Crossposted to the NPI Official Blog
The criticism of the administration has been raining down hard and fast on the right. The Republican Noise Machine is sputtering as it tries to prop up the administration.
Locally, we have our own crew of wingnuts who are playing defense for BushCo. They really started setting up their fortifications this weekend. Take a look at some of this and feel your internal temperature rise:
8/28 FLASHBACK: Bush Called LA Gov., Appealed For Mandatory Evacuation for New Orleans
[..]
NWRepublican: Nicole Gelinas writing in the City Journal, succinctly points out the true causes of the New Orleans disaster -- the city residents and officials themselves.
[...]
John Carlson: And now comes Hurricane Katrina. And somehow, George Bush is to blame. What for? New Orleans officials who didn't appropriately evacuate their city now blame Bush for the sporadic and sometimes disorganized delivery of aid for the residents who were left or stayed behind.
More below the fold....
Continued:
P Scott Cummins: Where was enforcmement of the mandatory evacuation order by New Orleans officials - which came only after pleading by President Bush himself last weekend, days before the storm came onshore?
[...]
Dave Reinhard: President Bush came in for his share of bashing last week. Did you know his failure to embrace the Kyoto Treaty and beat back global warming caused Katrina? Or that and his administration's failure to agree to every request for Gulf Coast projects left New Orleans in its current fix? Never mind that both claims are nonsense.
For these guys, the administration is accountable FOR NOTHING. They can do no wrong. They have made every effort, and will continue to make every effort, to portray Bush as a hero.
It's easy for them to dismiss global warming, many of them don't believe in it. It's easy for them to blame it on local officials, looters, and people who didn't leave.
It's NEVER Bush. It wasn't his fault there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It's not his fault we haven't gotten Osama yet. Abu Ghraib wasn't Bush's fault. Valerie Wilson's outing wasn't Bush's fault. The recession wasn't his fault. The Enron mess wasn't Bush's fault. 9/11 certainly wasn't his fault. So why would Katrina be his fault?
It works with their frame. Bush can do no wrong. Therefore, with any effort to hold him accountable, they will attack and dismiss.
Some are especially disturbed that this effort to hold Bush accountable has taken a deep root. Here's an excerpt from one local conservative who runs a Drudge imitator focused on our local area:
It's pretty obvious there is major assault underway, by the majority of the mainstream press and the liberal blogosphere, to pin every problem imaginable on President Bush, specifically Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath.
I spent most of the weekend thinking about how I wanted to respond to some of the pure crap and lies being spun, and to be honest I got so angry with it all I basically turned off the computer and stayed away for a couple of days.
What I have decided to do is rather than get mad or start launching a war of words with people that are simply exposing their pure hatred of the President, I am going to focus even more on linking and posting "the other side of the story", and make sure that ALL information regarding recent current events is made available. I will not be guaranteeing equal time - my goal is to publish information and commentary that I do not believe the people of the Northwest and the rest of the world are reading.
Everyone is entitled to free speech, even the hate-mongers whose apparant goal in life is to see George Bush drawn and quartered. So I will offer balance to this as I see fit.
If you have information, links, or commentary you think fits in with this Orbusmax theme, please send me what you have. I would really prefer links to exisitng sites - my time is limited and I can't be copy/pasting/formatting e-mails. Keep it concise, to the point, and family friendly as much as possible.
I support this President, and I think he is doing a good job (not perfect by any means). I do not subscribe to claims he is racist, incompetent, uncaring, or stupid.
To which one commenter responded:
We should always support our President because he's going to be our president for the next 3 1/2 years if we like it or not.
So you were a big defender of Clinton, starting in mid-1996, right? Please!
ACCOUNTABILITY and RESPONSIBILITY mean nothing to these people - except when a Democrat is in office - which reminds me - the good things like Clinton accomplished while in office for eight years have mostly been undone. The surplus? Gone. The roadless rule? Gone. The new and improved FEMA? Gone.
The bottom line is that the Republicans have put up people for office who have no idea how to govern. The people wrecking (not running) our country now don't have compassion for anyone else. They want to turn this nation into an every MAN for HIMself Christian theocracy!
Americans are outraged because they expect the federal government to step forward to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. According to the right wing's strict father worldview, that's immoral.
So what's up with that? What we're seeing is our worldview coming out front and center in many of our fellow citizens, especially some journalists - according to Lakoff, the nurturant parent worldview. The idea that yes, government can be a force for good - it can HELP people.
It can provide safety, shelter, food, clean water, and medical care. It can bring hope to those who have none left.
The government response, however, was completely mismanaged. It was a terrible failure - a disaster in itself. And that's why we're seeing the outrage. Coming from just about everyone except defenders of the administration.
I don't know whether this is true or not - but this disaster could be a turning point. A sign that perhaps BushCo can be neutralized from doing much more serious damage to our country. I certainly hope that's the case.
I do know one thing: it's good to see the administration's lapdogs against the wall for a change.