Bush Takes Responsibility -- What's the Catch?
Wow! Does the buck actually stop? Nah. Check out this article from the AP and my analysis below.
We know how this Government works. Karl Rove's nickname, "Turd Blossom" is one of the most accurate nicknames W has ever given. Disaster happens, either natural or a political one made by George himself. Karl sees the pile of cow flop and thinks, "How can I turn this around?"
Turd: Hurricane K.
George is late responding, lots of mistakes at the state and local level as well as a massive screw up at FEMA. W looks BAD. Rove cares first and foremost about the images. Can't control the box. Tried, didn't work too well. What next? Look around at who has been disloyal, who can be blamed or cut loose. “Brownie, fall on your sword, we'll get you a job as a lobbyist for a Kentucky horse stud farm.”
But the next step is saying, "To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Yippee! Now of course the right wing pundit infrastructure has a response to their imaginary liberals who they argue with on the air, "See! The president TOOK RESPONSIBILITY! What more do you DEMs want? Him to resign for the mistakes of the Mayor of New Orleans, the Governor of Louisiana? See, the libs won't be happy until the President quits, EVEN if the PRESIDENT DOES WHAT THEY WANT! Why don't we hear the Mayor of N.O. take responsibility?" Spin. Spin. Spin.
Blossoms: ALL GOVERNMENT IS BAD. Private Contractors are good. Dems are to Blame.
Karl thinks. “Okay, Bush AND Government screwed up. What if W says "I take responsibility" what does that mean? NOTHING! He just has to say the words and magically the heat comes off. AND --and this is the Turd Blossom part of it where he earns his nickname.
BLAME THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! W. doesn’t have to blame HIMSELF! It’s that pesky bureaucracy!
Now for those of you who think I'm overreaching with this explanation. One other thing about Karl and the Turd Blossom Machine is that he has set into place SO MANY others who will pick up this cow flop and run with it. Third parties will fall all over themselves to support this and the press will quote them. Watch, IT IS IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH of this story.
BLAME OTHERS
"Some federal officials have sought to fault state and local officials for being unprepared to cope with the disaster.”
See, the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ISN'T REALLY IN CHARGE, Because as everyone knows, they SUCK
He said the federal government would look increasingly to state and local officials for guidance on rebuilding the devastated communities along the Gulf Coast.
"The federal government can't drive permanent solutions down the throats of state and local officials," Chertoff said. "I don't think anyone should envision a situation in which they're going to take a back seat. They're going to take a front seat," he said.
It’s a sop to local control and also an opportunity to shift blame. Chertoff is actually quite good at this stuff.
Watch this Turd Blossom fans! Notice the PRE-SPIN Damage Control
Chertoff said that teams of federal auditors were being dispatched to the stricken areas to make sure that billions of dollars worth of government contracts were being properly spent. "We want to get aid to people who need it quickly, but we also don't want to lose sight of the importance of preserving the integrity of the process and our responsibility as stewards of the public money," Chertoff said.
"We're going to cut through red tape," he said, "but we're not going to cut through laws and rules that govern ethics
More pre-spinUNLEASE RUMMY THE THRIFTY! Rummy the "150K troops will be enough for Iraq"
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that some military aircraft and other equipment may be able to move out of the Gulf Coast soon.
"We've got to the point where most if not all of the search and rescue is completed," (Based on what intelligence, Don?) said Rumsfeld, who is attending a NATO meeting in Berlin. "Some helicopters can undoubtedly be moved out over the period ahead."
He also said there is a very large surplus of hospital beds in the region, so those could also be decreased. (Yes, but leave those body bags before you take off, folks.) The USS Comfort hospital ship arrived near the Mississippi coast late last week. Rumsfeld added that nothing will be moved out of the area without the authorization of the two states' governors, the military leaders there and the president.
Turd Blossom your PR skills are legendary. They have been honed over years of planting flowers in the cow dung of George W’s mistakes. You were a bit slow out of the blocks on this one, but I'm confident you will get another beautiful turd blossom for your smelly garden. Why? Because the lazy press still hasn’t seen past your standard tricks, the people who want to believe will believe no matter what and, lucky for you the poor dead people have no voice in this game. This time they have a smell, but fortunately for you we don’t have smell-o-vision yet.
Oh and Karl, before you run off to the next turd to plant flowers in, remember the dead make nice fertilizer for your garden.
This post inspired by The Rude Pundit and Nim, the world's most cynical lawyer.
We know how this Government works. Karl Rove's nickname, "Turd Blossom" is one of the most accurate nicknames W has ever given. Disaster happens, either natural or a political one made by George himself. Karl sees the pile of cow flop and thinks, "How can I turn this around?"
Turd: Hurricane K.
George is late responding, lots of mistakes at the state and local level as well as a massive screw up at FEMA. W looks BAD. Rove cares first and foremost about the images. Can't control the box. Tried, didn't work too well. What next? Look around at who has been disloyal, who can be blamed or cut loose. “Brownie, fall on your sword, we'll get you a job as a lobbyist for a Kentucky horse stud farm.”
But the next step is saying, "To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Yippee! Now of course the right wing pundit infrastructure has a response to their imaginary liberals who they argue with on the air, "See! The president TOOK RESPONSIBILITY! What more do you DEMs want? Him to resign for the mistakes of the Mayor of New Orleans, the Governor of Louisiana? See, the libs won't be happy until the President quits, EVEN if the PRESIDENT DOES WHAT THEY WANT! Why don't we hear the Mayor of N.O. take responsibility?" Spin. Spin. Spin.
Blossoms: ALL GOVERNMENT IS BAD. Private Contractors are good. Dems are to Blame.
Karl thinks. “Okay, Bush AND Government screwed up. What if W says "I take responsibility" what does that mean? NOTHING! He just has to say the words and magically the heat comes off. AND --and this is the Turd Blossom part of it where he earns his nickname.
BLAME THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! W. doesn’t have to blame HIMSELF! It’s that pesky bureaucracy!
Now for those of you who think I'm overreaching with this explanation. One other thing about Karl and the Turd Blossom Machine is that he has set into place SO MANY others who will pick up this cow flop and run with it. Third parties will fall all over themselves to support this and the press will quote them. Watch, IT IS IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH of this story.
BLAME OTHERS
"Some federal officials have sought to fault state and local officials for being unprepared to cope with the disaster.”
See, the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ISN'T REALLY IN CHARGE, Because as everyone knows, they SUCK
He said the federal government would look increasingly to state and local officials for guidance on rebuilding the devastated communities along the Gulf Coast.
"The federal government can't drive permanent solutions down the throats of state and local officials," Chertoff said. "I don't think anyone should envision a situation in which they're going to take a back seat. They're going to take a front seat," he said.
It’s a sop to local control and also an opportunity to shift blame. Chertoff is actually quite good at this stuff.
Watch this Turd Blossom fans! Notice the PRE-SPIN Damage Control
Chertoff said that teams of federal auditors were being dispatched to the stricken areas to make sure that billions of dollars worth of government contracts were being properly spent. "We want to get aid to people who need it quickly, but we also don't want to lose sight of the importance of preserving the integrity of the process and our responsibility as stewards of the public money," Chertoff said.
"We're going to cut through red tape," he said, "but we're not going to cut through laws and rules that govern ethics
More pre-spinUNLEASE RUMMY THE THRIFTY! Rummy the "150K troops will be enough for Iraq"
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that some military aircraft and other equipment may be able to move out of the Gulf Coast soon.
"We've got to the point where most if not all of the search and rescue is completed," (Based on what intelligence, Don?) said Rumsfeld, who is attending a NATO meeting in Berlin. "Some helicopters can undoubtedly be moved out over the period ahead."
He also said there is a very large surplus of hospital beds in the region, so those could also be decreased. (Yes, but leave those body bags before you take off, folks.) The USS Comfort hospital ship arrived near the Mississippi coast late last week. Rumsfeld added that nothing will be moved out of the area without the authorization of the two states' governors, the military leaders there and the president.
Turd Blossom your PR skills are legendary. They have been honed over years of planting flowers in the cow dung of George W’s mistakes. You were a bit slow out of the blocks on this one, but I'm confident you will get another beautiful turd blossom for your smelly garden. Why? Because the lazy press still hasn’t seen past your standard tricks, the people who want to believe will believe no matter what and, lucky for you the poor dead people have no voice in this game. This time they have a smell, but fortunately for you we don’t have smell-o-vision yet.
Oh and Karl, before you run off to the next turd to plant flowers in, remember the dead make nice fertilizer for your garden.
This post inspired by The Rude Pundit and Nim, the world's most cynical lawyer.
4 Comments:
I read this the other day and I thought it was relevant:
"People always like to quote Harry Truman "The Buck Stops here", but I don't know if people realize how radical that was at the time and how rare it has become in this government. The first impulse with politicians is NOT to take responsibility. This applies to MOST politicians, but again as Olbermann states, this admin has been touting that they are the ones that can handle this, "The Grown ups." Grown up take responsibility, they don't blame the kids for not knowing how to do everything perfect."
I understand that you aren't a Bush fan and I don't have a problem with that. HOWEVER, it is my opinion that you can't have it both ways. You can't bemoan the fact that he wasn't accepting responsibility and then when he does blast him for doing it.
Just pick one gut reaction and go with it.
Spocko, spin is when you somehow state the facts in such as way as to distort the perception (watch any network news broadcast for reference). For example:
"Some federal officials have sought to fault state and local officials for being unprepared to cope with the disaster.”
true and correct- FEMA is not a first responder, and Spocko, the feds really aren't in charge. I think the president should have come straight out and said they could have done a much better job if the democrats hadn't left their constituency to fend for themselves.
Ah Jim the old "Feds really aren't/weren't in charge" line. Come on Jim, that's an old talking point, it has been disproved with Actual Documents. Of course it was spun out of the mouth of an anonymous official to the Washington Post so I can understand how you might not have heard the corrections.
Correction to This Article
A Sept. 4 article on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina incorrectly said that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) had not declared a state of emergency. She declared an emergency on Aug. 26.
Many Evacuated, but Thousands Still Waiting
White House Shifts Blame to State and Local Officials
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301680.html
Seriously, Jim old buddy, ya gotta keep up.
Here is the time line.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/katrina-timeline.php
Here are the documents documenting the steps that were taken.
http://www.opencrs.com/rpts/M20050912_20050912.pdf
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf
the feds really aren't in charge
Yes they Were in charge then (after the letters) and NOW they ARE definitely in charge.
democrats hadn't left their constituency to fend for themselves.
They did what they could when they could. Was their response enough? No. Did they request help? Yes.
This distinction about FEMA as not being a first responder is a weak argument Jim and you know it.
There are plenty of people to blame for this debacle, stop trying to protect this administration.
I know what spin is, I see it all the time.
Some federal officials have sought to fault state and local officials for being unprepared to cope with the disaster.”
That is not spin. That is summarizing comments that have been made. Just like the comment " Some local officials have sought to fault federal officials for being unprepared to cope with the disaster."
Both those statements are correct, based on what each group has said historically.
Spocko I’m not sure what docs you read but the docs you provided clearly support that FEMA was supposed to assist the LOCAL efforts not provide them. This is the intended effect since we are the UNITED STATES of America- not 1 giant state. In our system of government the local states are sovereign- thus the discussion of the insurrection act that took place. (You can read one here : http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/national/nationalspecial/09military.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1126237031-wUiC7tizXdZrYRRCgtZ96w&pagewanted=al)
“To seize control of the mission, Mr. Bush would have had to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president in times of unrest to command active-duty forces into the states to perform law enforcement duties.”
Declaring a state of emergency does not give the federal government the power to take over anything. So no the feds were not in charge and to date are STILL not in charge
(http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050905/ap_on_go_pr_wh/katrina_washington)
“Blanco has refused to sign over control of the National Guard to the federal government and has turned to a Clinton administration official, former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief James Lee Witt, to help run relief efforts”
now a point about how much time is required to evacuate: from the never implemented emergency preparedness doc:
the City of New Orleans has established a maximum acceptable hurricane evacuation time standard for a Category 3 storm event of 72 hours.
From your timeline Nagin didn’t start evacuations until Sunday- and at that it was only volutary because he didn’t know if he could mandatorily evacuate ( even though the plan explicitly says he can)
The bottom line is that the pathetic Mayor got a major jump on the "It's not my fault band wagon", followed quicky by the worthless Governer. They won the media blame the Feds game!
Even though the Governer FAILED to act quickly and decisively to order a MANDATORY evacuation. FAILED to get the Guard positioned. Failed to have an observer with good communications in New Orleans!
The Mayor failed to read and follow his own Emergency Plan. Failed to get food/water to the Superdome and the Convention Center.
Brown failed to watch the damn TV and get food and water to the people in the Superdome and Convention center. He is being blamed for LOCAL issues!
The media wants to smear Bush and it looks like they accomplished it!
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