alleviate those conditions.
Measures taken by the administration to rein in the damage include the president referring to the disaster area as “larger than the size of Great Britain,” which conjures up unfortunate parallels with the British government’s response to the Battle of Britain (and which is, according to Bumiller, an exaggeration), and Homeland Defense secretary Michael Chertoff assuring the nation that “not an hour goes by that we do not spend a lot of time thinking about the people who are actively suffering.”
Well then: That should about do it. There’s a bonus coming for whoever thought up the Great Britain analogy; it’s a refreshing change from the usual stateside ones, and despite inviting the comparison to Churchill, it could’ve been worse. “Nearly half the size of Iraq,” for instance, or “Larger than Bangladesh.”
Bumiller goes on to note that leading Democrats are courageously remaining silent in the face of overwhelming evidence that no one in the administration, from the president on down, was even remotely prepared to handle the disaster. The Democrats have apparently made the political calculation that lethal incompetence is a political issue, and any criticism of it would be seen as politicizing it.
If you’re waiting for “The Fall of the House of Escher,” don’t: it’s structurally sound and your elected Democrats are still huddled inside.
Elsewhere in the story, semi-retired GOP hit man Rich Bond remarked hopefully that “Next Tuesday, the Roberts hearings start and that’s going to occupy a significant part of the daily coverage.” It’s possible he’s right, barring a cholera outbreak or some such, but it seems unlikely; sometime around then, people will have started counting bodies.
If he really wants a distraction, maybe impeachment hearings would do the trick.
Meanwhile, has anyone seen Dick Cheney? A Google News search turns up a grand total of four references to him since August 23: One story about a prospective fund raiser for Missouri Senator Jim Talent, two bemoaning his forthcoming trip to Canada, and a fourth in which he appears only in the caption of a photo showing him talking to Karl Rove during the president’s Saturday radio address. Compare that to the 2,050 references between August 4 and August 23; if his profile were any lower, we’d have to put out an arrest warrant on Doug Henning.
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UPDATE: Knight Ridder has a profile of FEMA head Michael Brown. A sample:
WASHINGTON – From failed Republican congressional candidate to ousted “czar” of an Arabian horse association, there was little in Michael D. Brown’s background to prepare him for the fury of Hurricane Katrina.
But as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brown now faces furious criticism of the federal response to the disaster that wiped out New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. He provoked some of it himself when he conceded that FEMA didn’t know that thousands of refugees were trapped at New Orleans’ convention center without food or water until officials heard it on the news.
“He’s done a hell of a job, because I’m not aware of any Arabian horses being killed in this storm,” said Kate Hale, former Miami-Dade emergency management chief. “The world that this man operated in and the focus of this work does not in any way translate to this. He does not have the experience.”
Indeed.
First, the Democrats. Certainly the Democrats don’t want to put their heads up because they’re afraid of the right-wing media. I also wonder if they’re afraid of the criticism that they would get from their base as well.
Second, Dick Cheney. I don’t think he’s been exiled. I bet that he’s pouting over the lack of back-up for his “insurgency in its last throes” comment. It was like the rest of the administration was refusing to share in his “delusion de jour” propoganda strategy.
Hey, Ric. I dunno: they’re sending him to Canada. How much more exiled could you get?
He was on vacation last week, but this week I suspect they’re keeping him under wraps lest he say something more stupid than Bush, Chertoff and Brown have, assuming that’s possible.
Sen. Landrieu actually has had some complaints (see e.g., Kevin Drum) as did Nancy Pelosi and the usual suspects (Congressional Black Caucus).
Dan Froomkin’s 9/2 column also mentions Cheney. I’m not sure if anyone really wants him out there — how exactly would he ease the victims’ fate? I kinda think the same for Condi Rice, even while she was furthering my local economy watching Spamlot.
Anyway, Bolton is stinking up the place enough for two people these days.
Yeah, I saw the Landrieu press release. I also saw her get mauled by Anderson Cooper on CNN, Thursday, I think, for being so effusive about the rescue operation when it hadn’t actually started yet. I’m trying to confirm something else Drum commented on, which was that one of Laura Rozen’s readers said a German public tv news crew reported seeing what was apparently a Potemkin food drop site dismantled after Bush stopped by for a photo op.
Nobody listens to the CBC. They’re black.
I am a career employee for the U.S.Government.
Ask “ANY” of my cohorts about “RED TAPE”.
Big government enjoys complacency. And to be
real…”FAT” always moves slow!
From an outsider looking in (Australia) it looks as though Bush is being made a scapegoat by the usual left wing excuses for human beings.
What responsability do the local and state governments take in all of this? considering as we the the rest of the world were led to believe that the areas effected were supposed to be evacuated before the event!
Jamie, a great many people did evacuate. A lot of others had no transportation, no money and nowhere to go. The state and local people didn’t handle things well, but they had nowhere near the resources to deal with the situation even if they had done things absolutely right. The feds did have the resources and are supposed to be alert enough to put them to use when they’re needed, not the better part of a week later.
You should move over here. We’re short on reptilian conservatives.
Weldon,
If you want a “vignette” that symbolizes the entire failure here, see the story in today’s Chicago Tribune about the huge Navy supply and hospital ship that was in the Gulf as the hurricane came through, and followed it into the locality of New Orleans prepared to provide massive rescue, emergency supply and medical facilities but took no action for days for lack of orders to do so.
George Will this morning said this debacle is Bush’s Iran-Contra affair. I’m no fan of George Will but I hope he’s right. I’m afraid, at the same time that the American public’s capacity to be spun appears to have no limits.
Yeah – chosen pearly white Anderson Cooper safe in Haley Barbour’s “kill the nigger looter” Mississippi – down there where Abramnoff bribed enough politicos to set up Casinos [owned by other respected members of the "chosen"], sure got emotional Landrieu.
He even interviewed Bush (maybe he smelled like Gannon/Geckert dragon lotion).
Why didn’t he get emotional with the prez about the illegal invasion of Iraq. Come to think of it – he spent a lot of time with CNN analyst Pollack – who by the way just got indicted in the [buried] AIPAC investigation.
When was the last time any of us saw a goy on CNN?
Have you looked at the CV of Time Warner’s boss. Every board he sits on is a defense or security company. Take the profit out of war and and the 4th estate will come back.
F_CK Cooper – clean and safe (all puufed like Dubby) and secured by old Miss klanners looking for negro target! The guy’s an A-wipe – he ain’t no hero – just a sayerin for arms dealers.
I see that Krugman picked up on the Navy ship story in his column today.