Wag the Kat

[welshTerrier2]

Hurricane Katrina has blown Hurricane Cindy off the front pages ... and it won't be easy for Cindy Sheehan to grab the headlines with daily coverage again ...

i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Democrats are misreading the political fall-out from the hurricane catatrophe ... with Cindy Sheehan, it was personal ... bush had no wiggle room ... a mom had lost her son and wanted answers ... bush tried "real military families" ... he tried to be on vacation and go bike riding ... nothing worked and nothing would have ever worked ... bush was a victim of Hurricane Cindy and he had no way to evacuate himself from the situation ...

but then came Katrina ... and bush was again both callous and inept ... his anti-government rhetoric was laid bare for all the world to see ... and his poll numbers continued to decline ... some DU'ers were almost certain impeachment was just around the corner ... well, it was a nice dream while it lasted ... perhaps bush's counterpunch to digging himself out from his unconscionable reaction to Katrina will not succeed ... but unlike Hurricane Cindy, this time he does have wiggle room ...

we are now going to see "Mr. Resolute" with his rolled up sleeves and his bullhorn ... he'll get his old flack jacket out of mothballs ... he'll play the blame game ... he'll talk about the pride of Americans who are helping rebuild ... he'll talk about the South rising again ... he'll talk about the non-governmental Christian organizations that didn't need inefficient bureacracies to help Americans in need ... there's no guarantee this will get bush off the hook; but unlike Hurricane Cindy, this time bush has cards to play ...

if you are one of the people who spends 99% of your time attacking bush and 1% or less helping define a Democratic vision to help solve the country's problems, your sentiments are understandable but not really very helpful ... certain Party leaders have laid out strategies for strengthening the nation's infrastructure ... they have expressed ideas on Iraq ... they have laid out a vision for a better energy policy ... the problem we have as a party is that we don't seem to have any way to reach a consensus on the issues ... if we don't, we will continue to be a minority party ... the old way is to let the primaries decide; that has not worked and it will never work ... we cannot define "our vision" on the backs of individual candidates ... one Democrat standing against a long-term republican "movement" is NOT a level playing field ...

it's NOT that we should stop bashing bush ... we do need to point out his failures and sharpen our talking points about republican shortcomings ... but we need to do much more than that ... if we can't demand from our party leaders a process of reform that opens a real dialog on real issues, we're dead in the water ... and if our "leaders" are too afraid to tell Americans the truth about the crises we face, the whole country is dead in the water ... let's not let bush succeed in "wagging the Kat" while Democrats don't do the things necessary to build a real movement for change ...

unfortunately, the New Orleans spin is already underway and the American people, and the media, have very short memories ... Katrina must not become a "wag the Kat" scenario where Democrats lose focus of doing the things we need to do to reclaim our Party's majority status ... here's some of the bush spin to help him recover from his pathetic response to the hurricane ... let's not let him "wag the Kat":

source: http://www.buzzflash.com/whitehurst/05/09/whi05009.html

"Already, many Americans don't remember Bush's initial halting response to 9/11, from which he recovered after a few days with his iconic moment shouting through a bullhorn atop the rubble at ground zero." <skip>

He'll start making his "resolute" face a lot and start preaching. He'll stand tall and deliver to the poor and the needy (and voting audiences everywhere) a sermonette at every opportunity filled with flowery, flattering, and inspiring words. <skip>

"When you talk to the proud folks in the area, you see a spirit that cannot be broken," he said." <skip>

"Many of our citizens are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans, and that is unacceptable," said Bush ..." <skip>

"Where our response is not working we'll make it right. Where our response is working we will duplicate it," he said. "This week we have all been humbled by the awesome powers of Mother Nature." <skip>

"I'm pleased to report, thanks to the good work of the adjutant general from Louisiana, and troops that have been called in, that the convention center is secure. One of the objectives that we had today was to move in and secure that convention center, and make sure the good folks there got food and water…And I look forward to continuing to work with the governor and the mayor and the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to do our duty to help the good folks of this part of the world get back on their feet."

[McCamy Taylor]

1. Sept 24 will put the war back on th efront page.