Politicizing the Tragedy
The subject of politicizing Katrina and its aftermath has come up in the comments to another post, so I thought I'd mention it here. While I can see that it might be unseemly to use this or any other disaster to score cheap partisan points, there are some questions and issues that are so overwhelming they can't be ignored. The fact that they may have political ramifications is not a good enough excuse to pretend they're not there.
As an example, on Tuesday, Kevin Drum called for a truce (for which he took quite a bit of heat in comments):
At the risk of sounding overly righteous every time disaster strikes, can I please suggest that Katrina is really not an appropriate subject for partisan jabbing right now? That goes for both left and right.
But, as I said, some issues are just to blatant to ignore. This is Kevin today, introducing a post:
Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration. Read it and weep.
There's a time to hold back on the scoring of cheap partisan points, and there's a time to call out gross incompetence. There’s no question about what time it is now.
posted by Doug @ 2:54 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
There has been a levee break, and the meme “faith creates reality”– which has been the central philosophy behind the macho Bush foreign policy, economic policy and social policy, and also the connective tissue between the political right and the religious right – is going under.
And I LOVE the last quote from your Drum link:
"Actions have consequences. No one could predict that a hurricane the size of Katrina would hit this year, but the slow federal response when it did happen was no accident. It was the result of four years of deliberate Republican policy and budget choices that favor ideology and partisan loyalty at the expense of operational competence. It's the Bush administration in a nutshell."
The irresponsibility of the people in charge is just so blatant and getting more so every day. Recognizing and stating the obvious has nothing to do with partisanship. The Manchester Union-Leader has been on the record for a couple of days with its dismay. Those claiming that any criticism of the administration is by definition a partisan attack better get as many such accusations in as quickly as they can, because it's not long until the claim will have no credibility whatsoever.
Post a Comment
<< Home