Generally speaking, I have ignored John Tierney as he is quite the ineffective hack for his cause - Republicanism. But now that bald faced lying is called for by Rove's "Save Bush's Skin" strategy, we must address the stupid nonsense he is
spouting:
Mr. Bush made a lot of mistakes last week, but most of his critics are making an even bigger one now by obsessing about what he said and did.
WTF? "Obsessing" on what the President of the United States said and did in the face of the greatest national disaster in the history of the nation is a mistake? WTF? Honestly. Ok this is not a lie, but for heaven's sake, how stupid can you be?
We can learn more by listening to men like Jim Judkins, particularly when he explains the Magic Marker method of disaster preparedness. Mr. Judkins is one of the officials in charge of evacuating the Hampton Roads region around Newport News, Va. These coastal communities, unlike New Orleans, are not below sea level, but they're much better prepared for a hurricane. Officials have plans to run school buses and borrow other buses to evacuate those without cars, and they keep registries of the people who need special help.
Okaaay. Yes, Virginia is the center of natural disasters. Riiiight. (Virginia and Edmonds, Oklahoma.) Virginia is not for lovers, it is for natural disasters right? Er, no:
[I]n September of 2003, Virginia was struck by the greatest natural disaster in the history of the Commonwealth in September, 2003- Hurricane Isabel [sic]. Isabel caused 29 deaths and most of Virginia was declared a major disaster area. Fifty thousand coastal residents were evacuated from low lying areas. Wide spread power outages impacted 1.9 million people and thousands were without wireless or landline telephone services. 128 shelters were opened with over 13,000 residents at the peak of the immediate response.
Er, Mr. Tierney, you do realize that there is absolutely NO comparison to New Orleans don't you? Oh by the way, what did you think of Haley Barbour's performance in Mississippi? You see, Mr. Judkins probably could have taught a thing or two to Barbour, whose situation was at least a little more analogous to Virginia. But maybe you were referring to Mr. Barbour in your column, not New Orleans? If so, my apologies.
Oh by the way, your Virginia example? They say the following about the need for strong federal involvement:
Through all of these events, Virginia's public behavioral health system has responded. This would not have been possible without the assistance provided by our federal partners at FEMA and SAMHSA . . .
Oh and Mr. Tierney? You can stick your magic marker up [EXPLETIVES DELETED].