President Bush Does His Andrea Yates Impersonation--Government Plays Role of Five Children
If I weren't the zippity-doo-dah humming optimist that I am (the prescription is working!), I might become the world's worst cynic. For, it seems to me, BushCo wants to fuck up. (And I won't apologize for the language, for I'm not the one who didn't stop 9/11, who frittered away international support after the disaster, who invaded a sovereign nation for mythical WMD, who watched as that nation fell into a civil war, who destroyed any hope of balancing the budget before the inevitable Jenna Bush presidency, all while tromping on civil rights at home and abroad and more or less bragging about it.)
I mean, you have to assume the White House wants to fail when it makes appointments like Brownie and Bolton, don't you? Will putting irascible incompetents in charge of important posts make FEMA and the UN run better? No, such choices help grind those organizations down, making them appear ineffectual. And if they don't work, why exactly do we have them? Somehwere Grover Norquist is ready to get his hands around the government's neck and head to the bathroom.
So it's with mixed joy (people are waking up!), that I read the results of a recent AP-Ipsos poll that partially gets summarized:
The poll finds public confidence in government disaster readiness is lower today, six months after Katrina struck, than it was in early September 2005, when images of rooftop-stranded storm victims were fresh in the nation's mind.
Slightly less than half of those polled, 47 percent, said they were very or somewhat confident in the government's preparedness--down from 56 percent in the days after the storm and 54 percent in mid-September.
And just one in three Americans is confident the money set aside for Katrina recovery efforts, an expected $100 billion, is being spent wisely, down from half in mid-September, the poll found.
Two-thirds of the country thinks that Washington just lit $100 billion and watched it go up in a puff of smoke. Jim Carrey would have to appear in 5000 movies to make that much cash, guaranteeing at least an Ace Ventura XVI and probably even a Cable Guy II. But most Americans would prefer such a blot on the entertainment world to the bungled relief effort in New Orleans.
Still I can't help but fear that's what Rove wants, for all of us to collapse in exasperation and hope that the government would just go away, as it's simply so bad at everything. I guess ther'es nothing to worry about until they turn over the security of key entry points to the country to companies from countries known to pal around with Osama Bin Laden.
I mean, you have to assume the White House wants to fail when it makes appointments like Brownie and Bolton, don't you? Will putting irascible incompetents in charge of important posts make FEMA and the UN run better? No, such choices help grind those organizations down, making them appear ineffectual. And if they don't work, why exactly do we have them? Somehwere Grover Norquist is ready to get his hands around the government's neck and head to the bathroom.
So it's with mixed joy (people are waking up!), that I read the results of a recent AP-Ipsos poll that partially gets summarized:
The poll finds public confidence in government disaster readiness is lower today, six months after Katrina struck, than it was in early September 2005, when images of rooftop-stranded storm victims were fresh in the nation's mind.
Slightly less than half of those polled, 47 percent, said they were very or somewhat confident in the government's preparedness--down from 56 percent in the days after the storm and 54 percent in mid-September.
And just one in three Americans is confident the money set aside for Katrina recovery efforts, an expected $100 billion, is being spent wisely, down from half in mid-September, the poll found.
Two-thirds of the country thinks that Washington just lit $100 billion and watched it go up in a puff of smoke. Jim Carrey would have to appear in 5000 movies to make that much cash, guaranteeing at least an Ace Ventura XVI and probably even a Cable Guy II. But most Americans would prefer such a blot on the entertainment world to the bungled relief effort in New Orleans.
Still I can't help but fear that's what Rove wants, for all of us to collapse in exasperation and hope that the government would just go away, as it's simply so bad at everything. I guess ther'es nothing to worry about until they turn over the security of key entry points to the country to companies from countries known to pal around with Osama Bin Laden.
posted by George at 10:58 PM
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