“or starting an offensive every time the poll numbers go down ”
This is pretty low, Jack. Even for you. Offensives(or focused insurgent hunts) of one kind or another have been ongoing in Iraq. Because this one is getting shitloads of attention because it’s an ‘air assault’ it’s mecahnations by Bushco for good press? Even the reporting on NPR doesn’t back you up on this one. David Gregory may ask the question, but it’s disproved with even a modicum of research.
All else is within bounds, but this one is complete and utter bullshit.

By ry on 03.19.06 03:31

Excuse me, but I “strongly disagree”.

Did you cry foul every time the Republicans and right-wing “questioned the timing” every time there was a scheduled air-strike in Yugoslavia or Afghanistan or Iraq during the Clinton administration?

Think carefully before you call bullshit on me.

Thing carefully about the stage management that this administration practices before you call bullshit on me, given the “Mission Accomplished” banner after our flight-suited President chose to land on an aircraft carrier aboard a military jet.

Think carefully.

The announcement of such a small-scale action as “the largest air assault since the end of major combat” was remarkable in timing, and unless you spoke up about “questioning the timing” when military action occurred during the Clinton Presidency, then you are revealing how movable the “bounds” are.

By Jack Grant on 03.19.06 03:43

A strategy right up there with being briefed in no uncertain terms the slow motion horror of Katrina approaching New Orleans, asking no questions, not cutting short yet another vacation, and then leaving to go to a fund-raiser where the President plays guitar while New Orleans floods.

Jack, the facts are that President Bush did everything in his power before Hurricane Katrina hit. He declared the states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana disaster areas the Friday before Katrina hit. It was up to the governors of each state to ask for federal help such as National Guard troops, etc. The Mississippi and Alabama governors had their plans in place.

President Bush was on the news urging people to evacuate more so than the officials in Louisiana.

President Bush in his speeches before Katrina hit were clearly marked by the grave concern that Katrina posed to the people of New Orleans, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the Alabama Gulf Coast. What is lost in the politics of Katrina is the massive evacuation that was done before Katrina hit, the unprecedented response of FEMA, the Coast Guard, the Air and Army National Guard, the US Navy, and others.

The devastation was and still is unbelievable. I didn’t think FEMA would be able to reach the Mississippi Gulf Coast due the condition of the roads. Roads that were criss-crossed by fallen trees and power lines. Every single road into the Mississippi Gulf Coast was was obstructed in some way, including Interstate 10. Interstate 10 had debris from the storm surge that followed the rivers ten miles inland.

I live down here and lived through Katrina and it’s aftermath. FEMA arrived 3 days after Katrina hit with much needed water and ice.

No one, I report no one predicted that the levees would be breached. There were grave concerns that the levees would be overtopped. There is a big difference between over-topped and breached.

By seawitch on 03.19.06 14:57

Unfortunately, I’m about to leave for Memphis to finish up the affairs of my father’s estate, so I don’t have time at this moment to address every point you raise, but I absolutely must address your statement, “No one, I report no one predicted that the levees would be breached. There were grave concerns that the levees would be overtopped. There is a big difference between over-topped and breached.”

I take it you either haven’t seen, have forgotten, or (I hope not) are completely ignoring the Scientific American article from 2001 that I’ve linked to repeatedly that used a computer model to show almost exactly what would happen if a storm the strength of Katrina hit near New Orleans.

You can say many things, but you can NOT say that the flooding was not foreseen. The “debate” between over-topped and breached is irrelevant. The flooding WAS PREDICTED with great accuracy and it did not depend on a chimerical difference between over-topping and breaching of levees. When the flood control barriers fail, the water doesn’t give a damn how they fail, it just takes advantage and wreaks havoc.

I suggest you read the article if you have not before. Here is where I have linked to it:

http://www.randomfate.net/MT/2005/09/02/this-disaster-could-not-be-anticipated-or-predicted/

http://www.randomfate.net/MT/2005/09/03/accountability/

And here is the link to the article itself:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?SID=mail&articleID=00060286-CB58-1315-8B5883414B7F0000&chanID=sa006

As I said, it was indeed predicted, and the folks at FEMA knew, and the President WAS briefed. Regardless of how “effective” he can be on the road, the President should have returned to the White House. Leadership is not about being “effective” (a word that scarcely applies to this group of incompetents) it is about appearances and emotions just as much, and playing guitar while New Orleans floods is NOT leadership, and I repeat, it WAS predicted and WAS known.

By Jack Grant on 03.19.06 16:28

Jack,

Unfortunately I was still without power when your posts had the link to the Scientific American article. I had read other articles through the years about New Orleans and south Louisiana’s situation in case of a major hurricane.

Sometimes I do not choose words with care when I’m angry. And you are correct in pointing out that numerous studies had been done if a major hurricane were to hit New Orleans directly.

I would like to read all of the article but the link only shows the first paragraphs.

By seawitch on 03.19.06 17:55

Stumbled onto your page, and while I admire your veracity for looking at the world through fresh eyes, your refreshing perspective seems to crash ashore at the beach of politics.
What I find sadly missing from nearly all politico bloggers is the total lack of constructive criticism.
It’s incredibly easy, not to menton intellectually lazy, to ferret out supporting documentation for opposing positions after the fact (i.e. Katrina-failing levees). Fact is, it doesn’t change the past nor positively alter current reality in the least. Until Jean Dixon is elected president, we’ll always have to live with a government that post-reacts to events. It’s simply too large and cumbersome to preemptively act.
Secondly, I regret tht the new media technologies have nearly eliminated any chance for objective journalism (conceding that there is no such thing as purely objective view of anything). In a Drudge world, most reportage is reduced to incitement of a partisan political reaction. Maybe all we’re doing is turning into old men sitting on the porch bitching about how the world has gone to hell in a handbasket.
Please, no more political noise. Let’s all drop our gloves and be part of a constructive solution, not part of a problem.

By Mike Hotovy on 03.23.06 03:06