[subego]

I don't really hang around in PolWar. I came in here about a week ago wanting blood over this whole Katrina thing.

I assumed (quite naïvely) I'd find a general consensus, even among the more reasonable supporters of the President, and we could bring out the torches and do the whole angry villager bit right up to the steps of the White House.

I was in for a surprise, wasn't I?

The last week has been reading and rereading threads, formulating arguments, doing research. Writing dozens of posts in my head ultimately to decide: screw it, I didn't have all the ammunition to to really stick it to them...

Yet.

I knew I needed the ammo because there were some well informed, reasonable people on the defense, and I was determined to build an irrefutable argument. Analysis ultimately drifted (for the umpteenth time) as to the why these well informed, reasonable people are defending this loathsome cretin. Sadly, my opinion of Bush supporters spans the shallow river between "Corporate Television Republic" and "Unwitting Dupestan". Despite this, I realized the disservice I'd be committing by thinking of the people giving me a remedial civics class as unwitting dupes. That's when it hit me...

Some people like the President, or at least think he isn't the worst President this country has ever had.

"Blisteringly obvious" would be a descriptor of the above statement, but hey, sometimes you don't see what's right in your face. It's obviously something I know, but not being around many people who hold that opinion, it's not something I think about every day. Or week. Or at all for that matter.

It kind of shook me up. Obviously none of my previous explanations as to the why of Bush's defenders were particularly pleasant. In fact, they fueled my desire to combat this monolithic defense mechanism I was perceiving. I realized I needed to rethink everything that had happened so far...

Uh-oh.

I'm sure I've made my opinion on the President clear by now, and I've held this opinion since long before Katrina. However I've always said, despite my feelings, I don't want him to fail. Certainly not like I had initially imagined he'd failed, with countless lives lost. This conceit on my part was the first casualty of my epiphany. I do genuinely believe I don't want him to fail, but since there had been a massive failure, I came in here wanting it to all be on him.

And I never looked back.

This had been the unconscious thrust of all my imaginary posts. I wanted to acknowledge the validity of the defenders arguments, and then dismiss them as irrelevant to the Real Issue™. This is 100% patently incorrect thinking and I can offer no defense or excuse, only an apology.

Continuing this train of thought leads directly to the shocking (at least to me) conclusion that, in fact, I have been pointing fingers for political gain this whole time. At least I would have had I shot my mouth off prematurely. For this I apologize as well. I can only offer as a defense the request to look at this through the eyes of someone with only one-tenth the hard-on I have for this guy.

The day after the flood I tell myself "Well, the guys in the jackboots will be there any minute, at least the jackboot thing is what Bush is supposed to be good at". Days pass. Shit gets really freaky. The news is laying this all (rather vociferously) at FEMA's (and hence Bush's) feet. Bush acts really freaky. I fall asleep at about 7 A.M. Friday morning hearing the report Bush plans to tour New Orleans, while I know most of those people are still trapped in the Convention Center.

I honestly wonder if he knows.

I had nightmares that night. Hell, as self-serving bullshit as it sounds, I can't stop crying thinking about it.

When it's all laid out there for you like that, basically at the feet of one (or a few) men, it becomes a disservice to the dead to not finger point. You might as well ask me not to "finger point" at Osama Bin Laden until the bodies are counted.

Despite the failures of reasoning on my part, I genuinely came here to contribute. Misguided though I was in how best to accomplish that, it was always the point. It's why I wanted to write this.

I had to get inside other people's heads to get here, so I guess I'm hoping seeing inside my head may help see a bit into someone else's.

[subego]

P.S. If we can all agree on anything, it's that we all like Millennium's hovercraft idea, right?

[loki74]

Interesting...

Although I would ask... what should the President have done? IIRC, he called and reccomended evacuation of the area, but the local officals did not listen. If Bush devised some way that he could force evacuation himself (I don't think by normal conventions he has the power to do this?) people would be all over him, saying he abused his power, and that those who wanted to stay ought to stay.

What you say is true, it is a disservice to the dead not to find out who is ultimately responsible. I will admit, I do support Bush, and genreally agree with him. However, in all honesty, I think that there is minimal, if any blame, to be laid upon him. If Kerry were in office and he had to handle the same thing, and my buddies here on the right were blaming him, you can bet that I would be right here, saying the same thing. In a situation like this, the responsibility falls primarily on the local officials. They knew that they had a category 5 storm approaching a levvy that could only handle a category 3. They should have forced evacuation, and I do not believe that is the President's responsibility.

[NYCFarmboy]

good post, I really enjoy reading your thoughts... thanks!

I just posted something similar on a different thread from a different perspective but I think we may be working towards the same goal: finding out what people think and why they think it.

the reason I posted my thread:
I've had it with those who can't stand Bush. I never liked Clinton, that didn't mean I could go around spitting on Clinton supporters as that is their right to support whoever they wanted.

It seems to me to boil down to tolerance versus intolerance. For whatever reason a fringe element's view has crept into the "mainstream" media that everyone feels towards Bush the same way... they are quite mistaken.

They don't or he would not have been re-elected. A lot of us really do actually like Bush.

I've had friends in NYC tell me that if bush was elected there would be trains coming to take them to concentration camps... both in 2000 and 2004. I've not seen those trains.

in the end if you cry wolf a thousand times eventually people don't listen to you anymore. it is why so many people now get their news from other sources other than the main stream media, just because the "mainstream" media has quite frankly lost thier minds.

I don't say that glibly. or with satisfation. I posted some thoughts on why this has happened, it has really saddened me to see otherwise sane people become so bizarre.

My own personal opinion: which you will disagree with, but please respect me and a majority of people in America: Bush is good guy. The more the left screaches that he's evil the more stupid they look.

This pointless hatred is just breathtaking, it has been so since 2000, and it continues to be so.

[smacintush]

Well, "like" may be a strong term. I don't "like" him. I agree with things he does and things he wants to do. I also disagree with some things he does and wish he would do things that he doesn't.

My thing is, there are a LOT of people like you who are waiting for something bad to happen so they can pin it on him or beat him over the head with it. With some people in the press and the opposing party it's almost pathological. It isn't based on rationality or objectivity. It's seething roiling hatred over a President who has had some of the toughest challenges a President has had in a loooong time.

That's why I defend him. I won't just let him get ripped to shreds by unthinking rabid attack dogs when (especially with Katrina) he doesn't really deserve it.

[Moderator]

Originally Posted by loki74

Interesting...

Although I would ask... what should the President have done?

He may have stopped his vacation, for starters. Ditto Cheney.