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my last hurricane katrina post

I need to unplug from this coverage for awhile, but I will make one last comment. Already we're seeing the argument put forward by the Bush faithful that the relief and rescue efforts were actually very well done, regardless of what the "liberal media" would have you believe. I'm not going to link, so you'll have to trust me. I have two predictions for the next couple of weeks as this particular talking point spreads across the conservative wing of the blogosphere and onto Fox News:

  1. Local government officials will continue to be blamed by the Bush faithful for causing such an immense crisis, even as Bush-appointed officials will continue to be praised for helping avoid an immense crisis. Pay close attention to the rhetorical three card monte: now it's an immense crisis and local officials must be held accountable for causing it; whoops! now it's not an immense crisis and federal officials are to be praised for their heroic efforts that prevented it.
  2. We will see expressions of contempt by right-wing bloggers and media outlets for the great unwashed who are buying into the "liberal media spin" that the federal response to Hurricane Katrina was anything to get worked up about. Remember this the next time a conservative critic of higher education wants to paint professors as snobby elites mocking the ignorance of the public.

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Posted by on September 13, 2005 6:17 AM |

Comments

Well, they're *trying* to skulk away from this, but the problem is that their typical tactics depend on things being abstract, and this isn't. So they immediately try to deflect blame on the locals. OK. That's fair, to a degree. Then they start saying "But wait! It's all just so complicated!" (cf. Iraq, WMD, Swift Boat Vets, the Bush Memo, Intelligent Design...you name it).

The problem is that it's not complicated. There's a clear timeline.

And in the meantime, the curtain has been pulled back for a large chunk of the country. Bush, the guy who said he'd protect us all from terrorism, didn't protect us from a storm everyone knew was coming. You think the terrorists will issue a NOAA forecast?

The Democrats had better run on a platform of "We will not forget you" in '06 and '08.

Posted by: Scott | September 13, 2005 7:45 AM

And don't forget the other three card monte games: the locals caused it because they didn't recognize the enormity of the disaster, but we didn't respond more quickly because we thought it was a "typical." Poor blacks in New Orleans are to blame for not listening to the warnings and evacuating immediately, but the federal government is not to blame because we didn't think there was much to be concerned about once all the newspapers said that the city had "dodged a bullet."

Posted by: Scrivener | September 13, 2005 10:40 AM

Scott, you said

" Bush, the guy who said he'd protect us all from terrorism, didn't protect us from a storm everyone knew was coming."

Great point. I see now that had I voted for Kerry, he could have stopped the storm from coming, or at least stopped it from flooding N.O.

You've convinced me. I'm never voting for G.W.Bush again.

Posted by: emaw_kc | September 13, 2005 10:57 AM

Thanks for the reminder, emaw_kc. There's one more disingenuous move that the Bush faithful are using:

Critics of the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina think that President Bush should have prevented the hurricane.

Of course, we all know that this is not what anyone is saying.

Posted by: G Zombie [TypeKey Profile Page] | September 13, 2005 12:48 PM

George: NO NO NO. You are supposed to skulk away now upon being presented with a straw man.

Posted by: Scott | September 13, 2005 6:58 PM