In the
Des Moines Register they highlight a strong response to Bush by Gov. Tom Vilsack:
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack on Thursday sharpened his criticism of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina, offering a stinging indictment of its competence and a challenge to its ultimate motives.
Everyone should read his pre-buttal, it echoes a lot of discussion in this community from the discussion of conservative ideology to highacidity's Grover Norquist poster turned billboard. It is very interesting to read and I want to hear what the dkos community has to say about it.
This is one of the better passages:
The failures in our national response to Hurricane Katrina did not simply stem from mistakes, however egregious, of individuals whose replacement with more experienced and competent public servants will take care of the problem in the immediate and distant future. These failures represent the broader failure of an ideology of contempt for the responsibilities of government, and for the sense of community that is fundamental to genuine self-government.
All too often, conservative ideologues who now honeycomb the halls of our great public buildings in Washington have promoted the idea that government is an alien institution that illegitimately confiscates and redistributes resources to no great purpose other than sustaining our armed forces at the absolute minimum of effectiveness. These ideologues have viewed government, even the federal government they control from top to bottom, as a necessary evil to be tolerated, an obstacle to be overcome and undermined, a "beast:" to be starved. And worse yet, when their plans to dismantle government are thwarted, they tend, not surprisingly, to view federal agencies as little more than a vast patronage opportunity for fellow-partisans who don't much believe in the missions they are supposedly pledged to perform.
...
If this mix of hostility and indifference towards government's positive role in our national community had brought us a cheaper and leaner federal government, it might have served some positive purpose. But as we all know, the federal government has become fatter and meaner instead. We are learning every day that there really is something worse than a big, debt-ridden government that tries to do too much and fails. It's a big, debt-ridden government that tries to do too little, and succeeds.
This was posted of at all places - the DLC website where Vilsack is the new chairman. It is a step better for a DLC politician imho - we'll see if it continues that way. The new DLC chair doesn't sound very old DLC to me - but I am sure there are a lot skeptics who won't care.
So here a question: When it comes to DLC politicians like Warner, Clinton, Bayh, and Vilsack -- do we reward good work or the messenger simply be dismissed?