Posted on 09/03/2005 12:17:06 PM PDT by coffee260
The Dems are going to mount a lights out, no-holds-barred effort to blame this on racism.
Great find. Thanks for posting.
This needs to stay at the top.
I hope that RedState has sent this to all the MSM.
This is an excellent piece by Ben Stein on this subject.
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.
bump.
The dems do not want the president to get popular like after 9/11. They were just starting to make headway to kill off his legacy.
So, they must strike while the iron is hot. Damn the consequences.
For years the democrats have known of the dangers that existed, not only in the levy system but of the criminial elements in their society.
They chose not to build up the levy system.
It was their choice. They used money for other things, then asked for more because they did not fix what needed fixin. It was their choice.
Now we reap what they have sown. Of course, they must blame others. They did it with the impeachment, with elections, with supreme court judgments. That's what democrats do.
Thanks for the post. Problem is the damn L/MSM cannot play fair, they have for years shown how deeply evil they truely are. The masses now think the blame must be placed on the POTUS, FEMA, and Military. The L/MSM cannot show how that sorry excuse for a mayor is at the bottom of the problem.
Hats off to Ben Stein.
Nagin might make a good race/poverty pimp but he can't hack being mayor.
BUMP!
Great stuff by Ben Stein. Do you have a link? I've seen some posts right here on FR that could use some of this.
Strongly disagree with #12. N O at best is a horrible crime ridden debauched hellhole with incompetents running it and awash is cronism and corruption. You go just for a visit and you are taking a chance to become a crime victim, its as lawless as a banana republic city. Not a dime of federal monies should go into rehabilitation of the city, if fellow Louisianians want to be taxed for it, that's up to them.
"The Dems are going to mount a lights out, no-holds-barred effort to blame this on racism."
No doubt about that, considering the vast majority of those that could not or would not evacuate were black. The delay in response "looks" really bad.
Was it racism per se? I don't think so. IF, and that is a big IF, there was some sort of bigotry associated with the slow response. Then I would think it was more of a "social class" bigotry, not racism. Though I don't think that was the case either.
Going to what I consider to be a BIGGER question is what should be our (Federal) response to the rebuiding of New Orleans. Except for those things of strategic importance to the entire United States (the petroleum industry), we should not fund rebuilding this place.
It was folly all these years to keep New Orleans in its present location. A city below sea level that requires constant pumping to keep it from flooding? A city that artificially keeps a MAJOR river from changing its course in a delta? Not wise at all. If the residents want to rebuild, then do it on their dime not mine. By all means provide humanitarian relief to victums, but don't finance them to be victums again.
This started down hill when the governor's mind went blanco. She was told by W to start an evacuation but she didn't. She could have called up her own Guard on Tuesday, but she didn't. She cried well but that didn't help, now did it? The jerk running N.O. turned out to be Bart Simpson in Black face. "Ididn't do it man! It wasn't me!" The kid who grabbed the school bus and took people to Huston had more leadership than both of them combined. And he is willing to be arrested if they're stupid enough to do that. Yes a 19 year old kid is willing to face any consequences, but neither blanc mind or empty noggin will. THe rats and their masters ratmedia and soros etc, will try to call this racist but it won't wash this will be yet ANOTHER time that the dopey rats will hitch themselves to a wagon on its way to a nuthouse.
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.