Posted on 09/03/2005 10:16:01 AM PDT by smoothsailing
Get Off His Back
By Ben Stein
Published 9/2/2005 11:59:59 PM
A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:
1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.
2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.
3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.
4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.
6.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.
7.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.
8.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.
9.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.
10.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.
11.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.
12.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.
13.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care.
God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.
......................................
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He also writes "Ben Stein's Diary" in every issue of The American Spectator.
RE: Post # 35.
Did MM say this? Sounds like something he would say.
The only reason he got this far is because of his family connections...
Wow - President Bush has 61 million relatives?! I agree the party bosses did pick him and gave him enormous contributions and state organizations up front, but in the end he had to convince people to vote for him. People forget how close he came to stumbling in the 2000 primary.
Why at all? He used falsehoods to get us into the war...
There is a difference between being mistaken about WMD's and lying. The left apparently cannot understand the difference.
He's made out to be the paragon of Christian virtue... but he doesn't worship with his fellow Christians, something the apostle Paul told us not to forsake. Why, are we beneath his dignity to worship God alongside of?
This is just offensive. George W. Bush does not attend church because he would turn every Sunday service into a militarized zone, complete with a battalion of Secret Service, snipers on the roof, regular police, ambulances, helicopters and assorted aircraft circling the church. There would be metal detectors at every exit. Men in black suits would search Aunt Tillie's purse to make sure she wasn't carrying a pistol inside the church.
To make it even more plain, terrorists have tried to kill him before. Is it fair to risk the lives of every other member of the church on a weekly basis? If Bush did attend services, he would take hordes of criticism. It would be unrelenting.
He asks the young people of America to sacrifice their time for a "noble cause" but does not ask the same of his own children.
No one should be forced to see their daughters or wives in a combat zone, period.
Why should I give him any special consideration in my prayers, when I cannot but believe that he is not even really President at all, but was put there by the schemes of others?
Because the Bible commands you to! And how is he not President?! He was elected by the voters. This fellow has let his good sense flee and exchanged it for raw anger. There is no use listening to such people.
The excellent Ben Stein does it again. If the dems and the racists realized how incredibly stupid they sound, they might be quiet for a while.
I'll take a stab at it and say Joseph Farah. He's joined Buchanan on the "impeach Bush now" bandwagon.
Michael Moore! What do I win?
Nah, any day is a good day for bashing Shrill.
Yes the Dems are playing politics in USENET while Texas republicans open their homes to the people of New Orleans.
http://jednet207.tripod.com/PoliticalNewsGroups-PC.html
Time to post rebuttals
Searching 'Bush mandatory' turns up this on FR. Wonder why CNN didn't keep that story in heavy rotation?
CNN ^ | Sunday, August 28, 2005; Posted: 11:47 a.m. EDT | CNN's David Mattingly, Susan Candiotti, Jacqui Jeras and Rob Marciano contributed to this report.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said that it was President Bush that had called and urged the state to order the evacuation. New Orleans orders evacuation Hurricane Katrina's winds nearly 175 mph Sunday, August 28, 2005; Posted: 11:47 a.m. EDT (15:47 GMT) NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN)
Excellent post. Ben Stein speaks the truth.
And God bless Ben Stein.
"Gone are the days when any kid could grow up believing he (or she) could be President of the United States. Sorry kid, but unless you have the right family connections and are willing to be a tool of the party, you won't be allowed to go that far. "
I guess the brainiac who wrote this nonsense already forgot about the boy from Hope, Arkansas, a mere administration ago...what a tool. Must be a writer from the NYT.
Helen Thomas
I see this personally from a relative of mine who detests my Christianity, yet he is morally bankrupt.
Was this drivel spewed by "The Screaminator"? I would expect Dean who hates white Republican Christians to come up with something this stupid.
Thank you again Mr. Stein. Such clear thinking commentary is why you are included on my home page.
"Twenty years from now, Bush will be regarded as the worst President in American history. Those who supported him, will be seen as fools. Why should I not beleive this to be true?"
This is the same crap these commies were spouting about Reagan...boy are they in touch w/ reality or what?!?!
I hope that someone gets this message to the "Poverty Pimps" like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as well as the "Political Whores" like RFK jr and Elijah Cummings
Ben Stein kicks butt ping!
Say what?!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.