09-08-2005, 08:11 AM
From Mark Shea: (http://www.markshea.blogspot.com), certainly no liberal:
The Right's Limbaugh Pretzel
Politics is a sort of food chain. That only stands to reason, since its all about earthly power. So when you royally screw up, as government did at every level--state, local, and federal--with Katrina, certain basic laws of self-preservation kick in. I use the term "laws" advisedly. I do not mean that people *have* to obey these laws. The grace of God can actually enable a soul to defy these laws, so long as we are willing to be crucified or stoned to death in payment. However, most politicians are not made of such stuff since St. Thomas More was willing to part with his head for his truthfullness. And so, absent grace politicos function by certain laws which govern the mind of the flesh.
One of these laws is "shift blame". When you have really really REALLY screwed up, you take a page from Monty Python and say things like "Hey! This is supposed to be an occasion of unity! Let's not argue and bicker about who killed who!" And so the great organ of conservative opinion, EIB dutifully performs this task by chewing out people for blaming Bush for the grotesque incompetence that led to the greatest peacetime breakdown of civilization on American soil in our history. Holding Bush accountable for doing what we were promised would happen should a great emergency strike a major metropolitan area is "The Blame Game" we are told. Let's forget all about blame and just do the work necessary to fix the problem!
And while we do that let's be sure to blame instead the local and state authorities.
Fine by me. Both local and state authorities were manifestly corrupt and incompetent boobs. Speaking of which, some survivors were ordered by police to display their breasts for the delectation of their rescuers. Words cannot fathom the contempt I feel for the authorities who abused power in this way. I put them in a lower circle of hell than the scum who formed their own little terror squads and ran the town for a few days, because they had the benefit of having been entrusted with a charge for the public good. Following Dante, I put such traitors in the lowest circle.
But you know what? That *still* doesn't excuse the Feds, and especially Bush and special friends like Michael Brown of FEMA for their stunning incompetence. Somewhere in the back of their hearts, Bush apologists like Limbaugh know this, so they continue to pour on the rhetorical steam by shifting the blame still further. Not only is this the fault of state and local authorities, it's the fault of Big Government and an Entitlement Mentality. This, when translated, means "Don't blame Bush. Blame the gigantic and ballooning bureaucracy to which he gave fresh life with promises that he'd keep us safe and blame the poorest of the poor for believing him."
Here's the facts, ma'am:
The 2004 National Response Plan explicitly states that, at times of
any natural or manmade incident, including terrorism, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions,
the federal government pre-empts local and state government in its responsibility to act quickly. After 9/11, the administration wisely dispensed with the formalities of deferring to local authorities (which, of course, in this case had already issued a state of emergency as early as August 26). The attempt by the spinners to blame this on the obviously overwhelmed and incompetent local authorities, doesn't fit with the Bush administration's own rules.
This was a monumental failure to lead. Moreover, it was due, at least in part, to Bush's tendency to value loyalty over competence. FEMA's spectacularly incompetent Brown is a prime illustration. If the Limbaugh's of the world are serious about reducing Big Government, they would do well to call upon Bush to reduce by at least one the ranks of the employed at FEMA, starting at the top. But that, of course, would mean blaming Bush for hiring the idiot. So rhetoric will continue to focus on Big Government without focus in who, precisely, is responsible for making it so big for the past four years. That would raise delicate questions not only for Bush, but for the whole GOP.
Doubtless certain of my readers will again leap to the tired claim that I "hate Bush". Sorry, but a quick read of my blog will not support that conversation-killing thesis. I don't hate Bush. I simply wish to hold him responsible to do his job. Do I deny that there is an entitlement mentality? Of course not. But it is not an expression of entitlement mentality to expect the state to ensure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense. It is not an entitlement mentality to expect to be safe from rape in emergency facilities provided by the state. It's not an entitlement mentality to think you shouldn't have to watch your baby die of dehydration because the Feds couldn't figure out how to airlift water to helpless thirsty people for five frickin' days and, in their world-historical and criminal incompetence, actually turned offers of water away.
The Rush Limbaughs of the world will have ample opportunity to blame poor people for foolishly expecting the state to do what the Founders thought it should do: ensure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense. We'll all be able to indulge ourselves in blaming the poor for being powerless, undereducated, frequently below average in IQ and all the rest of it. They have no access to the Golden EIB microphone. Likewise, nobody (including me) is going to spring to the defense of the state and local authorities in NOLA. They have no effective spin machine to shift the blame to somebody else and they deserve all the hell they will get.
But Bush does have a spin machine. And it's already swinging into high gear to say loudly, "Don't look at Bush! Look! Incompetent state and local guys! Look! Stupid poor people! Look! Thugs!"
So long as Bush remains the King of Massive Government Spending Coupled with the Promise of "Homeland Security", guys like Limbaugh are going to have a colossally difficult time shifting the blame for this debacle away from Bush. That's not "Bush hatred". That's cold logic.
Click here (http://www.markshea.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_markshea_archive.html#11260713535767170 5) for the version with the links.
The Right's Limbaugh Pretzel
Politics is a sort of food chain. That only stands to reason, since its all about earthly power. So when you royally screw up, as government did at every level--state, local, and federal--with Katrina, certain basic laws of self-preservation kick in. I use the term "laws" advisedly. I do not mean that people *have* to obey these laws. The grace of God can actually enable a soul to defy these laws, so long as we are willing to be crucified or stoned to death in payment. However, most politicians are not made of such stuff since St. Thomas More was willing to part with his head for his truthfullness. And so, absent grace politicos function by certain laws which govern the mind of the flesh.
One of these laws is "shift blame". When you have really really REALLY screwed up, you take a page from Monty Python and say things like "Hey! This is supposed to be an occasion of unity! Let's not argue and bicker about who killed who!" And so the great organ of conservative opinion, EIB dutifully performs this task by chewing out people for blaming Bush for the grotesque incompetence that led to the greatest peacetime breakdown of civilization on American soil in our history. Holding Bush accountable for doing what we were promised would happen should a great emergency strike a major metropolitan area is "The Blame Game" we are told. Let's forget all about blame and just do the work necessary to fix the problem!
And while we do that let's be sure to blame instead the local and state authorities.
Fine by me. Both local and state authorities were manifestly corrupt and incompetent boobs. Speaking of which, some survivors were ordered by police to display their breasts for the delectation of their rescuers. Words cannot fathom the contempt I feel for the authorities who abused power in this way. I put them in a lower circle of hell than the scum who formed their own little terror squads and ran the town for a few days, because they had the benefit of having been entrusted with a charge for the public good. Following Dante, I put such traitors in the lowest circle.
But you know what? That *still* doesn't excuse the Feds, and especially Bush and special friends like Michael Brown of FEMA for their stunning incompetence. Somewhere in the back of their hearts, Bush apologists like Limbaugh know this, so they continue to pour on the rhetorical steam by shifting the blame still further. Not only is this the fault of state and local authorities, it's the fault of Big Government and an Entitlement Mentality. This, when translated, means "Don't blame Bush. Blame the gigantic and ballooning bureaucracy to which he gave fresh life with promises that he'd keep us safe and blame the poorest of the poor for believing him."
Here's the facts, ma'am:
The 2004 National Response Plan explicitly states that, at times of
any natural or manmade incident, including terrorism, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions,
the federal government pre-empts local and state government in its responsibility to act quickly. After 9/11, the administration wisely dispensed with the formalities of deferring to local authorities (which, of course, in this case had already issued a state of emergency as early as August 26). The attempt by the spinners to blame this on the obviously overwhelmed and incompetent local authorities, doesn't fit with the Bush administration's own rules.
This was a monumental failure to lead. Moreover, it was due, at least in part, to Bush's tendency to value loyalty over competence. FEMA's spectacularly incompetent Brown is a prime illustration. If the Limbaugh's of the world are serious about reducing Big Government, they would do well to call upon Bush to reduce by at least one the ranks of the employed at FEMA, starting at the top. But that, of course, would mean blaming Bush for hiring the idiot. So rhetoric will continue to focus on Big Government without focus in who, precisely, is responsible for making it so big for the past four years. That would raise delicate questions not only for Bush, but for the whole GOP.
Doubtless certain of my readers will again leap to the tired claim that I "hate Bush". Sorry, but a quick read of my blog will not support that conversation-killing thesis. I don't hate Bush. I simply wish to hold him responsible to do his job. Do I deny that there is an entitlement mentality? Of course not. But it is not an expression of entitlement mentality to expect the state to ensure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense. It is not an entitlement mentality to expect to be safe from rape in emergency facilities provided by the state. It's not an entitlement mentality to think you shouldn't have to watch your baby die of dehydration because the Feds couldn't figure out how to airlift water to helpless thirsty people for five frickin' days and, in their world-historical and criminal incompetence, actually turned offers of water away.
The Rush Limbaughs of the world will have ample opportunity to blame poor people for foolishly expecting the state to do what the Founders thought it should do: ensure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense. We'll all be able to indulge ourselves in blaming the poor for being powerless, undereducated, frequently below average in IQ and all the rest of it. They have no access to the Golden EIB microphone. Likewise, nobody (including me) is going to spring to the defense of the state and local authorities in NOLA. They have no effective spin machine to shift the blame to somebody else and they deserve all the hell they will get.
But Bush does have a spin machine. And it's already swinging into high gear to say loudly, "Don't look at Bush! Look! Incompetent state and local guys! Look! Stupid poor people! Look! Thugs!"
So long as Bush remains the King of Massive Government Spending Coupled with the Promise of "Homeland Security", guys like Limbaugh are going to have a colossally difficult time shifting the blame for this debacle away from Bush. That's not "Bush hatred". That's cold logic.
Click here (http://www.markshea.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_markshea_archive.html#11260713535767170 5) for the version with the links.