Gov. Snyder: "Government failed you, federal, state and local leaders, ..."

[DetlefK]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rick-snyder-flint-state-of-the-state_us_569ec5b3e4b00f3e98635e87

“Your families face a crisis, a crisis you did not create and could not have prevented,” Snyder said. “I am sorry, and I will fix it.

“Government failed you -- federal, state and local leaders -- by breaking the trust you placed in us,” Snyder continued. “I’m sorry most of all that I let you down. You deserve better. You deserve accountability. You deserve to know that the buck stops here with me.”




That's odd.
I could swear that federal leaders had nothing to do with the decisions to switch to a different water-supply and to cover up the subsequent poisonings.
I could also swear that local leaders were left out of the loop because the whole mess was orchestrated by an unelected emergency-manager Gov. Snyder had appointed.

So, if the federal government didn't issue any orders, and the local governments were unable to issue orders even if they wanted to, who is left?

[malaise]

1. Rick Snyder poisoned every single child in Flint - all 8,000+ of them

Michael Moore was spot on.
Resign you fucking criminal and take your goons with you.

[Dustlawyer]

17. How is he going to "fix" the kids?

[catbyte]

27. I've lived in Michigan my entire life, and unless the feds lower the boom on that sleazy lowlife,

Last edited Wed Jan 20, 2016, 01:39 PM - Edit history (1)

not one fucking thing will happen to him. AG Bill Scheutte is just as big a sociopath as Snyder is and just as crooked. They and the fucking Republicans have destroyed my once beautiful state, and turned it into a government-as-corporation hellhole. THIS is what happens when you elect business people into government--a clusterfuck of epic proportions. I blame my fellow Democrats who sat on their whiny asses in 2010 and didn't vote just as much as the Republicans for this.

And for all of you pouting and saying that you'll sit out the vote if your preferred candidate doesn't win the nomination--say hello to President Trump, or Rubio, or any of those fuckheads. The IS a difference, and we in Michigan are the suffering proof.

[deathrind]

49. +10000000000000000000000

[maryellen99]

52. I'm surprised they haven't blamed Granholm for this either

I'm a MI resident and she still gets blamed for everything here.

[catbyte]

54. No kidding, as if she had anything to do with the national economy tanking.

The first thing that Snyder did was to give his business cronies a $1.8B tax break. He paid for it by taxing Michigan seniors & the disabled. And Democrats STILL stayed home. It's infuriating that people have such selective memories, but that's what Republicans count on--low information voters being spoon fed lies by the RNC & their mouthpiece, Fox-PAC. It's beyond tiresome.

[lovemydog]

55. +1

Thank you.

[tishaLA]

56. today's perfect post. +1 brazilian

[Duckhunter935]

2. he is trying to deflect

And failing

[hobbit709]

3. The feds had nothing to do with this.

Lying POS.

[jberryhill]

4. People keep electing politicians who say "government can't do anything right"

If I'm electing a dog catcher, it's not a good idea to vote for the candidate who keeps going on about the pointlessness of trying to catch dogs.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. It aggravates me too

No employer in their right mind would hire somebody who outright told them that they don't actually believe in the job they are applying for. It just makes no sense. *smh*

[malthaussen]

19. Funny how that works, innit?

Also funny that so many voters don't seem to see the inconsistency of people who don't believe in government asking for a government job. Or maybe one should just say "hypocrisy" and be done with it.

-- Mal

[phantom power]

44. Yes, and unfortunately, this kind of thing actually perpetuates it

People don't say "wow, this guy fucked up, let's elect a better candidate next time" They hear "government failed me" (which it did), and they either go on to elect the next conservative asshole who runs on the "govt can't do anything right" platform, or they just stay home.

[B Calm]

6. Regardless of what they say, republicans were never good at taking personal responsibility for

anything!

[gregcrawford]

7. Lansing, we have a problem...

"Dont Drink The Water." Editorial cartoon by Gregory Crawford. © 2016 World News Trust.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://worldnewstrust.com/toon-don-t-drink-the-water-gregory-crawford
Crawford's WNT profile page: http://worldnewstrust.com/Gregory-Crawford/
Crawford's WNT blog page: http://worldnewstrust.com/all-items/?layout=author&authorid=380
Crawford's website: http://crawford.airlight.us/

[ancianita]

8. He confessed to crime. Where are the indictments. Drag that criminal out of the governor's mansion.

U.S. Marshals should perp walk him through Flint, detain him in the nearest federal prison under indictment for ten murders.

Then Michigan courts should award generous medical and financial compenstion to all those families of the 8,000 little, little innocent pre-school children who've been physically damaged for life.

Why he's entitled to still be at large defines the racism of this legal system. If he were black he'd be dead by now.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

11. A Billion Times This!^^^

But he's the right color, and has the right amount of the money.

If he was white and caught with weed, he'd be sentenced to life in prison, though, so it's not always about race. But killing kids, if you're wealthy, only deserves some hushed scorn behind closed doors, not for killing kids, mind you, but for attracting attention from the unwashed.

[malthaussen]

18. No, he didn't.

He confessed to misjudgement, and tried to spread the blame around. "Failure" is not a crime (though I sometimes wish it were).

-- Mlal

[ancianita]

31. Nah, not buying it. Passive poisoning may be misjudgment. But year-long persistent misjudgment

that results in death -- from parent to corporation to governor -- goes from an ethical lapse to criminal act.

Agency always has legal accountability, and a much higher one when a leader is responsible for the health and safety of his state residents.

When ethics are ignored and the effect is human death, there is no 'human error' excuse.

Even given your claim, manslaughter is the LEAST any "misjudgment" should be indicted for by the citizens.

No semantic choices excuse the fact of this governor's longstanding criminal neglect -- a breach of his ethical agency -- that resulted in mass lifelong sickness and death in one of his cities.

By your 'misjudgment' metric, all of Wall St. should continue to go scott free.

By your semantic choice, all citizens may hereby excuse their criminality as misjudgment.

[malthaussen]

34. Legally, you'd have a hard time floating a negligent homicide rap.

Don't confuse morality with legality. The governor's actions might be morally as black as you please, so long as they are not actionable. The post to which I responded said Mr Snyder admitted to a crime. Legally, he has not done so, nor do I suspect he would ever be so dim as to do so.

-- Mal

[ancianita]

38. Simply because he claims no criminality by saying, "I let you down"? Come ON.

[ancianita]

39. Legally, "You deserve to know that the buck stops here with me” opens him up

to floating that very argument, hard or not. Everyone in Michigan may legitimately expect lawyers to do just that.

[malthaussen]

42. Want to bet on whether any indictments result?

You understand, I am not defending the governor, just saying that the perp is gonna walk. That's the way the game goes in this country... and most others that come to mind. Maybe if it were Iceland.

-- Mal

[ancianita]

47. I'm won't be cynical and defeatist about it, at least. It will only take one good legal team.

Legally, life and health of citizens of this country must not depend on "the way the game goes in this country..."

[Fantastic Anarchist]

9. The only government that fucked up is your government, Snyder.

That's why they call you "governor," and it is you that failed. You're not even man enough to take responsibility for it.

Fuck you and get the fuck out.

[ancianita]

41. This is beyond "failing" or "fucking up." Snyder committed criminal negligence.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

45. Oh, I agree.

My post was focused on the fact that he is responsible as the governor, but your point is even more valid.

He should be behind bars.

[lonestarnot]

10. It has been every man for himself since Katrina doncha know.

[Shadowflash]

12. The GOP keeps saying that the government is worthless and can't do anything right

And they do their best to prove that point every time they get elected.

When will people wake up and realize that it's just the GOP that's inept?

[malthaussen]

22. They're not inept.

They are very capably proving exactly what they claim. What is mind-boggling is that the electorate seems to like it that way.

-- Mal

[Omaha Steve]

13. Thanks for posting

K&R!

OS

[abelenkpe]

14. Is the media calling him out on this lie? Nt

[kag]

40. Rachel is.

She talked about that very sentence of his speech on last night's show. Not sure about anyone else.

[U of M Dem]

15. Get this lying asshole to a jail cell! N/t

[FlatBaroque]

16. Just imagine if a Muslim terrorist had poisoned the water supply of a major city

we would be under martial law within two days.

[FSogol]

20. The end result of GOP politics. n/t

[Baitball Blogger]

21. Typical Republican response.

What I am hearing is that he is trying to spread the blame, pulling in the federal government into this mess to insulate himself from repercussions.

How convenient. They want to dismantle government in order to exploit the resources of their local communities, but when it all falls apart, suddenly, federal government is their best friend.

[silvershadow]

23. But, it was only the State. The locals were overruled, and Czars appointed. The Feds

were perhaps a little slow to respond, but probably because they were watching the train wreck in slow motion.

[dpatbrown]

24. Government didn't fail them,

a Republican governor DID. Don't forget, repubs get elected to government to make it look bad. The GOP knows what they are doing. A sick party.

[debsy]

25. I just sent the governor a message...

...telling him how what he said was wrong and that he - and anyone in his administration who had anything to do with this crime - should resign immediately.

https://somgovweb.state.mi.us/GovRelations/ShareOpinion.aspx

[winterwar]

26. Exactly

He's trying to muddy the waters. It was him and his Republican buddies. They control both houses and the supreme court. And wouldn't you know it, the attorney general that is going to "investigate" is a conservative Republican as well.

[book_worm]

28. No! You failed them, Governor!

[d_legendary1]

29. Bullshit! The government didn't fail!

The goobers in charge failed! There should be laws written that jails anyone who fucks with the commons. I'm tired of this "government sucks" meme that these jokers keep tossing around to avoid their responsibilities to their constituents.

[Crowman1979]

30. Notice how all these so-called "emercency managers" were appointed to cities in which the majority..

...did not vote for his sorry ass?

[GeorgeGist]

32. Republicans lie, people die.

[blackspade]

33. Bullshit. He is obfuscating the fact that he is solely to blame...

For this whole debacle.
He should be impeached and criminally charged.

[Eric J in MN]

35. Republican government failed them.

Michigan Republicans are slimeballs. They took away local control with an Emergency Manager program.

Emergency Managers believe that saving a buck in the short-term is more important than whether water is poisoned with lead.

[sufrommich]

36. Weasel words from a weasel governor.nt

[mountain grammy]

37. Bush's cost cutting in New Orleans caused more than a thousand deaths..

Snyder following right in line.. Republican paradise; poor people die.

[ecstatic]

43. I caught that. Extremely dishonest and everyone knows it.

If he could lie about things we all know are false, what else is he lying about? Time to sort it out in a criminal trial (after the Flint crisis is resolved. Speaking of which, maybe it's time to evacuate the town until the water system is completely renovated).

[sufrommich]

46. A reminder that the "liberal" Detroit Free Press endorsed

him....twice. :

http://crooksandliars.com/2016/01/dear-detroit-free-press-water-situation

[Fla Dem]

48. If terrorists had poisoned a city's water supply, they would be hunted down and arrested. nt

[malthaussen]

50. Let us not ignore the larger question.

If the city manager of Flint was so egregiously negligent (we'll say nothing of his intent), then what reason do we have to believe that any of the others is more competent?

-- Mal

[Downtown Hound]

51. If the buck stops with you,

then stop blaming the feds and the locals. They had nothing to do with this.

[certainot]

53. these 3 unis would be good places to protest - would directly

address the dependence of snyder and the mich GOP on 19 limbaugh stations (Michigan St. 11, Michigan 7, Western Michigan 1)

getting one of these to even talk about honoring their mission statements and going to apolitical alternatives to broadcast their sports would send advertisers fleeing and force some of them to drop rw radio - and those stations' support for snyder and their attacks on detroit teachers