The Gov’t failed New Orleans, will the hunt for electoral votes help the flooded Midwest?

[HereSince1628]

Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are states that had vote margins of less than 7.5% in 2004. Pundits expect these states are to be battlegrounds in the GE. I can’t speak to the other states, but Wisconsin has been in formal recession for months. The flooding is catastrope slathered like an evil frosting on top of economic worries. This is a region now in crisis mode, and it is a year for general elections. Every Congress critter in America is up for re-election and I suspect everyone one of them in a flood damaged district is going to want to look like they helped .

Is this the magic ingredient that will motivate the government and prevent another failure to respond to a natural disaster?

[jwirr]

1. No the midwest is not like NO in that it did not set around waiting for

*ss and his useless FEMA to come to the rescue.

[crankychatter]

2. "set around waiting?"

I was there in the aftermath. Frankly, the good people of New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast Region, for that matter, would take exception to your characterization of their response to that catastrophe, as "set around waiting."

Fortunately, the good people of the Midwest, are STILL helping on the Gulf Coast and have been from the beginning.

I'm glad Iowans didn't consider the human suffering in New Orleans to be a consequence of sloth, or a moral issue.

[jwirr]

4. I wasn't talking about the people. Leaders in that situation did expect

*ss to come through because FEMA had a good record until then. The leaders in Iowa knew they could not expect help for that source so they moved on their own. I think NO would have been much better off if they had realized what *ss would do. And the aftermath was equally hampered by the fact that everyone was waiting - foreign help was even refused. There were things that the people in NO could not have helped because they did not know - i.e. the nursing homes not evacuated. In Iowa they had a much longer warning period.

[blondeatlast]

6. So Iowans had the benefit of NOLA's experince. You're still blaming the victims.

Disgusting.

[jwirr]

10. No I am blaming *ss and co. Most people always respond to the

situation they live in but governments do not. And yes, Iowa does have the benefit of learning from NO. However, since I have lived through many Iowa floods in the past I know that this time of the year is an alert time for flooding. This year it was worse than other years. Many communities prepare ahead of time for the usual - this was not the usual so they could not stop much of the damage.

As to this idea that I am knocking the people of NO - think again I have been buying and sending books to the library there since they said there was a need. I have been doing it at my own expense because it was something that I could do in my circumstances. There is a difference between leaders and people.

[blondeatlast]

5. "set around waiting?" What a completely ignorant thing to say. NO didn't fail, FEMA did. nt

[jwirr]

7. See post #4. I did not say anything like you are insinuating.

[crankychatter]

3. I haven't seen a report on the Federal response to the flooding

have you?

They did a fair job in Southern California for the fires. There was some harrassment of illegal aliens and poor folks at rescue relocation areas. On the whole, they (the Feds) got a better report card on that disaster. I don't really know the whole story.

Have you seen any critique regarding Iowa and Wisconsin?

Do you think Electoral significance helped in California during the fires?

[haele]

8. No, it was saving 'Publican Ass in California that got the response -

Bilbray, Hunter, Issa, Rohrbacher, etc, etc. All Neo-con or Lobby Whores that are either up for re-election or are leaving seats that are not as secure as they could be. The Republican hold in their SoCal enclaves are not quite as secure as they'd like, especially with the scandals that are just under the surface - their base constituancy - the Churches of Moloch (so called "Conservitive Prosperity Christians") are not enough to keep them in power.
The good response was to make it seem as if these "republicans" are actually doing something.

Haele

[blondeatlast]

9. More likely campaign contributions, IMHO.

I don't quite give the Bush administration THAT much credit when it comes to federal responses. My guess is that it's a subconscious thing for them. Pretty rich people in CA who hate paying taxes? Get that operation there!

Sez Chertoff: "Iowans? Where's Iowa? Can someone get me a map?"

[elocs]

11. Democratic Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin is very satisfied with FEMA.

I think that most people here who were impacted by the flooding last summer were satisfied with FEMA also. Wisconsin is not New Orleans. It's demographics and the flooding situations here are different and in general there is not the level of poverty seen in New Orleans. I don't think this flooding will make any impact on the elections next fall. I think that the citizens in this state are proud of the way its people pull together in a time of crisis. I think that we need to stop making mountains out of molehills and so gleefully searching for blame for FEMA or anything to do with the federal government in order to lay some blame at the feet of Republicans.