and the band played on.
Though it's rare that someone writes it better than me (snicker, snicker), the AP's Ron Fournier certainly sums up my sentiment in this piece:
Newsview: Rhetoric Not Matching Reality
By RON FOURNIER
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Iraqi insurgency is in its last throes. The economy is booming. Anybody who leaks a CIA agent's identity will be fired. Add another piece of White House rhetoric that doesn't match the public's view of reality: Help is on the way, Gulf Coast.
As New Orleans descended into anarchy, top Bush administration officials congratulated each other for jobs well done and spoke of water, food and troops pouring into the ravaged city. Television pictures told a different story. Read more.
Of course, there are Bush apologists who will undoubtedly wave the "liberal media bias" flag at that last line. Well, at least the media showed up!
I'm not saying Bush alone is to blame, but he set the tone for the federal gubment. He gutted FEMA. He downgraded it from a cabinet position. And, had he not fired everybody around him who's not a kiss-ass toady, perhaps he would've gotten some real guidance on responding to a disaster.
To hear federal jackasses say "they didn't ask for our help" as a response is chickenshit. I'd like to think if the president dialed up the New Orleans mayor or the governor of any of the effected states and said, "we're sending help," they would not have said no.
As Bill Maher said the other night on Real Time, this administration came in on the promise of handling "the big stuff." It doesn't get much bigger than this. And the Crawford Cowboy needed a day or two to decide to cut his vacation short.
And the band played on.
Newsview: Rhetoric Not Matching Reality
By RON FOURNIER
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Iraqi insurgency is in its last throes. The economy is booming. Anybody who leaks a CIA agent's identity will be fired. Add another piece of White House rhetoric that doesn't match the public's view of reality: Help is on the way, Gulf Coast.
As New Orleans descended into anarchy, top Bush administration officials congratulated each other for jobs well done and spoke of water, food and troops pouring into the ravaged city. Television pictures told a different story. Read more.
Of course, there are Bush apologists who will undoubtedly wave the "liberal media bias" flag at that last line. Well, at least the media showed up!
I'm not saying Bush alone is to blame, but he set the tone for the federal gubment. He gutted FEMA. He downgraded it from a cabinet position. And, had he not fired everybody around him who's not a kiss-ass toady, perhaps he would've gotten some real guidance on responding to a disaster.
To hear federal jackasses say "they didn't ask for our help" as a response is chickenshit. I'd like to think if the president dialed up the New Orleans mayor or the governor of any of the effected states and said, "we're sending help," they would not have said no.
As Bill Maher said the other night on Real Time, this administration came in on the promise of handling "the big stuff." It doesn't get much bigger than this. And the Crawford Cowboy needed a day or two to decide to cut his vacation short.
And the band played on.
