Hello, Kossacks:
My diary today is simple. As Bushco scrambles, doing much too little, much too late, to show that it cares about the poor in New Orleans, framing is critical.
Chertoff is spinning like mad -- now is not the time for recriminations. Brown hinting that local and state officials are to blame.
We need a frame on accountability, and we need it now.
More below.
I want us to begin long, loud and hard, asking the question: When is the sweet spot?!
Just when is it an acceptable time to hold these fuckers accountable, and not just for New Orleans, but for Iraq and just about everything else that's wrong with this country.
Ask questions now about FEMA's abysmal failure and you're holding up progress. But I can guarantee you that if you try to ask the same questions in a month, they'll tell you the ship has sailed and that you're holding on to the past.
Ask questions before and during our initial invasion of Iraq, and you're the same as the terrorists. As questions now, and you're preventing us from winning the war.
I believe the first, the ONLY, response when Bushco and the right wing try to dismiss our legitimate questions about their incompetence is, "You tell me. When is the fucking sweet spot? When do you pull those goddamned scales from your eyes? When do you take your hands off your ears and stop shouting "I'm not listening? I'm not listening?"
This is a presidency that understands symbolism well. Witness the flightsuit. Witness his "symbolic mom-off" against Cindy Sheehan. Witness his pretend levee fixes yesterday while he found him a couple of black girls to hug.
Cut the crap, Chimpy. Say it with me: "When is the goddamned fucking sweet spot?"