The Master of Disaster
So the Shrub says he's going to launch an investigation into the failures of the Katrina disaster response.
By which he means, the failures of OTHER people (especially those state-and-local officials, especially if they are Democrats). He still hasn't acknowledged, much less accepted, any of the responsibility for his own (in)actions, despite the fact that his greasy little fingerprints are all over the smoking gun.
He gutted the budget for flood control in Louisiana. He sent vital resources (billions, troops, and equipment) overseas to pour into a war based on a lie and continued on wishful thinking in a state of denial.
He folded FEMA into the burgeoning Department of Homeland Security, where it lost focus and authority and got bogged down in even more bureaucracy.
He rewarded his untalented, inexperienced cronies with powerful jobs they don't know how to handle -- like, allocating and managing manpower and resources in emergencies.
He stayed on vacation while the disaster loomed (4-1/2 weeks wasn't enough already), entertaining himself with light reading on the short-list of right-wing judges to appoint to the Supreme Court, while ducking Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protest.
When the news of the diaster was old news to everyone else, he made the supreme sacrifice, cut short his vacation by two whole days, and flew back to D.C. -- making an extra effort to have the pilot of Air Force One fly below the clouds so he could catch a gander at the devastation.
Once he got back to the Oval Office, Bush leaped into action -- spin control. Posing before the TV cameras, declaring everything was under control (when the American people could see it wasn't) and that help was on the way (days late and still waiting) and besides it wasn't his fault.
Bush promptly unleashed his senior henchmen (Karl Rove, chief political advisor and Dan Bartlett, communications director) to come up with a plan to contain the political damage his administration was incurring. Never mind the damage to peoples' lives, homes, jobs, cities. Let's focus on political damage.
It must be nice for Karl Rove to have something to do other than deal with the lurking questions about blowing a CIA agent's cover as an act of petty political retribution (remember the Plame case? hasn't been in the news much lately, has it?)
And how hard is it for these guys to come up with a political damage-control plan? After all, they've had years of experience.
Lies, denial, and blame the other guy. The usual routine from this White House.
Bush is a master of disaster, when the disaster involved is covering his own ass.
By which he means, the failures of OTHER people (especially those state-and-local officials, especially if they are Democrats). He still hasn't acknowledged, much less accepted, any of the responsibility for his own (in)actions, despite the fact that his greasy little fingerprints are all over the smoking gun.
He gutted the budget for flood control in Louisiana. He sent vital resources (billions, troops, and equipment) overseas to pour into a war based on a lie and continued on wishful thinking in a state of denial.
He folded FEMA into the burgeoning Department of Homeland Security, where it lost focus and authority and got bogged down in even more bureaucracy.
He rewarded his untalented, inexperienced cronies with powerful jobs they don't know how to handle -- like, allocating and managing manpower and resources in emergencies.
He stayed on vacation while the disaster loomed (4-1/2 weeks wasn't enough already), entertaining himself with light reading on the short-list of right-wing judges to appoint to the Supreme Court, while ducking Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protest.
When the news of the diaster was old news to everyone else, he made the supreme sacrifice, cut short his vacation by two whole days, and flew back to D.C. -- making an extra effort to have the pilot of Air Force One fly below the clouds so he could catch a gander at the devastation.
Once he got back to the Oval Office, Bush leaped into action -- spin control. Posing before the TV cameras, declaring everything was under control (when the American people could see it wasn't) and that help was on the way (days late and still waiting) and besides it wasn't his fault.
Bush promptly unleashed his senior henchmen (Karl Rove, chief political advisor and Dan Bartlett, communications director) to come up with a plan to contain the political damage his administration was incurring. Never mind the damage to peoples' lives, homes, jobs, cities. Let's focus on political damage.
It must be nice for Karl Rove to have something to do other than deal with the lurking questions about blowing a CIA agent's cover as an act of petty political retribution (remember the Plame case? hasn't been in the news much lately, has it?)
And how hard is it for these guys to come up with a political damage-control plan? After all, they've had years of experience.
Lies, denial, and blame the other guy. The usual routine from this White House.
Bush is a master of disaster, when the disaster involved is covering his own ass.
posted by Antares at 7:16 AM
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