So how are the freepers handling *'s apology?

[Francine Frensky]

Put yourself in their place for a second: You've just spent two weeks spinning this tragedy as "no big deal", "media overhype" and "all the fault of the locals" ....and now the guy you've been defending comes out and says "oops, my fault".

So you think to yourself: "bush is right to apologize, it's the political-ly smart thing to do.... " except BAM! doesn't that cause a disconnect with one of your other notions about bush??? that he doesn't pay attention to polls or play politics?? I thought he was the anti-Clinton??

So, freepers, what's it gonna be: is * to blame, or is he a political whore?

It's gotta be one or the other.

[HEAVYHEART]

1. He did not apologize!!!! n/t

[etherealtruth]

2. Exactly

[Flubadubya]

4. Yeah, where is all this "Bush apology" crap coming from?

Bush wouldn't apologize if his life depended on it. Period. Not happenin'!

[Francine Frensky]

27. Well, major headlines across US all say "bush accepts blame"

IF you're a word parser, you could spin bush's comments into something neutral.

IF you're an average Joe, fog-person who only reads headlines and catches the top 3 stories a day....then bush has taken the blame.

[LostinVA]

6. Exactly!

He doesn't think the Feds made an mistakes, so the statement is hollow... just a KKKarl sleight of hand....

[benburch]

3. First, That was a FUCK YOU not an apology.

Second, they see this as Bush being "Presidential".

[nine23]

5. Denial. It's what they do best.

[NorCalDem]

14. Exactly,

it's a liberal poll/media/hack anyway!

That's all you'll get from them!

[ladylibertee]

SNIFF, SNIFF What is that fowl odor ? oh wait. It smells like a

FREEPER !!!! Shew Shew Freepers:kick:

[Pepper32]

7. Apology? What apology?

I only heard about him taking a responsibility. Huge difference!

[Tsiyu]

10. That's "HUGH1111!!!!!" to you!

This is just another play by the BFEE. ** knows he has to do SOMEthing to redeeem himself. But it's just too late for an entire destroyed city.

[Fridays Child]

12. Stop.

Befor I loose it. :rofl:

[Pepper32]

15. Umm, what's with the retardikkkan spelling reference?

Anyway, yes there is difference in accepting responsibilty and apologizing. He didn't apologize!! Just trying to point that out to the OP, that evil bastard will never apologize for anything, let alone murdering the poor black people of NOLA. Oh wait, it had nothing to do with racism what am I saying?
:eyes:

[ladylibertee]

21. retardikkkan....I believe I started that.I spelled it "retardican"

which, to me, explains the mentality of the current administration.I must admit, I like the spelling retardikkkan which also points out not only a very incompetent administration, but a racist one as well.

[Pepper32]

24. Glad you like it.

I think it's a very fitting description as well. :D

[ladylibertee]

26. Thank You , Thank You ( takes a bow)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. "Doesn't work for me, I gotta have more cowbell!"

[radfringe]

22. it's taking responsibility with a "qualifier"

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of Iraq.

"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.

he left himself an "exit plan" -- still plenty of room to shove it all on someone else

notice -- "ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT" -- this means local and state too

and "...To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right..." -- this could mean anything from 1-99% responsible...

[Demrock6]

8. He accepted responsibilty nt

[Bluerthanblue]

13. didn't he already

obligate himself to the 'responsibility' when he
'assumed the position' of 'president'?

[DoYouEverWonder]

30. For what?

For staying on vacation and ignoring the storm while 1000's of people drowned?

[BillZBubb]

9. No problem for the brain dead true believers.

Busholini "accepted responsibility for whatever the Federal government did wrong". But, to the wingnuts, the Feds did nothing wrong--it was all the local Dem's fault.

So, they argue, the Crawford Cretin hasn't apologized and isn't responsible for anything bad. Rover knows how to play both sides and his right wing zombies pop up right on cue.

[NYC Liberal]

11. No he did not apologize. It was very slickly-worded.

He said that he takes responsibility for "any failiures" of the federal gov't.

Except that before he said they did a great job.

So actually he's not taking responsibility for ANYTHING.

[Pepper32]

16. My sentiments exactly. (nt)

[Disturbed]

17. "To the extent...."

that extent will be debated and spun by the Bush Spin Docs.

[marions ghost]

31. true...

he "took responsibility" for obvious government failures but never said "I'm sorry." Duh--he was responsible, being pResident and all.

Now if he said "I sincerely apologize to the people of New Orleans, the Gulf Coast and America (for our spectacular, mind-blowing, world-class screw-up)" --that would be BIG news.

The Neo-Cons are masters of the slickly-worded statement which appears to be sincere but is actually calculated to AVOID responsibility in any sense. All they ever think about is reduction of their own liability. They have no understanding or experience with the concept of moral obligation. It's all about what you can "legally" get away with, all about exposure.

[Maine-ah]

19. augh! just came back from FR land, just to see what they're saying.

it's basically, "not an apology" and "he's being a real man". We're gonna "spin" it, into making it look like it's all Bush's fault, and things like, he's just giving the Dem's more rope to "hang themselves".

There is some dissent in the ranks over there though.

Now, I must go and take a shower. I'm feeling dirty.

[B Calm]

23. Thanks, it took real courage to wade through the pig sty...

[Francine Frensky]

28. This is a big problem for them: ask your local freeper today

what they thought of *'s apology, and if they say it wasn't an apology, say "funny, it reminds me of when Clinton kind of apologized to the nation for his affair. If I remember, you were really mad when he did that. So now, you're ok with political double-speak? And I thought you said bush was different. Hmmm." and walk away shaking your head.

This is the kind of thing that * is NOT supposed to do. Now their fearless leader is using double-speak and spinning and half-apologizing.

That's gotta drive 'em crazy.

[ladylibertee]

20. I know a perfect way to find out. It's foolproof and guaranteed to be

accurate.wanna know? FOX NEWS...All you have to do is see how they attempt to 'cover" this story.:rofl:

[marions ghost]

29. They will bury it...

...not bother to spin it. (Right, check Fox).

The "taking responsibility" message is not targeted to the Repug base. Admitting failure is not something they do or admire. They see it as weak. A leader would only do it as a last resort for political gain.

This message is targeted to outraged Americans and the rest of the world. The Roberts confirmation, conveniently timed, will be the top story domestically and overshadow it.

I'm interested in how this plays in International News--does anyone have any insights on that? I have a hunch that some other countries have a higher rate of positive reaction to expressions of "responsibility" and evidence of high moral values. Over here in America, we don't really trust that or believe in it. We have been so abused and consistently lied to that speeches like this ring hollow. Most people will ignore it in disgust (or in the case of the Repug base, ignore it in denial).

So I don't think there will be much reaction to this in the US--but I'd be interested to know if the message is promoted in other countries, to make us look better. Anybody with their finger on the international pulse?

[Hubert Flottz]

25. What he really meant was...

"Just Me and Gawd doing a frat prank in New Orleans! Nothing to see here!"

[ComerPerro]

32. FReeper response (I'm channeling a FReeper right now)

This is HUGH!!1!!!1! The mere fatc that Bush had to apolagise for and except responsabalaty for this mess just shows how incompatant these democRATS really are. It also proves that he is the real thing and is the leader that this country needs in such procarious times. I bet you would never catch Klintoon and Hitlery apolagizing for Hhurakane andrew!

[highplainsdem]

33. Here's a link to a DU topic quoting some freeper responses:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4756919

I posted a link to the FR topic in the opening message there, if anyone wanted to check it out, and I quoted several of the responses in some later messages.

Bush's statement got a lot of attention from them. There were fewer than a hundred responses from them in that thread when I posted the first set of quotes around noon yesterday, over 150 by the time I posted the second set a bit later, and this morning there are more than 200 replies there.

[marions ghost]

34. I like this entry at Free Republic....

re. The pResident taking responsibility...

"It is a big mistake.
Politically? Maybe.
Morally? No."

--This kind of sums up the Repuke attitude toward Politics and Morality--you certainly don't want to get the two mixed up.

[gratuitous]

35. Don't parse the statement, just repeat it

Bush is responsible for the failures of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security in providing relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Let the Freepers and their apologists argue over the meanings of "apology" and "responsibility."

We'll just catapult the propaganda, because we use Bush's own statement: Bush is responsible for the incompetence and fatal ineptitude of his government to respond effectively to the catastrophe.

In this particular case, it has the added advantage of being true, and nobody has to divine any hidden meaning. When John Kerry talked about voting for the Iraq War appropriation before he voted against it, anyone with half a brain and a rudimentary knowledge of the workings of Congress knew what he was talking about. But the media enjoyed playing dumb, because it was just so damn funny to poke fun at Kerry's serious treatment of a serious matter. "Voted for it before he voted against it!" Ah haw, haw, haw.

Well folks, we have the same opportunity here, except in this case, there is no explanation to be proffered or conclusion to be drawn if we fix in the public's mind that Bush is responsible for the slow response of his administration to Hurricane Katrina, and thousands of people died who might have lived if Bush had been competent.