IF! IF! IF!

Politicicing Katrina: As Loathsome as it Gets

While I agree fully with Daley's sentiments, I'm confident the Loathsome Scale hasn't reached anywhere near its peak readings yet - I fully expect the tradition established at Paul Wellstone's memorial service to be the Democrats' driving force in the coming months. The Republicans couldn't have asked for a better gift.

Great, great job, Democrats, and PLEASE, PLEASE keep it up.

Politicicing Katrina: As Loathsome as it Gets

While I agree fully with Daley's sentiments, I'm confident the Loathsome Scale hasn't reached anywhere near its peak readings yet - I fully expect the tradition established at Paul Wellstone's memorial service to be the Democrats' driving force in the coming months. The Republicans couldn't have asked for a better gift.

Great, great job, Democrats, and PLEASE, PLEASE keep it up.

It would be good for the nation if the democrats won't have anything to politic about. Facts are hard things to hide but they do speak better for themselves. A little delicacy goes a long way in times of crises.

If all you care is how the Republican party does in the next election, then that tells us a lot about your character.

Perhaps you should read the definition of a chauvinist and see if the shoe fits.

Chauvinism is extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group. The term is derived from Nicolas Chauvin, a soldier under Napoleon Bonaparte, due to his fanatical zeal for his Emperor.

MALVEAUX: Let me ask you this: There are some people at the New Orleans Convention Center who say that they have been living like animals -- no food, no water, no power. And they are the ones who are saying: Where are the buses? Where are the planes? Why did it take three days to see a real federal response here? Mr. Bush, you, whether it's fair or not, had gone through some administration criticism about your handling of Hurricane Andrew.

G.H.W. BUSH: I sure did.

MALVEAUX: Do you believe that this is legitimate?

G.H.W. BUSH: Yes, I do. What happened? We all sighed with -- not legitimate. I believe that they ought not to be as upset, but I can understand why they are. We thought, a lot of people thought, that when the hurricane went to the right a little bit, New Orleans was going to be spared. And it was only the next day that, you know, there were these horrible problems with the levee. But, look, if I were sitting there with no shower, no ability to use bathroom facilities, worried about my family, not knowing where they were, I'd blame anybody and so you have to expect that.

MALVEAUX: But do you think this administration responded quickly enough?

G.H.W. BUSH: Of course I do.

CLINTON: Let me answer this. The people in the Superdome are in a special position. And let me say, I've been going to New Orleans for over 50 years. There's no place on earth I love more. They went into the Superdome, not because of the flooding, but because we thought the hurricane was going to hit New Orleans smack dab and they'd be safe in there if they didn't leave town.

What happened was, when the levee broke and the town flooded, what did it do? It knocked out the electricity and it knocked out the sewage. They're living in hellacious conditions. They would be better off under a tree than being stuck there. You can't even breathe in that place now.

So I understand why they're so anxiety-ridden. But they have to understand, by the time it became obvious that they were in the fix they were in, there were a lot of other problems, too. There were people -- they were worried about people drowning that had to be taken off roofs.

MALVEAUX: So you two believe that the federal response was fast enough?

CLINTON: All I'm saying is what I know the facts are today. There are hundreds of buses now engaged in the act of taking people from New Orleans to the Astrodome in Houston. And you and I are not in a position to make any judgment because we weren't there.

All I'm saying is the way they got stuck there, I see why they feel the way they do. But the people that put them there did it because they thought they were saving their lives. And then when the problems showed up, they had a lot of other people to save. Now they've got hundreds of buses. We just need to get them out. I think they'll all be out by tomorrow. Didn't they say they would all be out by tomorrow morning?

G.H.W. BUSH: Yes.

MALVEAUX: OK. Well, thank you very much. I'm sorry. We've run out of time. Thank you.

G.H.W. BUSH: Let me -- I just to want finish. I believe the administration is doing the right thing, and I believe they have acted in a timely fashion. And I understand people being critical. That happens all the time. And I understand some people wanted to make, you know, a little difficulty by criticizing the president and the team. But I don't want to sit here and not defend the administration which, in my view, has taken all the right steps. And they're facing problems that nobody could foresee: breaking of the levees and the whole dome thing over in New Orleans coming apart. People couldn't foresee that.

CLINTON: Yes, I think that's important to point out. Because when you say that they should have done this, that or the other thing first, you can look at that problem in isolation, and you can say that.

But look at all the other things they had to deal with. I'm telling you, nobody thought this was going to happen like this. But what happened here is they escaped -- New Orleans escaped Katrina. But it brought all the water up the Mississippi River and all in the Pontchartrain, and then when it started running and that levee broke, they had problems they never could have foreseen.

And so I just think that we need to recognize right now there's a confident effort under way. People are doing the best they can. And I just don't think it's the time to worry about that. We need to keep people alive and get them back to life -- normal life.

One thing the obsessive Clinton haters have not seemed to understand is that I didn't vote for Clinton---twice.

However, if it was a choice between Clinton and Bush, I wouldn't hesitate to vote for Clinton to protect my country's future.

BBB

mysteryman wrote: " I do have one question for you though.
Its been 4 days now. What would John Kerry have done? How would he have fixed the dike,evacuated all the people,completely rebuilt New Orleans,and repaired everyones lives in 4 days?"

Bush made sure we will never know. Don't you wish you did?

BBB

Politicicing Katrina: As Loathsome as it Gets

While I agree fully with Daley's sentiments, I'm confident the Loathsome Scale hasn't reached anywhere near its peak readings yet - I fully expect the tradition established at Paul Wellstone's memorial service to be the Democrats' driving force in the coming months. The Republicans couldn't have asked for a better gift.

Great, great job, Democrats, and PLEASE, PLEASE keep it up.