Of course today in New Orleans it was photo opportunity for the DNC, and may I say the Good Governor made good use of it. There are photo ops, and then there are photo ops. This was one which called attention to the horrible neglect by the Bush administration of the city.
I read this by Nagourney two or three times. I tried to pretend the snide remarks were not there.
He appears to me to be comparing Bush’s use of 9/11 to manipulate our fears with the DNC’s spring meeting and clean-up session in New Orleans to day. He seems not to see the difference in the two events. He does not appear to understand that Katrina was the symbol of the failure of our country to take care of each other.
And Donna Brazile should have her hand spanked for saying that Democrats would have used 9/11 like Bush did. No, I think we are better than that. More intelligent than that.
From the article:
Ms. Brazile said she never agreed with Democrats who criticized Republicans for using Sept. 11.
“Oh no,” she said. “We should have used it, too.”
This paragraph stunned me with the simplistic grasp he has on the devastation that was Katrina, and the tragedy of New Orleans. Shame on you, Adam.
Here is the article by Nagourney.
Democrats Try to Use Katrina as G.O.P. Used 9/11
At first it sounds like he gets the full import of Katrina, that Bush has allowed our emergency preparedness to suffer so badly.
NEW ORLEANS, April 21 –Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, toured a house on Friday that the Hurricane Katrina floods wrecked, picking up debris, lamenting the federal response and leaving little doubt of the powerful symbolism his party sees in the ruined neighborhoods here.
As Mr. Dean’s well-covered hurricane-cleanup mission suggested, New Orleans may well become for Democrats in 2006 and 2008 what New York was for Republicans after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, an evocative metaphor rooted in tragedy that can potentially be turned to electoral advantage.
Where Republicans looked to the imagery of a battered but resilient New York to project a tough president standing up to the dangerous world, Democrats are looking to this city as the symbol of an administration that is at once incompetent and heartless.
But then he slips in this paragraph. He does not understand that Katrina is far worse in many ways than 9/11…it indicates the rot at the core of this administration.It totally revealed the heartless nature of those in control.
Still, the parallels that Democrats are looking for may extend this week just so far. For one factor, Sept. 11 put the entire nation on edge about the threat of terrorism. By contrast, the hurricane catastrophe was confined to one region. As a symbol, it may be powerful, but perhaps not as enduringly powerful as what occurred in New York and at the Pentagon.
He shows so little understanding for the scope of the tragedy there. He seems more concerned about making Democrats look bad than about the tragedy in New Orleans.
