It's All the Republicans' Fault
That's the Prez's opinion, not me just repeating mine, by the way. Even though he'd missed Mardi Gras, Bush returned to New Orleans this week to point fingers at Congress for not getting anything done. He first went to the city several days after Katrina hit and swore to stand by the beleaguered people of the area. Of course, he promised them the sun and the moon (and then turned out the lights), so maybe he felt that he needed to come and explain why neither the sun nor the moon had come through yet. (No, I don't really think that's why he went, either.) Whatever his true purpose, he walked around the 9th ward for a full twenty minutes before he took off again.
There's a problem with trying to lay all the blame on Congress, though. Maybe he's forgotten, but Congress is controlled by Republicans, so he's turning on his own. And not just any Republicans, but these Republicans are in thrall to the White House. They've had plenty of chances to stand up to the administration, but except for the lopsided 62-2 vote this week in the House Appropriations Committee to block the Dubai Ports World deal, they pretty much do the complete bidding of the White House. If Bush wanted the funding, something tells me that he could've made sure he was going to get it.
In other New Orleans updates, country music stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (who I swear is looking more and more like Debra Messing every day) are from Louisiana and Mississippi, respectively, and they spoke out against Bush's efforts in hurricane clean-up while the Prez was touring the devastated area. Although I'm not up on all the latest country music scuttlebutt, I'm not hearing a Dixie-Chick-style backlash against him. It's amazing how clearly documented ineptness and low poll numbers can make people more willing to tolerate dissent.
posted by Doug @ 11:46 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I posted on Hill-McGraw yesterday.
I was surprised that they carefully stayed away from the topic of the war (unlike the Dixie Chicks, who dived right in).
Katrina is a populist issue and holds little danger for them.....the war, however, is a hot-button topic.
I think they were just doing publicity, frankly......and SAFE publicity by sticking to a safe issue.
Wow, you're even more cynical than I am. You're right that they were doing publicity--as I understand it, this was at a press conference they held to kick off their new joint tour. But I'm not sure these specific comments, especially as strong as some of them are, were a premeditated attempt to get their names even further into the news. They're potentially alienating a large number of their fans (and paying customers) in dissing the Prez, which would seem an odd decision.
I didn't see the press conference--I just read reports. Were they asked about the war and then avoided the subject, or did they just not bother to bring it up themselves? If they refused to talk about it, then that would count as "carefully staying away," but if the press didn't ask, I don't see why they should introduce the topic. In fact, if they had talked about it, that would reinforce your argument that they were just trolling to get their names in the news.
Post a Comment
<< Home