Victims less angry than Bush-haters

[Tigermike 3,053]

Victims less angry than Bush-haters

Monday, September 19, 2005

By Ruth Ann Dailey

Instead of "he said, she said," today's column concerns "They said, you said, I said."

"They" are the hardy souls rounded up by ABC News to listen to President Bush's speech to the nation Thursday night. I happened to tape the event and was so astonished by it that I made a transcript. What they said illuminates what you said in response to what I said -- or what you think I said -- last Monday.

Reporter Dean Reynolds found a dozen people -- all African-Americans -- who'd been evacuated from the flooded streets of New Orleans, sat with them outside the Houston Astrodome and interviewed them as soon as the president's speech ended.

Reynolds' first question was to a woman named Connie London: "You heard the president say you are not alone . . . Do you believe him?"

"Yes," she said, "because here in Texas they've been truly good to us."

"Did you harbor any anger toward the president because of the slow federal response?"

"No, none whatsoever," London replied, "because I feel our city and state government should have been there before the federal government was called in. They should have been on their jobs."

"And they weren't?" Reynolds asked.

"No, no, no, no, Lord, they weren't," she stated. "They had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses that were just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people."

Reynolds asked a woman named Mary if she gleaned hope from the president's words.

"Yes," she replied.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I really believe what he said."

He turned to Brenda Marshall and asked, "What did you think of what the president said tonight?"

"I think the speech was wonderful."

"Was there anything you found hard to believe? You know, that's nice rhetoric but the proof is in the pudding?"

"No, I didn't," she answered, with an apologetic shrug.

"Well....good," Reynolds fumbled. "Very little skepticism here."

After nearly ten minutes of similar good will, I half expected Reynolds to turn to the camera and wail, "Can we get some new people here?" But he kept fishing. "Cecilia," he said to another woman, "did you think the president was sincere here tonight?"

"Yes, he was," she said.

"Do you think this was a little too late?" Finally he got a bite when she repeated his words without passion: "To me, it was too late."

Reynolds turned back to Connie and asked, "Do you blame anybody for this?"

"Hell, yes!" she exclaimed. "They've been allocated federal funds to fix the levee system, and it never got done. I fault the mayor of this city, I really do."

At that point, Reynolds thanked them for their time, and Ted Koppel remarked, "If the national response is reflected by that small group of people, then the president has made some major progress tonight."

Or maybe the group's responses indicated that the president had less progress to make than the questions assumed he did. The ABC broadcast put in stark contrast the attitude of the black and lower-income flood victims and that of the privileged white men conducting the show. The survivors were calm, careful about where they directed what little anger they expressed and smilingly apologetic that they weren't giving the TV guys the roiling passions and bitter recriminations so clearly expected of them.

That passion and bitterness came in my e-mail last week -- along with thoughtfulness, respectful disagreement and heartfelt gratitude. To oversimplify and separate the responses to my last column into "pro" and "con," your reactions (more than 150 letters) were pretty evenly divided, despite the column's circulation among anti-Bush bloggers and the attendant outpouring of bile.

I argued last week that we should strive for a sober assessment of responsibility post-Katrina; I did not say none should be laid at Bush's feet. I said our society is increasingly polarized between two opposing world views; I did not say that everyone subscribes to one of them.

I distinguished between reasoned criticism and vitriol. Judging from my mail -- "Goebbels," "you are evil," etc. -- some people can't, or don't want to. I proposed the kindest explanation I could think of -- unresolved grief -- for the excessive rage all around us; I didn't say it was the only explanation.

People who had far more reason than most of us last week to express indiscriminate outrage and vengefulness did not -- even when repeatedly invited to on national television. There's a lesson there for all of us.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05262/573959.stm

[DKW 86 7,440]

Give Clinton HIS due on this. Money to fix the levees was allocated in 1993-94 from what I hear. It went to infrastructure improvement for casinos instead.

[SouthLink02 8]

You think that is bad?

Get this

New Orleans/Jefferson Parish both installed new water pumps 2 years ago in order to increase the flow "in times of flooding and hurricanes"

Great, right?

One problem....the pumps are electricity operated....now.....let me ask you this...in times of flooding and hurricanes...do you think THERE IS FREAKIN POWER???? NO!!!

Oh, and I know some will ask about generators.....the generators needed to keep these pumps up for a consistent time are insane and not bought by the city...but hey, who needs them anyway? Let's just pray the power is just magically on

[AURaptor 1,126]

New Orleans/Jefferson Parish both installed new water pumps 2 years ago in order to increase the flow "in times of flooding and hurricanes"

Great, right?

One problem....the pumps are electricity operated....now.....let me ask you this...in times of flooding and hurricanes...do you think THERE IS FREAKIN POWER???? NO!!!

Oh, and I know some will ask about generators.....the generators needed to keep these pumps up for a consistent time are insane and not bought by the city...but hey, who needs them anyway? Let's just pray the power is just magically on

This falls under the heading ' Not my job, man. ' , where the narrow, short sighted vision of those in charge on the local level only think 1 step at a time. Need a pump? Get a pump. Problem solved, right ? WRONG.

[SouthLink02 8]

Raptor, please don't explain simple things like that to the head of the city. It is just too simple and makes too much sense.

Mayor Nagin is a good guy and his act at first was noble, imo, but now it is getting on my nerves. He seems to be giving off this vibe that nothing was his fault and it annoys me.

[WarTim 3,457]

Come on slink. You have proven yourself to be an intelligent dawg.

Don't you know that this is ALL the Presidents fault? After all , he hates black people.

Now, if we could just figure out how exactly he controlled the path of the storm.

That man must be much smarter than the libs give him credit for.

[Tigermike 3,053]

[TexasTiger 13,016]

182887[/snapback]

The Republican blame game: Say "I'm not going to play the blame game" and then play it to the hilt. It's a Repub twofer-- dishonesty and hypocrisy all rolled into one! Bonus!

[chuck 0]

Its the liberal "if what all the conservatives say makes complete sense and further proves the actual moronic behavior of my party - I'll just change the subject" game . . .

[Tiger in Spain 0]

If we could have had the mayor and governor respond as quickly to the New Orleans disaster as the liberal race baiters and finger pointers did, only about a drinking glass full of water would have breeched the levee.

Too bad the libs can't bring their armchair quarterbacking skills to a more timely use.

[Tigermike 3,053]

182887[/snapback]

The Republican blame game: Say "I'm not going to play the blame game" and then play it to the hilt. It's a Repub twofer-- dishonesty and hypocrisy all rolled into one! Bonus!

182901[/snapback]

What is it about the truth that turns on the democrat attack machine and turns up the volume to a shrill level.

[DKW 86 7,440]

Now Tex, I said Clinton provided the money for the levee improvements. He just didnt do the oversight to insure that the most corrupt local govt in the us actually did the work.

[Piglet 0]

If we could have had the mayor and governor respond as quickly to the New Orleans disaster as the liberal race baiters and finger pointers did, only about a drinking glass full of water would have breeched the levee.

182908[/snapback]

Yes, and if ANY of the Fed, State and local politicians had put as much energy into disaster damage control as they're now putting into political spin control, no one would have died.

[Tigermike 3,053]

If we could have had the mayor and governor respond as quickly to the New Orleans disaster as the liberal race baiters and finger pointers did, only about a drinking glass full of water would have breeched the levee.

182908[/snapback]

Yes, and if ANY of the Fed, State and local politicians had put as much energy into disaster damage control as they're now putting into political spin control, no one would have died.

182959[/snapback]

How exactly could politicans prevent deaths in a natural diaster?

[WarTim 3,457]

With all of the liberal cryin' and moaning that has taken place, why are there sill problems in NO? After all, libs need only to state their concern and it fixes everything...right? :huh:

[TexasTiger 13,016]

182887[/snapback]

The Republican blame game: Say "I'm not going to play the blame game" and then play it to the hilt. It's a Repub twofer-- dishonesty and hypocrisy all rolled into one! Bonus!

182901[/snapback]

What is it about the truth that turns on the democrat attack machine and turns up the volume to a shrill level.

182924[/snapback]

What is it about those who think it is wrong to call for accountability for the decisions made by those actually in power, but love harkening back to their old punching bag to point the finger?

[TexasTiger 13,016]

Now Tex, I said Clinton provided the money for the levee improvements. He just didnt do the oversight to insure that the most corrupt local govt in the us actually did the work.

182929[/snapback]

You didn't provide a link, but I think it is the duty of the Army Corps of Engineers to improve the levees so I doubt the locals would have been given the money for that. Perhaps it was for something else disaster/evacuation related.

[DKW 86 7,440]

With all of the liberal cryin' and moaning that has taken place, why are there sill problems in NO? After all, libs need only to state their concern and it fixes everything...right? :huh:

182997[/snapback]

Touche' WarTim, Touche'

After all, "feeling your pain" means I care about you, and am therefore above any blame and more importantly better than you too. "Feeling your pain" fixes all problems without actually having to DO anything.

Get with the program.