Working very well, thank you

Props to Mike Lewis, who brought this up in the comments section of my "Getting Political" post. Lest we think that Worst President Ever is the only member of the family who is out of touch, we always have Momma Babs and her creative interpretation of The World According to Bush.

From the electronic pages of Editor and Publisher:

Accompanying her husband, former President George H. W. Bush, on a tour of hurricane relief centers in Houston, Barbara Bush said today, referring to the poor who had lost everything back home and evacuated, "This is working very well for them."

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't warn you that was coming. Now you've gone and spat coffee all over your monitor.

Of course, as with any statement, it's always best to put everything into context. After all, perhaps the former first lady was misquoted. That can happen, right?

We continue:

She was part of a group in Houston today at the Astrodome that included her husband and former President Bill Clinton, who were chosen by her son, the current president, to head fundraising efforts for the recovery. Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama were also present.

In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to Houston."

Then she added: "What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality."

See, that clarifies things. Ol' Babs was just making a comment about the hospitality of her fellow Texans. Why, these Texans are good folk. When the poor disaster victims arrive in town, they're given a plate of brisket and a can of Lone Star. They're greeted by people in funny hats singing about yellow roses. Barbara was having a Miss Ellie Moment, in which she simply wished to boast of her fellow Texans with pride. She didn't really mean that the disaster was actually "working very well" for the victims. That would be silly.

Hang on. There's just one paragraph left in that Editor and Publisher article:

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this -- this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

I stand corrected.

So, in the eyes of the former first lady of the United States (and a dead ringer for the first-ever president of the United States), this flood thing is working out very well for these underprivileged folks. This flood, which wiped out their little homes, killed off a few of their relatives and their pets, and left them without food and water for several days? In the end, having a cot on the cold concrete floor of an abandoned sports venue is really a much better tradeoff.

I'm a sports fan, and I've been one all my life. Oh, how I wish I could have lost everything I own in the flood. If I were truly lucky, I could have taken the field at two sports facilities -- the New Orleans Superdome and the Houston Astrodome. Can you imagine how great that would be? Never mind the cots and the crying babies and the overflowing toilets and the stench and the hopelessness. Look at me! I'm on the 35-yard line! Somebody take my picture!

Jealous? Damn straight you are.

Comments

[Todd W.]

Am I the only one who is thinking that the response...or LACK of response from the Feds was deliberate?

* FEMA denied WalMart trucks full of relief supplies access to survivors at the convention center
* FEMA denied Red Cross access to New Orleans to feed and care for survivors
* FEMA cut the Jefferson Parish emergency communication lines in New Orleans
* Canada's specialized urban search and rescue teams volunteered, weren't allowed to cross the border
* FEMA turns back swift water rescue teams, 500 boats, 1000 export boaters, with boats specially designed for handicapped or wheelchair access
* Firemen and rescue workes are delayed in order to serve as photo-op props for Bush

[Jackson]

The theory that it's deliberate would at least explain the absolute level of incompetence, because blaming the incompetence solely on incompetence is getting tougher by the minute. If these people were truly this incompetent, they wouldn't even be able to dress themselves in the morning.

One that you left out, by the way: volunteer airboat owners, who were called to service by Mayor Naglin and Gov. Blanco the moment the levees breached, were told by FEMA once they arrived that they'd have to pay for their own gas to operate their boats. Apparently, one of these airboats uses up (at today's prices) about $550 a day worth of gas. So after you've taken time off from work and hauled your boat all the way down from Arkansas or wherever else so you can help rescue the stranded, you're told by some fed that FEMA can't subsidize your fuel usage. Pay retail or get lost.

There are some who have theorized the war in Iraq as being a calculated maneuver by BushCo to thin the minority (especially the black) population a little in the U.S. There are poor white communities in this country as well, but you sure don't see the military recruiting there -- they're going straight to the black communities, because poor whites can apparently more easily be converted into believers of Supply-Side Jesus and can be convinced the most terrible thing in the universe is not poverty or thousands of Americans drowning in poisoned waters, but gays marrying gays. Before Katrina, this theory seemed more difficult to comprehend. But now ... it's much more difficult to debate. Comprehending it is child's play.

Next time you see an image of a corpse rotting on the median at South Carrollton Avenue, of bodies floating in flood waters polluted with human waste, of crippled elderly people stranded on rooftop islands without food and water as if they're tree rats, remember that these images were brought to you courtesy of the self-proclaimed compassionate conservative -- a man who is neither conservative nor compassionate.

Welcome to the America of Karl Rove and Grover Norquist and James Dobson, where we carelessly let our own citizens drown in seas of filth. If anyone out there thinks George W. Bush is losing even two minutes of sleep over this, wake the fuck up. Unless you are the CEO of a major corporation, Worst President Ever honestly couldn't give a shit whether you lived or died. You mean nothing to him.

[Todd W.]

Careful! We can't play the "Blame Game." Heaven forbid! Hey Scottie? Can we play "Pass the Buck" or "Duck and Cover" instead?

[Todd W.]

Oh wait...I get it. We can play the "Blame Game" only if we don't play it with the Brown Shirts. It's perfectly OK to play the "Blame Game" with other people, such as spinning the myth that the President had to "beg" the Governor of Louisiana (or the Mayor of New Orleans in some versions) to take action.

I guess I forgot to read the rules on the underside of the game box lid. Silly me...

[Air Jordans]

I’ve never any pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them

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