Dnc Using Katrina For Political Gain

[USAir757]

Howard Dean on Katrina

So many people should be ashamed of themselves. I can't remember a time when I so badly have wanted to reach through the television and strangle somebody. Except here. Howard Dean, the idiot of the century, on live television, right before my eyes, trying desperately to use the Katrina disaster to gain political ground. How can you be so low? How can you truly believe that the race and background of the Americans struggling in our country, played a part in this catastrophe? Is God a racist for sending Katrina to New Orleans? Is he biased to more fortunate people who would have had the means, or the smarts to evacuate? The democrats who support Mr. Dean should be ashamed of him, and of themselves. Here we are, bodies are being pulled from the ground by the dozens. They are still warm with blood. And Howard Dean is on the tv, taking cheap shots while we are struggling with this disaster. Are we to believe that had John Kerry been elected, he would have been able to magically rally an immediate federal response?

Those of you who sincerely believe that the response to the Americans in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama who have struggled through so much, was stalled by racial, economical, or any other kind of bias, you should be ashamed of yourselves. And if for some crazy reason I am wrong, and you are right... well then, I'd just as soon resign and surrender the entire idea of being an American. Because if that's the case, then we as a united nation, do not stand a chance in this world.

Respectfully,

USAir757
A Very Concerned American

 

[sentrido]

"We have to come to terms with the ugly truth that skin color, age and economics played a significant role in who survived and who did not," he said. "And this question, 40 and 50 years after Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] and the civil rights movement, is, 'How could this still be happening in America?' "

So are you trying to say the race and economics have played no part in the history of the United States? Are you in denial of our history? Im sorry, but I dont see what is so offensive by this statement. Where is the political "cheap shot"?

 

[USAir757]

Sure I agree that they played a part in our history. But does EVERYTHING need to be political? Any time I see Howard Dean on the television, he’s bashing the republicans, making an idiot of himself, etc. Ok, sure… he is the chairman of the party, and that is his job. I’ll give you that. But there is no excuse to use this hurricane for political gain. Simply no excuse. And I’m sure someone is ready to bombard me with a dozen instances where the republican side has done something similar. And you know what, I didn’t like it then either. It’s just not the time to be concentrating on political agendas. It’s time to figure out what we’re going to do about this problem, and how we’re going to ensure it will never happen again. Save the political crap for the next election. These were American people in this disaster, and as you can see, from the amount of money and support other Americans AND the international community have given to this cause, most people want to help.

There were problems with our system. It’s not a partisan thing. Let’s not make it one.

 

[The Drunken Duck]

Im sorry, but I dont see what is so offensive by this statement. Where is the political "cheap shot"?

[post="297903"][/post]​

Sentrido, surely you jest? I suppose that the offensive part is the inference that race was a factor in the perceived "slow" response to the Hurricane. Or do you think Dean was saying that race did have a factor in that people who stayed behind exhibited poor decision-making skills because of their race/ethnicity? I would find that offensive.

 

[sentrido]

I think he said:
""We have to come to terms with the ugly truth that skin color, age and economics played a significant role in who survived and who did not," he said. "And this question, 40 and 50 years after Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] and the civil rights movement, is, 'How could this still be happening in America?' ""

BTW, A LOT of Democrats and Repulicans have been in power during the "40 and 50 years after Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] and the civil rights movement". If he had said something like "the 4 or 5 years since Clinton was in power..." I could see your point.

dont put words into somebodies mouth. Your suggestions about what he might have meant are overly simplistic, and short sighted. And the implication that your suggestions are the only possibbe meanings is crafty in a debate team sort of way, but really lame in realm of an adult discussion. I am now beginning to understand your lack of desire to "educate" me, somebody obviousely showed that same sentimate towards you.

If you guys dont like dean or something he said, im not surprised, he can say some pretty un PC things, but nothing he said here seems crazy or offensive to me.

 

[diogenes]

I don't think anybody decided, let the black folk drown.

There is no question poverty is disproportionately black. There is no question racism has a hand in that.

Even if racism magically disappeared 20 years ago (it didn't), the 30 and 40 year olds are still at a disadvantage due to the lack of opportunities in their formative years.

What we've seen on TV in the aftermath of Katrina - the lack of resources to live in a better place to start with, or have the resources to move - is the results of poverty, not race. Again, keeping in mind that poverty is disproportionately black.


If racism is over, let me ask you this. If you are white, would you trade places with a black person?

As Chris Rock noted, "Hell no, you wouldn't trade places with me, and I'M RICH!"

Exactly.

 

[diogenes]

Sure I agree that they played a part in our history. But does EVERYTHING need to be political? Any time I see Howard Dean on the television, he’s bashing the republicans, making an idiot of himself, etc. Ok, sure… he is the chairman of the party, and that is his job. I’ll give you that. But there is no excuse to use this hurricane for political gain. Simply no excuse. And I’m sure someone is ready to bombard me with a dozen instances where the republican side has done something similar. And you know what, I didn’t like it then either. It’s just not the time to be concentrating on political agendas. It’s time to figure out what we’re going to do about this problem, and how we’re going to ensure it will never happen again. Save the political crap for the next election. These were American people in this disaster, and as you can see, from the amount of money and support other Americans AND the international community have given to this cause, most people want to help.

There were problems with our system. It’s not a partisan thing. Let’s not make it one.

[post="297908"][/post]​

I wish everything weren't political, too. But these days, it is.

Did not Bush politicize 9/11 and make it part of his re-election strategy?

Here's Cheney saying we'll get hit again if we elect Kerry

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...7-2004Sep7.html

Here is what some on the right are saying. I got this off the Alternet.org site:

"The National Review's Kate O'Beirne wrote that the contrast between Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and Mississippi's Haley Barbour should leave Hillary Clinton supporters "dismayed at the latest example of why voters might be leery of women chief executives."

Further on the fringe, blogger Michael Calderon at David Horowitz's Frontpage Magazine saw in Katrina the potential for a civil war following a major terror attack in the U.S. and envisioned a Hobbesian war of all against all, predicting -- with just a bit too much enthusiasm -- this apocalyptic scenario:

Expect heavily armed and infuriated conservatives to launch a cleansing war against the traitors. The armed will mow down the mostly unarmed segments, especially those elements that devoted 40-plus years to anti-American hatred to destroy this country. Should the likes of Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Michael Moore, Ward Churchill, Dennis Raimondo [sic], et al. act out their sedition ... expect their bodies to be found shot full of holes ... Leftist professors will be strung up. It will be every man, woman, and child for themselves.

And, also predictably, other nutters saw the storm as part of God's wrath for New Orleans' sinful ways (ignoring that some of the staunchest Bible-belt counties in the South were also devastated)."

USAir757, this probably doesn't apply to you, but many on the right act as if it is good when they politicize something, and bad when the left does, wouldn't you agree?

FWIW, Hilary said way back in the day, "everything is politicial."

I think that is disgusting.

So I have no problem calling ANYBODY, right or left, on their BS.

 

[sentrido]

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/nager.mp3 <_< :down:

 

[diogenes]

http://alternet.org/story/25227/

 

[diogenes]

USAir757,

Some more enlightenment from the right.

Limbaugh

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509060008

Delay

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/DeLay_to_eva..._of_f_0909.html

Limbaugh, again (play the MP3 and hear how he pronounces the mayor's name)

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/09.html#a4871

and the congressman from Baton Rouge, Richard Baker

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/9/9/101754/8123

And I understand the only votes against Katrina relief in the House was 11 GOP'ers.


Ahhh, at least someone got some stress off their chest to Cheney!

 

[USAir757]

Good links.

As they say, these types of things really do bring out the best, and certainly the worst in people. But the point is, there is a time and place for politics. If down the road after we've had some time to recover from this, and people want to begin using Katrina as part of their election strategies, etc.... then by all means. I'm not saying that we should ignore it and keep it out of the political arena indefinitely, and I'm definitely not suggesting that racism is a thing of the past in our country. I'm just disappointed in the people who are chosing not to handle this situation as prudent Americans. And the mere suggestion that our governmental response to helping the gulf coast was delayed or hindered, simply because the majority of those affected were non-white or impoverished, still makes my blood boil. Because that's not what we're about.

 

[diogenes]

Concur.

I'm for solving the situation now, and gathering the information to hold the right folks, local, state and federal accountable in due time.

Based on the info so far, Nagin, Blanco, Brown and Chertoff got some 'splainin' to do.

Plus, I'd like to know who knew about the levees, when they knew it, who's responsible, and what happened budget-wise on the issue.

As the survivor of several hurricanes, and with another bearing down on us, I can tell you this is serious stuff.

 

[markkus757]

If we want to fix the situation, we, as a society, need to empower people to better themselves and take ownership for their lives, not pay for them to stay on the sidelines. Poverty is not a racial issue. While I have not researched this myself, I have heard from sources I deem reliable that poverty NATIONWIDE is proportional to the ethnic breakdown in this country. I will admit that most people in urban centers of this country would suffer more due to where they are located, but my worry with this situation is the people who can afford to rebuild will and the others that are displaced will not get an opportunity to go back to what little they had prior to the devastation. Why not take this opportunity to give them something better in life instead of a welfare check?

 

[diogenes]

I certainly subscribe to color-blind solutions to poverty.

That way, poverty is addressed, and whatever underlying aspects of racism are addressed as well.

And I think solutions should encompass an equity of opportunity, not equal results.

A practical idea.

Let all K-12 funding come from general revenues, as opposed to local property taxes.

Many rural counties in my area do not have urban centers or a business base, and cannot reasonably request tax increases of folks already paying some of the highest property tax rates in the state. They are falling behind in education. Classes are being held in trailers. Not to add the mandatory English as a Second Language classes for illegal immigrants.

Money is not the only solution, but it is a big part.

 

[hp_fa]

Until people realize that their vote means more then all the corporate donations in the world, things will not improve.