"The Results Are Not Acceptable"

Matt Welch | September 2, 2005

Those defending the government's response to Katrina as the best we can expect under the circumstances lost an ally this morning -- George W. Bush.

Comments

|9.2.05 @ 12:53PM|#

The governor of Louisiana is pathetic. Stop whining, lady, and take some action.

|9.2.05 @ 12:56PM|#

Bush said the destruction looked "as if the entire Gulf Coast were obliterated by the worst kind of weapon you can imagine."

I like that, I like that a lot. He's finally found a WoMD.

|9.2.05 @ 12:57PM|#

"The results are not acceptable" is the new "Mistakes were made".

Ah, our Steely-eyed Man of Resolve. If Kerry had been elected, he'd probably want to offer the hurricane therapy. Haw Haw Haw!

|9.2.05 @ 12:59PM|#

Bush cut his vacation short by two days to return to Washington on Wednesday to oversee the recovery.

How many fucking vacations does this guy take per year? Rather, how much fucking vacation time is he allotted for his job? My job isn't even that important, and I don't get probably half as much vacation time as he does. Shouldn't the Presidency require less vacationing time than usual as opposed to much more than usual? Granted, he needs to relax so he doesn't hit the big, red button in a fit of anger, but really.

|9.2.05 @ 1:00PM|#

Don't worry, the National Review thinks everything is going just fine, and anyone who criticizes is just a left-wing crank: http://frum.nationalreview.com/

Bush reveals his true colors!

The Anti-Puritan|9.2.05 @ 1:03PM|#

More proof-just in case anyone needed it-that the era of small government is over.

|9.2.05 @ 1:10PM|#

Frum

Ron, I couldn't make it past Frum's praising Rick Santorum's "pricipled" "courage". Sorry. But knowing National Review as I do, I'm sure I don't need to read the rest anyway.

|9.2.05 @ 1:11PM|#

So will Bush hold anyone accountable for the mediocre response? Has he held anyone accountable for anything? Ever?

Jesse Walker|9.2.05 @ 1:13PM|#

There goes President Bush with the Bush-bashing again. I hate those damn Bush-haters, especially President Bush.

|9.2.05 @ 1:18PM|#

The federal response has been pathetic and I demand to know the name of the person in charge!!! Oh, oops, sorry, never mind.

Of course, being a military man himself, mr. bush will understand that someones "the person in charge" gets screwed for something he/she didn't really have personal control over. Just one of the joys of leadership. Or maybe they don't teach that in the Air National Guard.

|9.2.05 @ 1:19PM|#

That should read "...that someTIMES..."

|9.2.05 @ 1:20PM|#

What's the story, y'all? Bushmoron says something you agree with and suddenly he's Bushgenius?

How many read "not acceptable" as a justification for an even larger government?

There's a huge difference, Jesse, between "the best that can be expected" and "going fine". If you expect you Uncle to save your ass no matter what happens, you've just delegated your life and survival to whatever wagon of bozos parades up Pennsylvania Avenue.

|9.2.05 @ 1:22PM|#

"There goes President Bush with the Bush-bashing again. I hate those damn Bush-haters, especially President Bush.

What else would you expect, comin' from the left?

|9.2.05 @ 1:31PM|#

Here in Canada and I believe in parts of Europe the Katrina mess is being spun as proof that US government is too small and how you need more public sector workers.

|9.2.05 @ 1:39PM|#

Dynamist: Isn't it neat how decades of inadequate planning for a known hazard gets translated by either end of the political spectrum as an opportunity to bash the other? One reason I follow this board is that there is at least a measurable minority who apparently think that objectivity has a certain amount of value in evaluating what is going on. --Ron

Matt Welch|9.2.05 @ 1:42PM|#

Bushmoron says something you agree with and suddenly he's Bushgenius?

Funny, I can't seem to recall ever questioning the president's intelligence, or failing to give him credit when I thought credit was due. I do, however, remember someone saying something yesterday about how "Government seems to be doing the best job government can."

|9.2.05 @ 1:45PM|#

Where the hell is Huey Long now that we really need him?

|9.2.05 @ 1:54PM|#

I haven't been keeping up with blogs or much news the last few days. I know there have been issues with the federal government and I have heard plenty of people complaining about it but what about the state and local governments? Did New Orleans even have a plan for when this happened (it was only a matter of time)? The plan of having people go to the Superdome knowing that a major hit would cut power and plumbing doesn't exactly sound like anything that couldn't be thought of in an afternoon meeting. Shouldn't the state and local government have seen this as the number one threat to their area ever since New Orleans became the economic center of the state?

|9.2.05 @ 1:58PM|#

Temujin334 - I agree. It's more incumbent upon New Orleans and Louisiana to have an evacuation plan for New Orleans than it is upon Washington.

|9.2.05 @ 2:02PM|#

Some of you people have nothing better to do than bitch, moan, complain, and blame someone else rather thatn getting off of your own ass and doing something about it. STFU!

The devistation is uncomprehensible to begin with and has gotten worse by the minute, if it can happen, it's happened. Add in chaos, lawlessness, anarchy, laziness, and stupidity... it's a wonder anything CAN be done to help these people. The fact is, there's a small percentage of FUCKING IDIOTS down there that are hendering the stranded from getting help. Looting, fires, shootings, rapes, beatings... what the fuck is going on?!?!? Don't blame it all on the government... it seems to me that they're the ones helping the most when some of these people are doing nothing to help themselves.

|9.2.05 @ 2:04PM|#

temujin: Did New Orleans have a plan? They had lots of plans. The "what if there was a hurricane?" scenario did in fact occur to some of them one or two years back. I know you will be shocked to learn that there were "funding issues". Who is to blame? Fortunately for the ideologues on either end of the political spectrum, there are lots of fat targets on either side. The more interesting discussion, particularly for libertarians,is what will happen going forward, since many, if not all, of the proposed "solutions" will involve the expenditure of a LOT of public tax dollars.

|9.2.05 @ 2:07PM|#

C'mon, Matt, we all know you were thinking it. Maybe you're the lone voice that has never mocked how GWB speaks, or the choices he makes. In that case, sorry, my bad.

And I'm still saying the government is doing the best that gov't can be expected to do.

In the face of the media coverage, fueled by the voices of people who are chronically incapable of doing anything for themselves, exactly what would any politician say differently?

|9.2.05 @ 2:09PM|#

You people don't get it. As long New Orleans and Louisiana are run by Democrats, it is the responsibility of Washington to prepare for and respond to disasters in New Orleans and Louisiana. If the mayor and governor were Republicans, it would be a lack of planning and a failure to respond by local officials.

Right joe?

|9.2.05 @ 2:11PM|#

Am I the only libertarian embarrassed that Lew Rockwell is one of our most prominent cranks?

|9.2.05 @ 2:12PM|#

ooops, wrong thread. Sorry y'all.

|9.2.05 @ 2:15PM|#

Local, county & state governments failed in this case. I think local govt. is mainly to blame for the horrible failure to keep order and provide needed help and protection to citizens. Another thing, how can people who decry big federal government now be blaming the Feds. Sheesh, get on the same page. The feds are and should be secondary and come in when local govet. can't do the job. They are getting help down there now!!

|9.2.05 @ 2:18PM|#

Dynamist: OK, I'll bite. Suppose we take a vote on whether providing a way out of New Orleans--BEFORE the hurricane hits--for poor people who rely entirely on public transportation, is a good idea? I assume that your vote is no, since these people are "chronically incapable of doing anything for themselves", and they should quit whining to the government all the time.

|9.2.05 @ 2:23PM|#

"Where the hell is Huey Long now that we really need him?"

More importantly, where's Huey Lewis?

|9.2.05 @ 2:24PM|#

From the White House news release, it sounds like Bush is sending reelief specifically for rebuilding Trent Lott's house:

"We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."

Matt Welch|9.2.05 @ 2:24PM|#

C'mon, Matt, we all know you were thinking it. Maybe you're the lone voice that has never mocked how GWB speaks, or the choices he makes. In that case, sorry, my bad.

You know bupkus. The only time I mock Dubya's speech patterns, is in the privacy of my own home, when I pronounce the word "appreciate." This has nothing on my Clinton impersonation, which is extensive and cruel.

As for Bush's "choices," if they aren't worth mocking, then the terrorists truly have won.

|9.2.05 @ 2:27PM|#

This country (both Democrats and Republicans) that the federal government should be responsible for everything. Plus, we need to have state and local government that is so big, so corrupt, and so inefficient that the federal government has to supplement their funding.

All levels of government created this (New Orleans) disaster. No level of government did anything to mitigate against it. Government has helped prevent private aid from coming in. Government has allowed total anarchy. Government has caused panic by delivery only misinformation to people stuck in New Orleans. Only now are some levels of government doing anything to save people from New Orleans.

Give government more money and they'll fuck it up even more.

|9.2.05 @ 2:27PM|#

I am on board with the "why aren't the governor and the mayor, and all recent governors and mayors, under arrest for dereliction of duty. Protecting life and property is job one (and job all for some folks in these quarters). They have failed miserably at this task. The feds have committed to help and should be judged accordingly, but my impression is that the depth of the mess is in large part due to poor planning at the state and local level as recently as last week.

Jeff

|9.2.05 @ 2:41PM|#

I am disturbed by the backslapping between the pols. The most important aspects of this disaster are finally being dealt with 4 days later. Hearbreaking.

No excuses. Water and food. This isn't rocket science, or some complicated logistical nightmare. It is pure incompetence at all levels of the 'public' sector. Everyone involved in this bureaucratic bumblefuck should be fired.

Fats, i am doing what i can to help. and i am complaining about the deadly incompetence.

|9.2.05 @ 2:41PM|#

What is unacceptable?

1) The government, which is subsidizing insurance costs to permit people to live in dangerous places, had all the warning they needed to avert this situation, and they did nothing.

Here's the SciAm article, which has probably been posted before, but bears repeating. Note that this article is from 2001.

http://tinyurl.com/eyrrl

2) Maintaining public order is one of the few things the government is supposed to do. Private charities can rise to the occasion to deal with the humanitarian issues, but not when they're being shot at.

That's what we pay for every April. The maintenance of public order. And they can't even fucking do that much. They can fund a war on pornography, they can investigate steroids in MLB, but they can't maintain order in a major American city in the wake of a disaster.

When the government falls down doing something it shouldn't be doing, it's funny. When the government falls down doing one of the few fucking things it should be doing, it's infuriating.

|9.2.05 @ 3:06PM|#

Ron: I'm sure it doesn't fit into your pre-conceived notions, but the people didn't want to leave. Voting for buses is irrelevant if nobody gets on them. If you want to argue exceptions and outliers, which do exist, I don't have time for you right now.

Matt: See! I knew it! (Although my prediction is about a prescient as guessing that you'll take a crap sometime tomorrow. Everybody mocks Bush.)

B.D.|9.2.05 @ 3:17PM|#

Ha, that's not government bashing. It avoids the issue because he will not place responsibility on any one person's shoulders. It's a collective failure. He didn't exactly say that he had any part in the failure of the response. What happened to the "buck stops here"? Oh, right, this administration has never followed that policy.

The mayor of New Orleans had some choice words regarding the situation today in a radio interview. Boing Boing has download links:

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/02/uncensored_audio_of_.html

|9.2.05 @ 3:18PM|#

It won't happen until it's over, but when things finally quiet down (many, many months from now), there is going to be a blood-purge at FEMA. And I'm not talking about upper management, but the rank and file. The politicals are going to throw as many trench workers and low-level managers as they can to the wolves.

This is after they've been worked to death.

Jesus, I'm so glad I got out.

|9.2.05 @ 3:36PM|#

Dynamist: "the people didn't want to leave". Source, please. Was there a poll I don't know about?

|9.2.05 @ 3:39PM|#

When my T.V. turned on to wake me up this morning, there was Bush talking and a giant banner underneath him that just said, "NOT ACCEPTABLE."

|9.2.05 @ 3:43PM|#

Dynamist: Did the people who went to the SuperDome before the hurricane arrived want to be there instead of outside the city? That doesn't even make intuitive sense to me. I may be misinformed, but bald assertions aren't very convincing.

R C Dean|9.2.05 @ 3:48PM|#

Am I the only libertarian embarrassed that Lew Rockwell is one of our most prominent cranks?

ooops, wrong thread. Sorry y'all.

rafuzo, its never inappropriate to be embarassed by Lew Rockwell.

|9.2.05 @ 3:54PM|#

Dynamist: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02response.html--

"Brian Wolshon, an engineering professor at Louisiana State University who served as a consultant on the state's evacuation plan, said little attention was paid to moving out New Orleans's "low-mobility" population - the elderly, the infirm and the poor without cars or other means of fleeing the city, about 100,000 people.

At disaster planning meetings, he said, "the answer was often silence."

|9.2.05 @ 3:58PM|#

The mayor of New Orleans had some choice words regarding the situation...

And his words were as appropriate as the silly bitch in Dade County after Andrew. "Where's the cavalry?" indeed. When you're the cavalry it's pretty stupid to ask where the cavalry is. Well she got fired a few months later after the County Commission finally realized what a fuckup she was. Hopefully the voters of NO will know what to do with this fucking clown.

|9.2.05 @ 4:06PM|#

Hey mayor,

Maybe you could have used some of these buses to get people out:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050901/480/flpc21109012015

Everytime I read something from some LA pol I think Hastert is right. Let the ocean and river reclaim NO.

|9.2.05 @ 4:08PM|#

Mind you the failure of the locals in their responsibility in the early stages does not excuse the feds who 5 days later seem to be walking around in a daze.

Although that is slightly unfair. I have the impression that many "in the trenches" eg Coast Guard anf NG helo pilots and doctors and nursess and and all kinds of other aid workers are doing their best in a hostile and unforgiving environment.

The leadership has utterly failed. And that is one of the worst betrayals the people could have suffered.

|9.2.05 @ 4:16PM|#

Here in Canada and I believe in parts of Europe the Katrina mess is being spun as proof that US government is too small and how you need more public sector workers.

I actually kind of get the same feeling from Bush's comments.

Bush insisted, "We'll get on top of this situation and we're going to help people who need help."

"The federal government's job is big and its massive and we're going to do it," he said at his first stop in Mobile.

The important thing right now is to help the people of New Orleans. You use the tools you have. But going forward, should we really be seeing this as the federal government's job? I am not heartened.

|9.2.05 @ 4:41PM|#

Ron: I resist arguing from authority. I note that your links are not based on any experience of the city, nor on any following of the local news and talking with actual people. You follow the traditional thinking of bureaucrats in remote offices, where "everything makes sense".

The Greyhound ticket to Baton Rouge is about $15. Many people with admittedly small discretionary income used it for Popeye's chicken and Budweiser, rather than saving their lives. There's no government that can protect people who are not willing to protect themselves.

Jadagul|9.2.05 @ 5:05PM|#

To everyone who asks where the state and local governments are, I'll say it again: Louisian politicians are incompetent, corrupt morons. We really need to import bureaucrats from the Congo or someplace so we can get honest, polite, and competent administrators.

And Ron: I'm sure a lot of people who stayed behind were poor. But plenty of people just didn't want to leave. Dad wanted to stay until late Saturday night (fortunately, Mom had decided to leave a bit earlier than that so they were already packed). And both Dad's secretary and one of his cousins decided to tough it out in the city, as did a friend's parents and some other people I know. All of them could easily have afforded to leave, but they didn't want to and didn't think it would be that bad (probably because the last four times we were told to evacuate, the hurricane veered off at the last moment, and everyone who left looked really dumb).

Jadagul|9.2.05 @ 5:07PM|#

I guess, having said that, I should add that we've heard from all of them and they're all okay (if not necessarily thrilled) and out of the city. But I think they didn't leave until after the levee broke.

|9.2.05 @ 5:33PM|#

"There goes President Bush with the Bush-bashing again. I hate those damn Bush-haters, especially President Bush."

Yes, Bush's Bush hatred is downright pathological.

Perhaps Bush should arrange some sessions with Dr. Krauthammer to treat his Bush Derangenment Syndrome. He seems to be the authority at diagnosing it.

|9.2.05 @ 5:35PM|#

Providing emergency management services for a disaster of this scale is far, far beyond the capabilities of even the most capable local government, even when its facilities and equipment aren't smashed and underwater.

The blame shifting and fantasy-land finger pointing in Flyover Country is pathetic to behold.

|9.2.05 @ 6:14PM|#

I am disturbed by the backslapping between the pols

Not to take away from feeling disturbed, but would it be better if they were having fistfights? Part of the job of keeping order is making a presentation of order, comfort, and cooperation.

|9.2.05 @ 6:57PM|#

sage at September 01:11
So will Bush hold anyone accountable for the mediocre response? Has he held anyone accountable for anything? Ever?

Medals all around!

Mr. Nice Guy at 03:18 PM
...when things finally quiet down (many, many months from now), there is going to be a blood-purge at FEMA. And I'm not talking about upper management, but the rank and file.

I don't recall seeing many out of work cops or spooks after 9/11. One could point at the creation of the Dept. of Homeland Security as an opportunity to hand out promotions. Why will this be different?

|9.2.05 @ 7:59PM|#

I am on board with the "why aren't the governor and the mayor, and all recent governors and mayors, under arrest for dereliction of duty.

Nothing spells "dereliction of duty" quite like
l-e-v-e-e.

Think about the history of the levee system along the Mississippi. The first levees were built 300 years ago. As soon as it became obvious that simply building a levee to protect your plot of land didn't do much good, the next thing the settlers did was establish taxing bodies (and police forces to collect those taxes) to get other people who didn't live on those pieces of property to pay for higher, longer levees to be built. The same phony rationalizations were used then as corporate welfare queens use today, there's nothing new under the sun. People build levees for themselves and after having invested so much time and money in their folly, they become derelict in their duty to maintain their own levees and establish governments to do it for them.

Freedom is levees. Or something like that.

|9.2.05 @ 8:17PM|#

Dynamist: Actually, I've been paying a lot closer attention to things in New Orleans than you apparently have, for quite some time. I'm curious how many Greyhound buses it would take to remove 100,000 people?

|9.2.05 @ 8:48PM|#

Ron: Oooh, an authority pissing contest. How helpful. You still can't get your mind around the fact that the people didn't want to get on however many buses were there. It ain't rational, but if you've been anywhere off the beaten path in the city, you got to know that's how it goes.

|9.2.05 @ 9:10PM|#

Jesus! I caught bits and pieces of the NBC musical special tonight. Mike Meyers and some other guy (a rapper?) were speaking on relief efforts when the, ah, other guy departed from the cue cards and started rambling on with a lot of race-baiting bullshit, making a total ass of himself (on the upside, it was fun to watch Mike Meyers squirm). Who was that asshole, anyway?

|9.2.05 @ 9:21PM|#

Dynamist: Let's back up a minute. You made an unsupported assertion that all of the people who remained in New Orleans during the hurricane could have left, but chose not to do so. You have refused to advance the discussion beyond simple gainsaying. I'm bored.

Phil|9.2.05 @ 11:55PM|#

Jim, it was Kanye West. Video here, for those who didn't see it live, because sure as shit NBC dropped it from the West Coast feed.

|9.3.05 @ 12:00AM|#

Open Letter To Kanye West

Friday night on NBC you succeeded in doing two things: you made a complete fool of yourself, and made a total mockery of the relief effort.

Congratulations, asshole.


(Thanks Phil)

|9.3.05 @ 6:34PM|#

That's what we pay for every April. The maintenance of public order. And they can't even fucking do that much.

Actually, maintaining order is the job of local governments, not the federal government.