Mr. Rove and the Hurricanes
There's a certain gallows humor about hurricanes. We all joke about them. But let's face it, some people shouldn't make light of killer storms. And one of those people is Karl Rove:
"The Republicans can't seem to get a break when it comes to August and when it comes to the weather," said Rove, a FOX News analyst. "I know this is being thought a lot about in Washington and at the White House and discussed and I suspect they will monitor it carefully and figure out what to do."
Rove, we should remember, was supposedly put in charge of the post-Katrina rebuilding effort. But it was never clear what, if anything, he did on that front. The historical record is still murky, but from the outside it appears he spent the balance of the Katrina aftermath on political positioning, trying to pin blame for the disastrous response on Democrats, and engaged in a politically overdetermined debate on whether to seize control of the Louisiana National Guard from Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco. He and the president had multiple operational levers of the government at their fingertips, but they chose to focus on politics, not substance. And people suffered terribly for it. Which is the whole problem of the Bush administration in a nutshell.
Now, on the eve of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Gustav is churning into the Gulf, a potential threat to what's left of New Orleans and a large swath of the Gulf coast. Millions are prepping for possible evacuations, wondering if they will see their homes intact again. In short: it's not Republicans who are suffering here, but Americans. Rove's quip is just a throwaway line, but it shows where his head is, and has always been, on the matter.
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Here's the "playbook," as written by Karl Rove:
All this furor and hubbub is meant to transpire while the nation blabs on and on about her capabilities, her lack of experience, whose child it might be, her daughter's latest pregnancy, ad nauseum. Distractions all, from the real issues at hand....th
Palin was a wrong choice...b
Sarah Palin's name will be withdrawn from the nomination for reasons that will appear relevant; family/health issues. The Repub party will be in disarray, but "intentional" disarray. They can't go back to Giuliani. Lieberman, Pawlenty or Mitt. What to do/ What to do. Who fits the bill?
Who has name recognition, a decent resume? Who has occupied a significant office in a major state?Who could reunite the Repugs....
Anyone seen Jeb Bush recently?
Rove is incapable of seeing anything in any terms other than political. If you put him in charge of anything, that's what you're going to get-- how to put it to political advantage.
They are scared to death (of their party's meager chances) of Obama hitting a home run in the wake of Gustav. Barrack is now in the position to drive a great recovery for hurricane victims, and it would give him a solid arguement in the south that he is the man for the job.
Rove might as well pack up his bag of poisons and "JUST GO AWAY" !! his days are gone !!!!
Good point and one no one else is making. Obama's is also publicizing all the post-Katrina legislation which McCain voted against.
KARMA? Right wing zealot, Stuart Sheperd, asked people to PRAY TO GOD for biblical proportions of rain during Obama's speech?
http://www
"it was never clear what, if anything, he did on that front."
He gave the contracts for disaster clean up to Haliburtan. Rather than put the people of NO back to work, giving them jobs rebuilding the city, Haliburtan got hundreds of millions in no-bid contracts!
The efforts to make Halli pay market wages to laborers failed. They hired underpaid laborers, anyone who would work for cheap, and pocketed as much as possible.
They also contracted big to Blackwater for security.
Making the tattered remains of New Orleans safe (?), with no aid or reconstruction effort to be found. Criminal in the highest degree.
this is more laughable than anything else because Rove didn't care what happened three years ago with Katrina. This is just an excuse because no one is showing up at their convention. Not even their own people
What kind of incompetent president would put Karl Rove in charge of a post-hurricane rebuilding effort? Rove does not build up, he destoys. He is a political hitman, a character assassin. As it says above, Rove thinks even hurricanes are partisan. He responded to them as he would respond to an election opponent by blaming Democrats and trying to increase executive authority by seizing the National Guard. Rove was always a disaster for America. It took Katrina and many other things to spell out in detail the disaster that would be Rove and Bush.
Rove is the political equivalent of Katrina in our country.
"The Republicans can't seem to get a break when it comes to August and when it comes to the weather,"
HOW ABOUT
"Americans can't seem to get a break when it comes to August and when it comes to the weather,"
When Katrina struck Condi was out shopping for shoes, and Bush was presenting McCain with a birthday cake. I think we need a break from the Republicans.
Strange. The Democratic party got a break when the weather co-operated with them for the Obama speech, in spite of the "good Christian" repub. supporters praying for rain. The Lord works in mysterious ways they say.
I live in New Orleans and I have to say that we are all moderately panicking today as we contemplate the possibility of evacuating our homes and depending on the Army Corps of Engineers to keep us safe. You can blame whoever you want, but the fact is, we are still screwed down here. I am not surprised that Rove & the republicans are trying to co-opt my life and turn it into their political gain.
I know that many suffer from Katrina fatigue, but the problems of New Orleans are a microcosom of the Nation's problems and the fact that three years from the date of this national catastrophe we still do not have enough police, housing, health care, or grocery stores is a testament to the failure of the current administration. We should all be ashamed.
Tonight was historical, but so is August 29. We must not forget what happened in the Gulf Coast.
This is a campaign issue that needs to be brought to the forefront.
If anything happens down here in the next 96 hours, we cannot let them turn it into their political gain.
These are our lives.
Sorry, but the Corps is not responsible for keeping you safe! You are responsible for keeping you safe. You're only screwed if you get hit and refuse to leave. Then, its your fault for being screwed. Get some courage and get out if you're scared.
Semper fi
The Corps SHOULD BE responsible for rebuilding and maintaining the levy and pump system so that the city is protected from a hurricane that is not of extraordinary magnitude. That is part of their mandate -- their reason for existing and sucking up tax dollars.
Whether they actually ARE being responsible in that mission is another question entirely.
"You're only screwed if you get hit and refuse to leave." Or unless you don't own a car, or can't afford to put any gas in it ... or there is no public transportation ... or your government promises you safe haven at the Super Dome and then provides no resources ... or you're too disabled or elderly to leave the city without assistance ...
You entirely missed the lesson of the last big storm, didn't you? But then, so did your idol Rove.
hahahaha
"You are responsible for keeping you safe. You're only screwed if you get hit and refuse to leave."
Ownership means, 'you're on your own!'
The people who left got screwed, too.
since the government, to benefit business, oil, shipping, etc., has severely tampered with the ecology in the NO area, filling in the swampy areas and cutting convenient channels for shipping, all making the area much more prone to severe storm damage, I'd say yes, the government and the Army Corps ARE responsible for it. You can't just screw with the area, and then when devastating storms hit say sorry suckers, you're on your own. Well, if you're a right wing Rethug you can, but nobody expects you to have shred of conscience or concern toward others, anyway. Once again, busine$$ gets all the breaks and screw the little guy...
Then WHY do we have a COE if not to protect us? I thought that is what we pay them for.
I do leave. But when I leave, I want my home (that I own and pay taxes on), my job, & my city to be safe. Those taxes I pay in some way fund the Corps. I expect them not to squander my money. I expect them to build levees that keep the water out. That's what I fear, not a storm, but the track record of the Corps.. The people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast have proven that a storm will not keep them down.
Hope you don't live somewhere where the corps is responsible for a levee or a bridge.
Some Call it "KARMA". Republicans were praying that it would rain on the Democrats when they moved its convention to that huge stadium. Now here comes Gustaz and they have concerns about their own convention. Ain't God good?
"The Republicans can't seem to get a break when it comes to August and when it comes to the weather,"
It's all about you isn't Karl? So what to the millions of people living
along the Gulf Coast, what really matter is you and your little
posse of thugs. Shame on you.
Bush said something very similar when the levees recently failed in Iowa. To Bush and Rove, it is always about them.
Katrina was the worst thing that could have happened to the people of La. And now on the eve of another possible hurricane my heart goes out to them.
Gustav is symbolic of the last 8 years of what Bush and Cheney and the others wrought on the nation. They have never, never put people first, here or abroad.
Millions of people's lives have literally been ruined worldwide because of the incompetence and callousness of the entire Bush administration. Imagine being the only President in the US history to have lost an entire city in America, destroyed the society of Iraq, psychologically destroyed individual's minds and destroyed 2 nations: Iraq, Afghanistan and almost destroyed America. And destroyed his own party.
Rove set out to build a permanent republican party majority. He got republicans elected and implanted them in every department of government. And look at the damage they've done! Was it worth it?
The day Katrina hit was John McCain's birthday. Instead of taking care of the people in New Orleans Bush and McCain were too busy celebrating John's birthday . Elect McCain expect more of the same only a whole lot worse. That you can bank on -- that is if any are left by the time Bush leaves office.
Stay safe in Louisiana: Y'all are in our prayers.
Precisely what would you have them do, and why are you not doing it for yourself? Bush is not responsible for you or for New Orleans. You, as a resident, are!
Semper fi
Well, I can see [as I already knew] that Obama very aptly nailed the GOPer mindset in his speech last night:
No matter what happens, as an American citizen, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.
I will be so pleased to see folks like you gnashing your teeth over the LIBERAL SOCIAL POLICIES that are coming, policies that you will hate to your very core.
Get ready tough guy, you may be forced to deal with human beings in a humane way--and the fact that it rubs you the wrong way gives me utter delight.
And why do we "the middle class" pay all the taxes? Just for the benefit of the few who don't pay any taxes at all, bareassskeeter?
It's a pretty sick mind that tries to get political advantage out of a natural disaster, instead of trying to help the people affected by it.
I personally do not believe the polls which are being given.... This is the same method or track the republicans take every election year leading up to when they steal another election.
Personally I do not understand why democrats keep calling McSame a nice person or their personal friend. My Friend ,,,, he is not Your Friend....
Check his record on his votes and you will find out he is not your friend...
Apparently he's flips a mean burger, or was that a prime cut of freshly slaughtered beef from the Bush ranch?
Great guy to have a beer with if you can get over the war stories and the occasional 'c' word.
The annivesary of Katrina will bring back coverage of the disaster and the ensuing incompetence by the Bush administration and the Republicans--and this as their convention starts. Uncharacteristic bad timing by the Republicans. We can all still remember those sweating people in the hot sun...thos
All in Bush's America.
... and the corpses in the attics.
"All in Bush's America"
Amen.
Wait a minute...d
you are correct.
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