Clarification/Follow-up by excon on 10/06/05 10:37 am:
Hello again, experts:
Let me answer my own question: No, it is NOT good that a leader does that. Does the image of his head in the sand come up for you? It does me.
excon
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 10/06/05 10:52 am:
Ceebee walk a mile in his shoes first . I am in bed by that time for the same reasons .I wake up early . The charge of' out of touch' is a cheap shot that most pols. are charged with sooner or later . He is more down to earth than most of the beltway crowd ;and certainly more than the limo liberal Kerry .
Clarification/Follow-up by excon on 10/06/05 11:12 am:
Hello tom:
He IS more down to earth than the beltway crowd. Hell, I'd rather have a beer with him, than with Kerry anyday. Any guy that clears brush is cool with me. I think he's kinda like Itsb - a Texan you don't agree with all the time, but you can talk to him.
However, his downtoearthiness isn't the problem. Being out of touch, which he admits to being, IS the problem, to our detriment, I might add.
excon
Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 10/11/05 6:39 am:
Excon,
In response to your rating:
>>>Come on, El, even you don't believe him anymore: WMD's?<<<
Yes... WMDs, hidden in Syria and Iran. Incidentally, this would not be the first time Saddam hid weapons elsewhere. He hid the bulk of his airforce in Iran during the first Gulf War, which is why he was able to violate the no-fly zone so often during the 10 years leading up to the current war. Why is it so hard to believe that the WMDs exist and were hidden? We have photos of large convoys from Iraq to Syria. We found the makings for chem weapons in Iraq. We found small amounts of bio weapons materials. We have witnesses who SAW the WMDs. We have members of the old Iraqi military who are SURE that certain units had the stuff during the run-up to the war. The UN gave Saddam more than enough time to hide the stuff, what with all its dickering and time-wasting. Why is it so hard for you to believe that Saddam took advantage of the window of opportunity the UN, France and Russia gave him to do exactly that?
>>>NO escaped the brunt of the hurricane?<<<
It did. It wasn't the hurricane that hurt NO so bad. It was the levees breaking.
>>>No one imagined levee troubles,<<<
Actually, EVERYONE knew the levees were inadequate. The levees were built decades ago, and experts have been calling for them to be repaired for decades. Why is that Bush's fault?
>>>nd FEMA was on top of things?<<<
I don't know... I see that FEMA and local emergency responses were just fine in Mississippi and Alabama. Why was Louisiana different? Could it be that the LOCAL leadership wasn't up to the task in LA?
In New Orleans, I see a mayor who didn't evacuate the city according to the plan he approved. I see a mayor who didn't release school busses for evacuation duty. I see a governor who didn't even declare a state of emergency until two days after the disaster hit. (You do know that Federal authorities--- meaning the President and FEMA--- can't get involved until a state of emergency is declared, don't you?) I see a local police force that lost 1/3 of its members, who cut and ran rather than staying and doing their duty, including crowd control and stopping looting. I see a citizenry who started SHOOTING at the rescue helicopters.
The fact is that FEMA did have a plan, and Bush stood behind that plan. The plan itself was sound. It worked fine in two other states. It worked fine for Rita just two weeks later. It worked fine during the Texas floods a few years back. It worked fine for Andrew a couple of years ago. FEMA's plans work fine, and Bush was right to show his confidence in FEMA and its leadership. But NOBODY could have forseen how bolluxed the LOCAL LEADERSHIP would become and how they would screw up the situation so badly that even FEMA couldn't get the job done, and even their own cops would walk off the job. It took the army to save the day... again.
(As a side note, if Bush had sent in the army before that, he would have been blamed for his high-handedness and for rushing to impose federal and military control on a state and local problem. If he waits to be asked for help, as the law requires, he's accused of not reacting quickly enough. The "hate-Bush" crowd has him in a catch 22. As far as they are concerned, he can do no right.)
You want to talk about people who are divorced from reality? How about NO Mayor Ray Nagin inviting people back into NO just days after the disaster hit... with no water, sewer or electricity available, half the city still flooded, the entire area still conaminated, and Hurricane Rita still on the way? You tell me who was really divorced from reality.
Elliot
