My Pet Goat Did It
It doesn't seem as if the guy who bought and/or stole that office in DC has any better learning skills these days than he used to. You'd think he could allow one non-sycophant near him. Admittedly the familiar bunch, Sleezzy, Rumfull, Chains-and-leather et. al. lack the wherewithall and perhaps the justification for suddenly tuning George's prompter to a reality channel.
But isn't there, say, a family member capable of calling him on his stupid-dity? I have this vision of Barbara urinating in his breakfast cereal in annoyance - though that seems to be giving her too much credit. As one with offspring in their 20's, I'm very sensitive that meddling and mucking about can permanently impair the maturation process. There's certainly a period when those natural parenting instincts must be throttled back.
However, we now seem to have on center stage, for all to see, a premier example that once you have as parents mucked it up good and solid to the point of having bought world power for a person with serious "accountability issues" and likely certifiable mental disturbance, it's time for Mom and Dad to get back in the game. Squatting over the cereal, while it might be satisfying, won't cut it here. Besides, that image is truly disturbing.
Even the mainstream press, for long now known to programmatically favor conservative, pro-business causes and rarely having the gumption to even vaguely challenge the Bush administration, have had trouble swallowing the brush-cutter's latest AWOL episode:
Questions About President's Response to Katrina
As the truth sinks in--this is the worst natural disaster in the nation's history--editorials in a wide range of newspapers have now raised critical issues about the lack of preparation, the effects of so many National Guard sent to Iraq, and the response of President Bush to the tragedy this week.
One of the most stalwart conservative newspapers in the nation, the Union Leader of New Hampshire, today blasted Bush's response to the great Gulf Coast hurricane.
"A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed, clothed, sheltered and free of disease," the editorial declared. "The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished. In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty.
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On Thursday, after the president returned to Washington, The New York Times mocked his speech: "George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end."
The Washington Post, meanwhile, called for a close look at what should have been done differently, saying "it will be extremely important to better understand the causes of this long-predicted disaster and to determine what, if anything, could have prevented it. This administration has consistently played down the possibility of environmental disaster, in Louisiana and everywhere else. The president's most recent budgets have actually proposed reducing funding for flood prevention in the New Orleans area, and the administration has long ignored Louisiana politicians' requests for more help in protecting their fragile coast, the destruction of which meant there was little to slow down the hurricane before it hit the city.
[clip]
But isn't there, say, a family member capable of calling him on his stupid-dity? I have this vision of Barbara urinating in his breakfast cereal in annoyance - though that seems to be giving her too much credit. As one with offspring in their 20's, I'm very sensitive that meddling and mucking about can permanently impair the maturation process. There's certainly a period when those natural parenting instincts must be throttled back.
However, we now seem to have on center stage, for all to see, a premier example that once you have as parents mucked it up good and solid to the point of having bought world power for a person with serious "accountability issues" and likely certifiable mental disturbance, it's time for Mom and Dad to get back in the game. Squatting over the cereal, while it might be satisfying, won't cut it here. Besides, that image is truly disturbing.
Even the mainstream press, for long now known to programmatically favor conservative, pro-business causes and rarely having the gumption to even vaguely challenge the Bush administration, have had trouble swallowing the brush-cutter's latest AWOL episode:
Questions About President's Response to Katrina
As the truth sinks in--this is the worst natural disaster in the nation's history--editorials in a wide range of newspapers have now raised critical issues about the lack of preparation, the effects of so many National Guard sent to Iraq, and the response of President Bush to the tragedy this week.
One of the most stalwart conservative newspapers in the nation, the Union Leader of New Hampshire, today blasted Bush's response to the great Gulf Coast hurricane.
"A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed, clothed, sheltered and free of disease," the editorial declared. "The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished. In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty.
[clip]
On Thursday, after the president returned to Washington, The New York Times mocked his speech: "George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end."
The Washington Post, meanwhile, called for a close look at what should have been done differently, saying "it will be extremely important to better understand the causes of this long-predicted disaster and to determine what, if anything, could have prevented it. This administration has consistently played down the possibility of environmental disaster, in Louisiana and everywhere else. The president's most recent budgets have actually proposed reducing funding for flood prevention in the New Orleans area, and the administration has long ignored Louisiana politicians' requests for more help in protecting their fragile coast, the destruction of which meant there was little to slow down the hurricane before it hit the city.
[clip]
posted by Sir Gumbo at 10:12 PM
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