Dean said world believed that Americans could "fix anything." Not so now.

[madfloridian]

Katrina changed all that.

This was a sad part of his speech to the DNC meeting. I know I always felt that no matter what our country would come together, and we would be there for one another. He put how I am feeling tonight into words...he was speakihg about Katrina.

We will not turn our back on the people of the state of Louisiana and
Mississippi. The president had no plan for the gulf coast, as we come up on
the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. And he still has no plan for the gulf
coast. He had no plan for Iraq. And he still has no plan for Iraq. Katrina was a
terrible tragedy, not just for New Orleans and Mississippi, and not just for
the people who died or who still have not been able to move home. Katrina
was a tragedy for America. Because one thing everybody believed throughout the
world, throughout this country but throughout the world, whether they liked us or
not, they believed that Americans could fix anything. And we believed that about
ourselves, that if something really bad happened, call on the Americans.
They are the best organized people, best managing people, and they can fix
anything. If something really bad happens, call the Americans.

Well, Katrina changed everything. Those people on rooftops, the horrors finally coming out more now....changed things about our view of ourselves as well.

And what we experienced a year ago was not just a personal loss and tragedy in all of our lives because so many of us knew people or had family in New Orleans or Mississippi. What we experienced was the tragedy of seeing unmasked the incompetence and failures and indifference of the president and the Republican majority. We need a new direction for America where no one is left behind.

The American people are extraordinary people. What we saw was great acts of
generosity and courage and heroism, of people coming together opening their
hearts reaching out to help one another. That reminds us that the American
people will transcend the incompetence of our leaders.

No link yet, from an email.

I nearly lost it watching that HBO special tonight. I was so glad to see this in my email. It was a good time to say it. I think the world is hurting with us and just as angry as we are at the incompetence of our leaders.

[merh]

1. Truer words were never written.

:cry:

[madfloridian]

2. I did not think I could shed that many tears again, but I did.

Hubby was just as bad. I am so thankful Spike Lee did that. It was needed.

[merh]

5. I don't have HBO

I'm not sure I could watch that program if I did.

Living in the broken world is hard enough, the tv is for escape, not reminders or what is. :(

Would you pmail the entire email or a link, please?

I just fell in love with Dean all over again. :)

thank you for the thread. :hug:

[madfloridian]

7. I just saw the whole transcript posted in GDP, with one also about Katrina

I had not been in that forum tonight, so I will put the links for you.
I think the program wlll be coming out in DVD later, if you are interested.

Here are the links:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2793412
DNC: Dean on Promises Made and Promises Broken After Katrina

And here is the full transcript already posted.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2793399

[merh]

8. thank you for the links

Maybe by the time it is out on DVD, I will be in a place that I can watch it.

thank you

[madfloridian]

9. Are you in New Orleans or that area?

I guess I never knew.

[merh]

10. Biloxi

Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Katrina was not kind. Here is the link to my journal with links to video I took as we escaped the storm surge that rose 9 feet in the house I had "evacuated to". http://journals.democraticunderground.com/merh/20

"Katrina made me homeless, FEMA made me trailer trash" to quote a bumper sticker.

[madfloridian]

13. OMG, how terrible. I did not know that.

It is good you kept the video coverage, but not pleasant. I will share your journal with some friends if you don't mind.

We went through 3 hurricane eyes in 04, but we did not have losses..miraculously. Neighbors did, no power for days, but our house was intact. A neighbor who lived alone died alone, and that nearly killed us. He was a friend for many years.

I still panic during a thunderstorm with high winds.

[merh]

15. Oh, I can't stand thunderstorms.

Especially in the tin can on wheels that FEMA has loaned me.

See it in the before and after photo (the white box in the top right of the second photo)




This is what I found when I finally made it home.



The winds or a tornado took the roof and knocked down my house and the surge washed it into the middle of the street.

When it storms now, I just rock and roll in the trailer and pray. :(

[madfloridian]

16. Here is my journal post from when Jeanne hit and our friend died.

There is no way to ease the pain sometimes. But we still have our home, so it is far worse for you.

But the thing those hurricanes did was make us lose our confidence that our home would ever be safe again.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/225

[merh]

17. Aww, that is sad about your neighbor.

thank you for sharing that with us.

Just after Katrina, they found a body in the remains of the elderly neighbor's house 3 houses down.
We were sure she had stayed, that she had died and we were all so depressed for a month after the storm, until she came back to the neighborhood with her nephew. To this day, I still don't know who that was in the rubble of her home.

A hurricane comes this way and I am sooooo out of here. I don't want to go through that again.

I'll say prayers the storms stay away from you and you and yours remain safe. :hug:

[Elwood P Dowd]

3. We're now famous for "destroying things"

Eventually, the rest of the world will destroy us. We're destroying the middle class and shipping our standard of living out of the country. With it goes the technology and creativity that made us Number One. Our days are numbered.

[madfloridian]

18. And too many are just becoming aware of that.

Most of my family are Republicans except for us. It took them this long to figure out things. They are smart and educated, but they just refused to look at the facts. They still don't believe me about a lot of the stuff going on.

[hedgehog]

4. Come 2008,

I'm going to rooting for a Dean/Edwards or Edwards/Dean ticket.

[madfloridian]

6. He said the money being spent in Iraq could have rebuilt the gulf coast.

"These are billions of dollars for one month in Iraq. The gulf coast could have been rebuilt and here almost a year after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, very little has been done. For the price of one month in Iraq, Mississippi and Louisiana and New Orleans could have been rebuilt"

[Elwood P Dowd]

11. What could have been done with all the wasted trillions under Bush?

Iraq, the Medicare Drug scam, all the repuke pork spending, the energy giveaway, tax breaks for the rich, and many more.

Bush has wasted enough money to rebuild the Gulf Coast, furnish health insurance for all Americans, furnish housing for all the homeless, and help rebuild our infrastructure. Can you imagine what the economy would be like today with all the jobs and economic activity created?

[madfloridian]

12. I can't even wrap my brain around it all.

It is so stunning what this bunch has done. I can not get it through my head.

[Elwood P Dowd]

14. I can understand your feelings

When you think about what could have been done versus what WAS DONE, it's mind numbing. Bushit and the repukes have done what no foreign power could ever accomplish - they have destroyed America.

[elehhhhna]

19. The only thing Bush can FIX is an alection. Period.

[lonestarnot]

20. They can even make a refrigerator that lasts 5 years, how the hell

could they fix damages like Katrina's, the incompetent assholes?

[CountAllVotes]

21. kick & recommend!

:dem: :kick:

[uppityperson]

22. I too thought better of our country, good writing.

I thought our country was better than it has proven. Our people, one by one, in groups, have been great, many of them, but the country as a whole? Our "leaders"? No.

[madfloridian]

23. The people are better than their leaders.

Thank God for that.