The Political Chase

Who’s Playing Blame Game Now?

For a month, the Bush administration has been rebuking their critics for playing the blame game, but it seems to be a convenient tool for them to use when it serves their purpose.

FEMA is still trying to pass the buck for Katrina’s problems to the size of the hurricane. 

 Hurricane Katrina "was so much more massive. Most people still don’t understand that," said Michael Lowder, deputy director of response operations at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington. [Emphasis added.]

Yes, the circumstances were different with Katrina than with Rita, to a degree. FEMA’s state of readiness for Rita is attributable solely to the criticism George Bush, Chertoff, and Michael Brown received for mass manslaughter. The residents of the Rita effected areas had the fear of God instilled in them after watching the death and destruction of Katrina.  They evacuated.  Period.

 Moreover, if there had not been a fire storm of immense proportions after Katrina, the federal government would not have done anything different and surely the president would not have demoted himself to FEMA director, which is his  rasion d’etre now.  Bush is hyperfocused on hurricane matters, while Karl Rove, Bush’s designee for recovery, flies around the country delivering speeches and attending fundraisers. The president seems to not be able to even realize when the tail is wagging the dog.

Who do these guys think they’re fooling?  This is not the 2004 campaign, where if something is repeated enough, then the majority of Americans begin to believe it.  Bush, Rove, inter alia, did a great job of unjustifiably smearing John Kerry in 2004; they started trying to do the same with Louisiana state and local offiicials, but it did not stick.  Too many people saw for themselves the hard cold facts a month ago. 

There is no BS’ing out of this guys - quit whining about the size of the storm.

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