In case it escaped your notice - there was just WAY too much going on today - Atrios made a rather fascinating catch, which Kos featured on the
front page earlier.
In yet another display of party over <fill in the blank>, shrubya seems to have made quite the point of keeping in regular contact with Haley Barbour, Ex-RNC Chair and Gooper Governor of Mississippi, during the immediate aftermath of Katrina.
Blanco, the Democratic Governor of Louisiana, however, was not held so closely. To the eternal disgrace of the highest office in this land, she was unable to reach the POTUS during a time of national crisis. After leaving urgent messages, she still had to call back later.
I don't know about you, but once I start pondering one aspect of the Katrina tragedy, I can't help but wander along to most all of them. And this story really got my warped mind going...
As I re-read about what would have to qualify as the most blatant and petty display of partisanship the world has ever seen, I recalled the
"Nothing can salve the wounds like money" mantra on which, apparently, shrubCo has pinned all hope of redemption. I also reminded myself of all the talk of
rebuilding New Orleans, otherwise known as the
"No Crony Left Behind" directive.
At this point, my wicked, wonton brain - it truly hates me, I'm sure of it - piped up with the ample evidence of patronage jobs abounding within this administration. And, of course, it had to bring up the veritable litany of rejected funding requests for SELA and other flood control projects revealed in the Senate record.
Somehow, there was still room left over for a random tidbit that I read and have since lost to the ether. I desperately wish I could remember its context or where I found it, but the crux of it is that somebody, in the process of decrying the lack of funding for New Orleans' levees, made an off-handed comment about building bridges in Alaska instead.
God help me, but the next thing my brain did was remind me that Alaska has a republican Governor and Senators. Then the damn thing leapt right on over to "could he really be that despicably partisan!?!"
My friends, I'm sad to say I believe that may be the reality - that infrastructure funding is directly a function of partisan affiliation, benefit to the nation be damned. It's hard for me to imagine a public works project of more signifigance to the entire country than restoring the levees and flood control systems in and around New Orleans. Nor can I imagine any rational reason not to fund something so important.
But I can imagine shrubCo and the larger GOP being so craven and power hungry as to reward partisans with federal grant monies, even at the expense of other far more critical projects. Hell, I don't even have to imagine it - Drownie is the poster boy for their policy of patronage politics.
So I'm wondering if there is a discernable pattern to be found along these lines - has this administration and its Stepford Senators made a point of allocating federal monies based on partisanship above all other considerations?