It did not take long for Republican political spinmeisters and their screeching echo chambers to implement the time-honored Republican trait of blaming the victim for their own godawful predicament. In this case, it's the pitiful Bush Administration response to Hurricane Katrina, and of course it's everybody's fault but theirs.First, we were treated to right-wing Republican sneering because all ?those people? (on the roof tops, in the water, dying in the sports arena, most of whom were non-Caucasian) didn?t get their dumb asses out of town when told to evacuate, so it?s all their own fault.
Second, faced with an almost universal outcry pointing out, correctly, that the Bush administration and Republican Congresses had repeatedly gutted budgets of first responders and of institutions charged with flood control and environmental protection, and that the dysfuncational Department of Homeland Security was a Republican construct, the Bush Republicans loudly began proclaiming that disaster response was a ?local? responsibility. That's right, it was the Democratic officials of Louisiana who flunked their responsibility -- never, ever George W. Bush. And never, ever, any of the pathetic political hacks whom Bush has crammed into one government office after another, especially FEMA. Incredibly, Bush even praised the damn fool incompetent head of FEMA, Michael Brown. Meanwhile, Condi Rice, Secretary of Shoe Buying ? er, of State (isn't that supposed to be in charge of FOREIGN relations?) - promised folks that help was on the way.
Now, why on earth did Bushies trot out Condi Rice, whose supposed area of expertise is far removed from flood disaster (unless it?s in Bangladesh or Haiti, of course)? Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that "those people? pictured endlessly on television overwhelmingly appeared not to be Caucasian. And, coincidentally, neither is Condi. In the cynical political calculus of Bush-Rove, no doubt, this was a match made in public relations purposes. Of course, one can't help but notice how this was not about working on a solution to THE PROBLEM but only on changing public perceptions. Ah, the Republican way.
Fortunately, there are signs that maybe, just maybe, "we, the People" are beginning to see through the right wing's craven and heavy-handed tactics: endlessly blaming victims, politicizing the issue, assassinating the character of opponents, and rewarding incompetence in their own ranks. Since Republicans are so fond of anecdotal evidence (Reagan and his Welfare Queens, George HW Bush and Willie Horton, Dubya and his Weapons of Mass Destruction), I?d like to offer a personal anecdote of my own.
Today, I hired a taxicab (that's another story), and the driver, a huge black man, had NPR radio playing in his cab. When news about Hurricane Katrina came on, I said something about "how many thousands did he think had died." This prompted the driver to start in on Bush and the "government." Among other things, he directly linked the horror in New Orleans with the war in Iraq, and specifically cited the billions of dollars and thousands of National Guard troops we've poured into Iraq -- money and troops that should have stayed at home to help people right here in the USA. The driver also growled about how Americans who work hard for a living are being ignored and mistreated by the Bush Administration. And, he added, seeing what happened in New Orleans the past week proved to him that the government had ?forgot about God.? Now, this man was obviously not highly educated, certainly didn't go to elite prep schools and the Ivy League like our President, but boy, did he get it!
In response, I told him, "Just remember that this November, we have to kick every Republican out of office." "Yes," he muttered in disgust. As I exited the cab, I wondered, was this an isolated incident, or are a whole lot of working class people out there starting to "get it" about these Republicans?