Michael Goodwin Puts Down a Whooping
During the past week I have grown so tired of the constant Bush bashing, race baiting and general pile on attitude of the media and Democratic Party. The venom that spews out from my TV makes it impossible to watch any coverage of the aftermath of Katrina. I read Michael Goodwins's column in the Daily News today and he put my thoughts into words so much better than I ever could.
On the racism charges:
"That narrative has all the accuracy of a historic novel: it takes two undisputed facts - the feds were slow and New Orleans is largely black and poor - and weaves in pure fiction to make the desired link.
The charge of racism-inspired foot-dragging isn't just nonsense. It's pernicious nonsense, as in destructive and malicious. You know that's a fact because loony Howard Dean, the Democratic Party boss, is now peddling it. He's joined by Jesse Jackson, who said the squalor in New Orleans "looks like the hull of a slave ship." Oh, please."
On looting:
"That looters ran unchecked after the hurricane isn't surprising when you consider that criminals have had the run of the city for years.
It is a perennial contender for Murder Capital. The 264 homicides last year were a drop of only 11 from 2003 - and the first decline in five years.
New Orleans, with fewer than 500,000 people, had almost half the murders of New York, which had 570 homicides last year in a city of more than 8 million. Put another way, if New York had New Orleans' murder rate, we would have more than 4,200 murders a year."
On New Orleans Police:
"That the New Orleans police are hardly the Finest was proven by a shocking report yesterday: Nearly a third of New Orleans cops - some 500 of the 1,600 - are now unaccounted for. The department says some quit, but it doesn't know where most of them are."
On New Orleans preparation plans put out by the Mayor a year earlier:
..."Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation."
"You're responsible for your safety, and you should be responsible for the person next to you," one official said of the message."
It was refreshing.
posted by RBM @ 9:53 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I suspect we'll see more in the media swinging the other way, since the Bush-bashing POV expressed so far is basically unsustainable.
As to why the press piled on the way it did: The BBC unwittingly described the real agenda of the press: The posturing of "standing up for opressed New Orleans" was just too juicy to ignore. Who could show the most moral outrage? Who could prove beyond doubt their journalistic integrity (to their peers, that is)? Go to it. They created a frenzy, and rabidly went at it. But now they look around and find themselves in a situation roughly akin to waking up in bed after a night of wild, drunken revelry - and finding out the guy lyiing next to you is Al Sharpton.
Who wants to 'take the relationship to the next level', yet.
Look, you may be right about unnecessary Bush bashing, but the administration should take responsibility for a lot of the problems. If you're president, you should hold yourself accountable for anything that goes wrong in your administration, because you created it. What Aaron Broussard said about FEMA shows that there has to be serious reorganization.
Forget the fact that Bush is the leader of your "team", which is how we any of us who get into politics start to think about leaders. Don't you want him to start acting and talking like one? With all seriousness, don't you wish for the days when heads of states didn't just read generic statements off teleprompters?
- Jersey Perspective
Jack:
You should always do a "lesson learned" excercise after any organization acts in a significant manner trying to fullfil it's mission. However, the issue here is about a thought impoverished Democratic Party and a lapdog media using any excuse to bash Bush.
The bottom line of the Katrina failure(s) is a direct result of an incompetent Governor (ex school teacher I believe), a Mayor with no plan execept 'your on your own", the most corrupt State in the union (including NJ, which is hard to believe)which mis-spent $60 million dollars ear-marked for levy improvements and a direct result of New Orleans being the largest reciepient of the welfare state. According to Brian Williams, anchor of NBC Nightly News in an interview on CNBC this morning, the poor people we are seeing suffering on TRV daily did notleave either N.O. or Mississipi, before the storm and now while N.O. is trying to get everyone out of town, is because of fear that they won't get their relief check.
Additionally, Like it or not disasters are a local issue. The Feds need and will to come in and help in time, however, a centralized response to a disaster could lead to a larger catastrophy. Mississippi is doing much better that N.O.. If there were a centralized response any break down would cripple everyone not just an isolated area. Being internet savy I'm sure you get the implication of de-centralized service. It's the whole reason DARPA created the internet.
Government, whether local or federal, spends an enormous amount of effort trying to convince us citizens that they are all knowing and powerful. Don't fall for the trap. The reality is that, although some expect them to be omnipotent, it is weak, vacilatting and prone to incompetence. Thank God. Nothing can do more damage than an efficent Government.
Did you happen to catch Stone Phillips on "NBC Dateline" last night (9/9/05)? Disgusting! A complete Bush bash, and Nagin was made out as a beleaguered (sp) hero.
Two words:
President Guiliani.
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