Talking Point: When Repugs Blame Local & State Govnts for Katrina Fiasco

[David Zephyr]

Here's the question you must put squarely to every Republican who tries to pass along the White House crap now about who's to blame:

If the largest natural disaster in our nation's history was not the job for the Federal Government and FEMA, then why in the hell have the taxpayers been paying billions of dollars for FEMA all these many years? How big much a natural disaster be before it rises to the level of being the responsibility of FEMA?

Ask them this every time.

[liveoaktx]

1. Terrific rejoinder

[David Zephyr]

2. Thanks. It helped shut this idiot up in Palm Springs this weekend.

His "the local authorities were just as much at fault" was like a zombie mindset response. I am sick as hell of hearing this shit.

Then I asked him what in the hell FEMA was for if not for the largest natural disater EVER?

I gotta tell you, it really registered hard with him. He said, "Well, FEMA and the President screwed it all up and I admit that should have been there sooner. It was FEMA's job."

[B Calm]

3. good point!

[Wizard777]

4. This is TWO disasters. Do not blur the line.

The Natural disaster is in Miss. and Ala. They were hit by Katrina. NOLA is a man made disaster. That mans name is George Bush. What was needed to prevent this man made disater, levee improvement funding, was gutted from the budget by Bush to Finance his Iraq Gambling junket. Bush was given the dice and he tossed them. Bush just craped out AGAIN. No Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. But Weather of Mass Destruction hit the Gulf Coast. When is Congress going to take the dice away from Bush and call in his gambling debts? We can only collect on his ass once and he currently owes America both cheecks. We cannot allow him to continue to roll.

[David Zephyr]

5. Excellent point, Wizzard777.

Two disasters.

[artv28]

6. They don't listen

I've been getting into this debate with a bunch of nitwits in a Softball message forum. Someone cuts and paste this crap and everyone agrees with it 100% even though I had spent the last couple of days debunking 80% of it in my earlier posts. Why bother with these brainwashed asshats if they don't listen to anything the other side has to say.

http://www.czabe.com/daily/

Here’s Ten Things you perhaps did not know, that might make you think differently about exactly who is “at fault” for “all of this.” (Two overly-general, and constantly thrown around terms I’ve heard all week.)

1. In the case of Katrina, there was huge fleet of school buses the mayor could have dispatched to aid in evacuating people unable to leave on their own. Instead, the buses sat in parking lots that later flooded, making them unusable when tens of thousands were stranded in the flooded city.

2. One of the primary reasons why the National Guard did not arrive sooner, was the fact that the Governor (Katherine “Cry, Cry, For Us..” Blanco) HAD TO ASK for the troops from the federal government, and that she refused at first, fearing that it would “complicate” the security situation on the ground. Contrary to popular belief, the President does NOT command the National Guard in any state. State governors do. Until she authorizes the Guard to be “federalized” they can’t do anything at the behest of the president. Such niggling details.

3. Though the city's crime rate is ten times the national average, U.S. news outlets downplayed the connection between New Orleans' outsized criminal element and delays in rescue efforts. Even as murder rates continued to decline in other cities in recent years, the murder rate in New Orleans crept up. The police were plagued by allegations of corruption and brutality, and, according to The Associated Press, only had ''3.14 officers per 1,000 residents - less than half the rate in Washington, D.C.''

4. Though the U.N.'s own top official for disaster relief has called Katrina one of "the largest, most destructive natural disasters ever," shamefully only a handful of nations – at last count just 25 nations of the 191 countries in the United Nations – have come forward to offer assistance.

5. Guess who IMPLORED Governor Kleenex to issue a rare MANDATORY evacuation of the city BEFORE the Hurricane struck, saving tens of thousands of lives? That’s right, the Dunce In Chief, George W. Bush.

6. The same guy who Kanye West claims “doesn’t care about black people” has more black people in higher positions of authority in his cabinet than Bill Clinton had in two terms. Pesky facts.

7. Despite a modest cut in funding to the Army Corp. of Engineers and the levee projects in New Orleans, the Corps admitted last week that the two levees which failed were both complete and in “good condition” and not part of the levees that were targeted for improvement.

8. I love how people say that Bush should have “known this was coming” and done more to avert it. Well sure, I suppose, but how about the f’ing Mayor and Governor taking a beating first? Go to www.nola.com and read about the 5-Part series written by the Times Picayune in 2002 (FIVE PARTS!) that basically laid out this disaster in shockingly accurate detail well in advance. How about the fact that the city and its leaders learned almost NOTHING from what was a dress-rehearsal last summer on Hurricane Ivan. Even lesser hurricane Georges in 1998 did a lot of flooding damage in parts of the city. But yeah, it’s Bush’s fault.

9. No matter how long it took for rescue buses to arrive, how can you combat the off-the-charts ignorance of the following snippet from a news article. When asked if he was glad to see rescue workers finally arrive, a man said: "Hell no, I'm not glad to see them. They should have been here days ago. I ain't glad to see 'em. I'll be glad when 100 buses show up," said 46-year-old Michael Levy, whose words were echoed by those around him yelling, "Hell, yeah! Hell yeah!" "We've been sleeping on the ... ground like rats," Levy said. "I say burn this whole ... city down." REACT: Why yes indeed, burn that sucker down! And then we’ll blame George W. Bush!

10. In the end, some 100,000 estimated people were evacuated from a major metropolitan city that was 80% flooded with toxic waters. All told, there will be far less than the ESTIMATED 10,000 to 25,000 deaths predicted by government agencies in their simulated “models” of a Cat 4 or 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans on the nose. This was done under the strain of a hostile criminal element in the city that went unchecked by local police. This was done under the strain of a mayor and governor that made both critical mistakes in the early hours of the crisis.

[Pobeka]

7. This is why we shouldn't pay taxes for federal government aid.

You better be ready for that answer.