;)
The Commentariat -- Oct. 30, 2012
"The Only Light in New York." Instagram by "gerasolis" on the Washington Post liveblog of the storm.New York Times live update at 8:03 pm ET: while Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) was berating the mayor of Atlantic City, he took time out to "heap praise on President Barack Obama. Mr. Christie said Mr. Obama had called to make sure he had everything needed from the federal government and left a number to call him directly at the White House if any unmet needs arise. 'I appreciate that call from the president,' Mr. Christie said. 'It was very proactive. I appreciate that kind of leadership.'" CW: I guess Christie isn't totally into the Privatize FEMA Plan. ...
... Three Leaders, Three Styles. Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg played the stern parent, chiding the kids not to surf and offering sensible suggestions like staying home to eat a sandwich. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, tieless with a shirt button undone, was a confident but unhurried everyguy: the hunky local fire chief. And Gov. Chris Christie was his usual blunt self, deriding those who resisted evacuation orders as 'selfish and stupid.'"
Presidential Race
** Joshua Holland of AlterNet: "This post is addressed to disgruntled progressives who are urging like-minded people to vote 'strategically' by casting their vote for Obama if they live in a contested state, and voting for a third-party candidate if they live in a solidly blue or red state.... The reason this is a terrible idea in 2012 is simple: there is now a non-trivial chance that Mitt Romney could win the popular vote but lose the Electoral College ... [in which case Republicans would ] precipitate a crisis.... A concerted effort would be made to persuade members of the Electoral College to become 'faithless electors.' Efforts would be made to split the electoral vote proportionally in any states Obama wins that are controlled by Republicans. We'd see more 'Brooks Brothers riots' unfold. It'd be a huge mess, and I don't think the outcome would be certain.... Democrats can work to avoid this scenario by turning out more voters, regardless of where they live -- in Oregon or Alabama."
** Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "The storm could also provide a moment of sharp contrast between President Obama and Mitt Romney and how their different ideas of governing apply to the federal response to large-scale disasters. Obama has been aggressive about bolstering the federal government's capability to respond to disasters, while his Republican challenger believes that states should be the primary responders in such situations and has suggested that disaster response could be privatized." CW: I hope a lot of people read this, though those most affected over the next few days will have other things on their minds & no access to the Internets. O'Keefe, BTW, is a straight reporter. ...
... New York Times Editors: "Disaster coordination is one of the most vital functions of 'big government,' which is why Mitt Romney wants to eliminate it.... Republicans ... don't like the idea of free aid for poor people, or they think people should pay for their bad decisions, which this week includes living on the East Coast. Over the last two years, Congressional Republicans have forced a 43 percent reduction in the primary FEMA grants that pay for disaster preparedness." ...
... Desert Beacon: "Remember the Romney-Ryan budget proposal calls for 20% cuts across the board in non-defense discretionary spending. Their previously issued statements also call for transforming emergency funds into Block Grants for states. So, whatever disaster strikes the 'resources and assistance' would come from the state -- not federal resources. The state of Louisiana would have had to pick up the bill for Hurricane Katrina from its 'block grant.'" Via Karoli of Crooks & Liars. ...
... Kevin Drum makes an excellent point re: Romney's idea of defunding FEMA (see clip in yesterday's Commentariat): "Republican orthodoxy that demanded spending cuts in return for raising the debt ceiling [in the summer of 2011] had infested everything, even emergency spending. Sure, Joplin, [Missouri,] might be suffering [from a devastating tornado], but by God, America was out of money and there was nothing left for them. Romney, who was still in his severely conservative phase back then, went along because he didn't dare cross Eric Cantor. This is the real problem here. There's no telling if Romney really believed what he was saying or not, but as president he probably wouldn't dare cross Cantor either." ...
... AND Drum points to this piece Tim Murphy of Mother Jones wrote in August: "... under a Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan administration, FEMA's ability to respond quickly and effectively to natural disasters could be severely inhibited. In a 2012 report on Rep. Paul Ryan's 'Path to Prosperity' roadmap (which Romney has said is similar to his own), the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted that, due to the severe cuts to nonentitlement, nondefense spending, the costs for things like emergency management would have to be passed on to the states -- which, with just a few exceptions, are currently in an even tighter financial bind than Washington." ...
Ed Kilgore: "So now, predictably, the Romney campaign is backtracking on his primary campaign suggestion that emergency management needs to be taken over by the states (implying in turn that FEMA should be abolished). Oh no! Mitt wouldn't do that! We're witnessing a pattern.... [the Romney-Ryan budget calls for] some big cuts. But whenever Mitt is challenged on any particular budget item, we hear: Oh, no! Mitt wouldn't cut that! But every time something's taken off the table, the level of cuts needed for programs not taken off the table goes straight up. And greater specificity, of course, is always ruled out...."
... Alec MacGillis of The New Republic chalks up Romney's antipathy to FEMA as part of his new-found embrace of "federalism," which he used as an excuse to distance himself from the toxicity of ObamaCare -- health care is a function that should be left to the states. So RomneyCare good, ObamaCare bad. ...
... CW: BUT I think it's even more basic (and base) than that. Romney doesn't care about the 47 percent, & they mostly don't live in Massachusetts, where he pays taxes. Massachusetts is a "giver" state: it gives more to the federal government than it receives. If most functions were left to the states, even though Massachusetts is a high-tax state, Romney's taxes would be lower because Massachusetts would no longer be covering for Alabama, Mississippi, etc. If you think FEMA's response to Katrina was piss-poor, think how good it would have been if local authorities were in charge. One of the hold-ups in the response to New Orleans victims of Katrina, as I recall, was that the Democratic governor went practically catatonic & couldn't decide what to do. As for the mayor of New Orleans, he left town for the worst two days of the crisis. But that would be okay with Romney; he wants to wash his hands of "those people." ...
... FEMA Is Immoral. CW: something about Romney's rejection of FEMA neither I nor the pundits have mentioned is how virulently he opposed it. After he said it should be given to the states or privatized, moderator John King asked, "Including disaster relief, though?" Romney answered, "We cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral ... to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids." This is nonsense. Eighty-five percent of the national debt is owed to Americans. So if all of "our kids" have to pay, some of "our kids" also will profit. The money stays in the American economy. In fact, often the borrower & the lender are effectively the same person -- your taxes may rise to pay off a debt to your pension plan. The "taxpayer you" loses, but the "pensioner you" gains. ...
... CW Update. Joan McCarter of Daily Kos goes there. She concludes, rightly I think, that ultimately Mitt thinks disaster relief should be "privatized." Here's my Newsflash for Mitt: much of disaster relief is already privatized: it's called homeowners insurance, healthcare insurance or pay-it-yourself. Homeowners insurance for hurricanes & similar major disasters is fabulous in Florida: as Janice Lloyd of USA Today reports, "Along coastal areas from Florida to Maine, the owner pays a percentage of the replacement value of the property rather than a traditional deductible in the event of hurricane damage." In the last hurricane to hit hard here, we had some minor roof damage that was covered by our homeowners policy. The deductible? -- because it was hurricane-related, about $30,000. Needless to say, we paid for the repairs out-of-pocket.
... Aviva Shen of Think Progress: appearing on CNN Monday, GOP strategist Ron Bonjean endorsed Romney's plan to dismantle FEMA. Because, if, um, your power is on, you don't care about FEMA. CW: this is the GOP every-person-for-himself worldview in a nutshell: we are not a country; we are each individuals & we don't care about each other. Not unrelated to the I've Got Mine School of Political Philosophy.
Jim Rutenberg & Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The ad from Mitt Romney showed up on televisions here early Saturday morning without the usual public announcement that both campaigns typically use to herald their latest commercials: Chrysler, a bailout recipient, is going to begin producing Jeeps in China, an announcer says, leaving the misleading impression that the move would come at the expense of jobs here.... [Romney's] effort ... stretch or ignore the facts.... Mr. Romney incorrectly told a rally in Defiance, Ohio, late last week outright that Jeep was considering moving its production to China.... Jeep's corporate parent, Chrysler, had already released a scathing statement calling suggestions that Jeep was moving American jobs to China 'fantasies' and 'extravagant'...." CW: Chrysler also said Romney's assertion was "a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats." Here's the Obama campaign's response -- "Wrong then, dishonest now":
... AND here's Bill Clinton's response:
... James O'Toole of the Toledo Blade: "Pinch-hitting for President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton assailed Mitt Romney on Monday, charging that a new Republican ad being aired here is deceptive in suggesting that Chrysler planned to move its Jeep production to China. Mr. Clinton told a crowd at Youngstown State University that the claim was 'the biggest load of bull in the world,' pointing to a Chrysler Group LLC statement that said the firm was considering ramping up production in China, but not at the expense of its North American operations." ...
..."Flailing in Ohio, Romney Rolls out Jeep Ploy." Cleveland Plain Dealer Editors: "Mitt Romney is desperate to convince Ohio voters that he's the candidate most committed to the U.S. auto industry -- no matter how much confusion he must sow to do it.... It won't work. Ohio voters know who stepped up when the auto industry was at the abyss -- and it wasn't Romney." ...
... Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "The series of statements in the ad individually may be technically correct, but the overall message of the ad is clearly misleading -- especially since it appears to have been designed to piggyback off of Romney's gross misstatement that Chrysler was moving Ohio factory jobs to China. It is also especially strange that the ad touts Romney's endorsement by the Detroit News, when the editorial actually backs up Obama's criticism of Romney's response to the auto industry crisis."
The pro-Obama SuperPAC American Bridge Plays Romnopoly:
Sam Wang of Princeton U. follows up on Paul Krugman's blogpost (linked in yesterday's Commentariat) calling out the National Review for attacking Nate Silver. Since then, more wingers have piled on. "None of this storm of criticism would be happening if 'Ro-mentum' were real. In fact, Mitt Romney's fortunes peaked around October 4-9. Since then, the race has moved back toward Obama by about 2.5 points." ...
Nate Cohn of The New Republic on why Florida is still in play -- "Florida's growing black and non-Cuban Hispanic populations."
Congressional Races
Katharine Seelye of the New York Times: "Senator Scott P. Brown’s campaign announced Monday afternoon that he would not participate in his fourth and final debate with Elizabeth Warren, his Democratic challenger, on Tuesday night, citing Hurricane Sandy.... The Warren campaign subsequently issued a statement saying that Ms. Warren agreed that safety was paramount and that the debate should not be held. A poll in The Boston Globe on Monday showed Mr. Brown, above, in a dead heat with Ms. Warren, a positive turn of events for the Republican, who had been trailing in most recent polls."
David Rogers of Politico: "Former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson endorsed the uphill Senate campaign of Democrat Bob Kerrey in Nebraska Monday, describing his former colleague as a friend and someone willing to "place the national interest ahead of the howling special interests" in addressing the federal debt and entitlement reforms. Recent polls show Kerrey closing in on Republican Deb Fischer...."
Jamelle Bouie of American Prospect has an overview of the Senate races, where -- if today's polling numbers hold -- Democrats are likely to hold onto the majority. ...
... Jonathan Bernstein, who writes in the Washington Post & elsewhere, but who has a little side job as a poly sci professor, blames the Tea Party, and not just in cases where the Tea Party candidates who won primary slots, like Dick Moredick of Indiana. Bernstein suspects "what's happening here are strong Republican potential candidates driven away by tea party primary upsets. They can't trust that the nomination field will be cleared for them; they can't trust that the usual recipe -- raising plenty of money and securing the backing of party-aligned leaders and groups -- will be enough. And ambitious professional politicians, who also generally are the best candidates, aren't willing to take that sort of risk."
Other Stuff
Prof. Justin Levitt in a New York Times op-ed: "Local election officials must continue to safeguard the election process from mass challenges in the name of 'voter integrity.' These zealous sweeps are so error-ridden that they undermine the integrity they ostensibly seek.... Citizens walking around with long lists of ostensibly illegal voters are most likely walking around with long lists of mistakes."
Joe Nocera on incoming New York Times CEO Mark Thompson: "Thompson winds up appearing willfully ignorant, and it makes you wonder what kind of an organization the BBC was when Thompson was running it -- and what kind of leader he was. It also makes you wonder what kind of chief executive he'd be at The Times." CW: Joe Nocera has a penchant for being pretty chummy with some of his subjects & with some business leaders. Apparently this chumminess does not extend to his own boss. This is a gutsy column.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A challenge to a federal law that authorized intercepting international communications involving Americans appeared to face an uphill climb at the Supreme Court on Monday.... The question in the case was whether journalists, lawyers and human rights advocates could show they had been harmed and so had standing to sue, and several justices seemed open to the idea. If the case is dismissed for lack of standing, there is a fair prospect that the Supreme Court will never rule on the constitutionality of the law, a 2008 measure that broadened the government's power to eavesdrop on international communications."
News Ledes
New York Times: "The Walt Disney Company, in a move that gives it a commanding position in the world of fantasy movies, said Tuesday it had agreed to acquire Lucasfilm from its founder, George Lucas, for $4.05 billion in stock and cash."
AP: "As Superstorm Sandy marched slowly inland, millions along the East Coast awoke Tuesday without power or mass transit, with huge swaths of the nation's largest city unusually vacant and dark. New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial heart in Lower Manhattan shuttered for a second day and seawater cascading into the still-gaping construction pit at the World Trade Center. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in the city and Long Island. The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with 80 mph sustained winds killed at least 16 people in seven states, cut power to more than 7.4 million homes and businesses from the Carolinas to Ohio, caused scares at two nuclear power plants and stopped the presidential campaign cold." ...
... The New York Times' main story is here. The Washington Post's story is here.
... The New York Times live updates for the New York area are here. The Washington Post has a liveblog here. Daily Kos has a list of links to sites livestreaming Sandy coverage. The Weather Channel has lots of info. ...
... NEW. The New York Times has a live feature titled "Tracking the Storm" with reports on areas as the storm moves inland.
... AP: "A huge fire destroyed at least 50 homes in a flooded neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. More than 190 firefighters were trying to contain the blaze in the Breezy Point section and two people suffered minor injuries...." ...
... Reuters: "A possible levee breach in northern New Jersey on Tuesday, flooded three towns with 4 to 5 feet of water in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, prompting the evacuation of hundreds from their homes. The towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt were underwater after the swollen Hackensack River broke its banks, affecting around 2,000 residents...." ...
... Reuters: "Exelon Corp declared an 'alert' at its New Jersey Oyster Creek nuclear power plant due to a record storm surge, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said, warning that a further water rise could force the country's oldest working plant to use emergency water supplies to cool spent uranium fuel rods. The alert -- the second lowest of four NRC action levels -- came after water levels at the plant rose by more than 6.5 feet, potentially affecting the pumps that circulate water through the plant...." ...
... AP: "A backup generator failed at a New York City hospital Monday night, forcing it to move out more than 200 patients, including 20 babies from the neonatal intensive care unit. Dozens of ambulances lined up around the block outside New York University Tisch Hospital as doctors and nurses began the slow process of evacuation. They started with the sickest and youngest. Some were on respirators operating on battery power."
Reuters: "The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 of the 16 crew members who abandoned the replica tall ship HMS Bounty off North Carolina in rough seas caused by Hurricane Sandy, using helicopters on Monday to pluck them from life rafts. A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter later recovered crew member Claudene Christian, 42, who was described as unresponsive, while continuing to search for the 63-year-old captain of the ship, which sank in 18-foot seas. Christian [was] taken to Albemarle Hospital in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, where a hospital spokesman said she was in 'critical condition.'"
AP: "A major airport in northern Japan was closed Tuesday after construction workers found an unexploded bomb believed to be from World War II. All 92 flights in and out of Sendai airport were cancelled after the 250-kilogram (550-pound) bomb was uncovered during construction near a runway...."
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Reader Comments (19)
Maybe it's just me, but I saw a clip of Romney Monday morning where he was saying something like, "Our hearts go out to the people who are facing the storm." And while he said it, he was wearing that fake smile/smirk -- the same one he assumed when President Obama was criticizing him in the debates.
We're talking about millions of people at risk, without power in cold weather for days or a week, many suffering property damage and all bearing -- at the very least -- some pretty severe inconveniences. And Romney appeared not to give a flying fuck. Truly creepy. Zomney is just about right.
Marie
"Romney appeared not to give a flying fuck." That's because, Marie, he doesn't. But my complaint is much less politically sensitive. If I hear him say "gosh" or "golly" one more time, I'm gonna frow up.
For those not in the NY/NJ area let me note that the prediction of a catastrophe was correct. We won't know the full extent for a few days because the TV crews are having a hard time getting into the affected areas. The one view of lower Manhattan on Ch2 looked like NOLA during Katrina.
I am still in a state of shock over the fact that our Gov. Christie has actually spent time being a real governor. I thought he had a full time job working for Mitt. But no, during a real crises, he is actually doing his job. His repeated compliments to Obama are the biggest surprise. I wonder if he plans to vote for Mitt who would make his life hell if he were POTUS. I actually think this mess might help Obama. Lastly, I am sure it is a coincidence but has anybody noticed that this is not the first incredible weather horror we have had in the last few years.
@Marvin Schwalb. I'm surprised & awfully glad to hear from you. You must have a generator!
Marie
Marie, I have no generator but we do plan to get one soon. We have had enough of the power game. It is still too early to be sure, but I do have some luck in our position on the middle of the west side of a serious hill. My daughter who lives on the east side which is direction that the wind is blowing from has lost her power.
OK, as I was writing this the power went out and then came back. I had to restart my computer. I would cross my fingers but at my age it hurts.
A question, please:
Romney's rictus,
Ryan's smirk.
Which betrays
The bigger jerk?
@Doug. Nice. Calvin Trillin is looking over his shoulder.
As for Bernstein, I'm wondering what a good, reasonable Republican looks like today. I think I remember the moderates of old but even in the late 50's on into the 60's had trouble telling them apart from the more conservative Democrats. By the end of the 60's the virulently anti-Roosevelt Republicans had mostly faded into history both because many had gone to their reward in plutocrat heaven and because when memories of the Depression and WWII were still fresh and social programs originating on the Left like the GI Bill and Social Security were benefitting millions, you couldn't be elected in most parts of the country by running against them. It took another generation for people to forget that the anti-Roosevelt Republicans had never been their friend.
What sustained the Republicans during the fifties and sixties was the Cold War. In those years they donned the uniforms of Cold Warriors over their business suits and many frightened citizens were fooled by the disguise. Then came Reagan, who would not have been elected had he not continued to beat the Cold War drum and had he not followed the race-baiting Southern Strategy, which is still with us, brought to us by the most successful Cold Warrior of them all, Tricky Dick. Since Reagan, the Republicans have moved so far to the right, as we have seen from both Bush and Romney the only way someone can run as their party's national representative and hope to win is to pretend (read: lie again and again) that his positions are not really those of his party.
So....who and where are these purported moderates? I'd think if they exist at all, they only make their appearance when they run for office....otherwise in 2012 they'd be Democrats. Often not as progressive as I'd like but not batshit crazy; that is, not today's Republicans.
Hey, c'mon guys, leave poor Mittens alone. He may be a smirking insincere, rat bastard fuckhole, but he's a kind, compassionate, smirking, insincere rat bastard fuckhole.
And just to prove how kind he his to all those poor people devastated by the storm, he's holding a bake sale for those hardest hit.
In Ohio.
Sorry Marvin and PD and everyone else in the path of the storm who took the brunt of it. No cookies for you. The Rat is much more concerned with those voters in Ohio--hundreds and hundreds of miles away from the epicenter of the storm.
But hey, at least now we have a solid idea of what emergency management will look like under (and I do mean under) a Rat Administration.
If you're still alive after it's over, you might get a cookie.
Re: potty mouth; Sorry Ak, no cookie for you. Golly or gosh as Mr. Singer would say; you sound like a drunk sailor on leave in Singapore. "Ratbasturd fuckhole" can hardly be used in polite conversation. May I suggest "fatherless rodent orifice plunger"?
I think the storm will help Obama; the new commercial should be; the knock on the storm damaged front porch door with the voice over asking which sounds better? "We're from the Federal Government how can we help?" Or "We're here from Bain Capitol, are you ready to sell?"
JJG,
Hmmm....somehow "orifice plunger" sounds a lot worse.
Anyway kids, how about a fun fact?
Some of you (Marie?) may already know this but it just about floored me.
If Willard gets his little rat claws on the keys to the White House it will be the first time since Herbert Hoover that Republicans have won without a Nixon or a Bush on the ticket.
Let's try to keep that streak going.
Just wondering if the Rat's handlers will have him do a photo op flyover of the stricken communities, you know, like Dumbo did over New Orleans after he let it drown? One difference will be that Mittens probably won't have that stupid, dull look on his face as if Bush was thinking "What am I supposed to be looking at again? Hope I'll be back in time for People's Court."
The Rat will just have a smirk on his puss, thinking about all those 47%ers getting what's good for them.
I spent the bulk of my career as a manager in an LEA agency at the county level. As such, I had to be involved in the formal emergency management plan. There is a standard template plan ( generated by the Feds) that is used by the states to understand local-state-federal responsibilities and coordination. It's a sort of fill-in-the-blank deal, allowing each jurisdiction to identify their agencies that are responsible for tasks. It describes very clear lines of authority. It is not unique to California, but I'm sure its rigorous application varies among states. In Sacramento, at the county level, all the agencies were brought together yearly to update and train on the plan.
Not to minimize "Brownie's" gut wrenching incompetence......but I remember an EMO training a few years after Katrina. The trainers, a local-state-federal team, stated that Louisiana was the only state in the US that had no emergency management plan at ANY level in the chain. It always stuck with me as an example of how parochial, ignorance can lay waste to lives. I think about 50 states in the same pickle if Lord Cojonnes Pequeño ( a nod to his polygamous Mexican roots) were in charge.
Received cookies from Akhilleus this morning––double chocolate mit nuts in honor of the Rat's demise––for surviving Sandy's wrath. Lucky us, we never lost electricity, didn't lose any trees, but the wind gusts were horrific and scary. Our youngest son and family whose town closest to New York is without electrical power,with fallen trees blocking roadways, has been with us since Saturday and will remain here until it's safe to go back to their home. Glad Marvin, too, is safe. New Haven, a half hour away, has extensive flooding and is without power.
When reading of Mitt's smirk on today's comments, I had a thought: It's the kind of look that he probably practiced while he had to listen to people's problems back when he was doing that religious service. Since we pretty much describe him as void of REAL empathy, the smirk hid/hides this –– he thinks it looks as though he's full of compassion or interest just like he thinks what comes out of his mouth will move mountains.
The Times editorial on the need for big government solutions to big storms (big healthcare, big science, big infrastructure, big defense, etc.) linked by Marie today references one of Willard's more outrageous suggestions, that not only should government be removed from emergency management, but that states, and BEST YET, the private sector, should take over.
Can you just see what an emergency management response would be in Mississippi if the state had to rely on its own resources? There would be Vegas lines on the number of fatalities caused by incompetence, lack of funds, lack of training, lack of personnel, lack of everything (except Republican hubris and stupidity).
Better yet, just imagine a situation in which some private company, owned by Bain, more than likely, was put in charge of emergency management. They would offer "emergency coverage" like an insurance plan. If you sign up and pay, along with your state, then you have a chance of being saved. The poor and indigent? No way. Also there will have to be a return on investment number for every bridge, roadway, powerline, home, apartment building, or hospital that needs saving. If you're in a low income area and the company decides they can't make a good ROI, you're fucked.
Then, after you're house is underwater, you'll receive, as JJG suggests, a visit from one of Romney's vultures at Bain offering you .001 cents on the dollar for your property. Emergency Management the Romney way. How Much Money Can We Make Off Human Suffering After Doing Nothing to Help?
This is, in many ways, what the Bushies did with New Orleans. Black people dying? Damn, don't you know that helicopter fuel is expensive??
Compassion, right-wing style.
Anyone who would like a peek at the Republican model for disaster relief need look no further than Baghdad circa 2003 and thereafter. According to several authorities on the subject, the Brownies (as in "you've done a heck of a job") were represented by those who qualified not by their experience in relevant fields but by their fealty to the Republican Party and, in particular, Republican Jesus, who apparently always dressed very nicely with a tie and often rang doorbells right around dinner time. The reopening of the Iraqi stock exchange was tasked to an inexperienced recent college graduate whose post depended on a correct answer about Roe v. Wade.
It seems that the Republicans are very concerned about us getting here but quite unconcerned about what happens to us once we've arrived. If you can't be proud of your government when FEMA is rescuing people from peril, I guess you just can't be proud of your government. However, you can continue to support the troops, whatever the f*** that means.
Jack,
Excellent analogy. To expand on the elements of your object lesson in how Republican ideological purity trumps all other considerations, recall that Paul Bremer and his army of ideological, GOP fundamentalists, woefully incompetent, stunningly unqualified tyros all lived in the hermetically sealed bubble world of the Green Zone.
While Bush's bible thumpers and nepotistic appointees enjoyed an All-American existence, playing softball, volleyball, watching the latest Hollywood releases and chowing down in air-conditioned comfort, Iraqis whose lives were on the line every day just a few hundred yards away were dealing with a murderous insurgency invited by the Cheney-Bush-Rumsfeld "plan", with lack of power, food, housing, medical care, and constant violence. Inside the Bush bubble were GOP imbeciles hand picked for party fealty, ignorant of Iraq's history, language, culture, sects, religions, wants, needs, and fears.
A Romney presidency promises the exact same ignorance and startling indifference to Americans who don't reside in the luxury of the Romney Bubble.
Let's not speculate on a privatized emergency response scheme. Down loading the burden to the state level is bad enough. Take New Jersey.
FEMA has 3.6 billion on hand to use in response to disasters. Dispersing this money among 50 states gives every one $72,000,000 for emergency use. Enriching 1 million Montanans by the same amount as 9 million in New Jersey is hardly fair so lets disburse the money on the basis of population. New Jersey would then receive $102,000,000. That's better but New Jersey is already $900,000,000 in debt from the billion dollar loss to hurricane Irene last year. This year will be worse. As governor what would be your response to a budget which goes a billion dollars deeper in debt per year due to nature?
Cowichan,
You mean, due to climate change and global warming.
As Republican governor of a state regularly screwed by man-made climate change, my response would be to take the money, deny human effect on climate, and blame lying liberals.
@Akhilleus: No, I meant nature as compared to corruption or incompetence. Transpose Republican and liberal and your statement is just as correct. We have started the climate ball rolling down the hill and it is now on a trajectory that is set for more than the next century whether we stopped burning all fossil fuels today or not. Mother Nature has always been a bitch but pumped up on CO2 she is a terror. Look at pictures of the storm of '38 and the numbers and tell me what difference 74 years of burning fossil fuels has made. You can't. And I don't care. I must live with the world of today and do my best to minimize my effects on the world tomorrow.