The media is full of Katrina recollections and evaluations right now, and by Labor Day, they’ll be gone. Democrats can’t let America forget Katrina.
I say this because those responsible for the unnecessary tragedies in the Gulf, and the sickening fact that they continue, must be held accountable, and must be prevented from endangering more lives. This is a dangerous situation for the American present and future, and just about all the nation can do about it at this point is to break the Republican rule of the federal government by electing Democrats to Congress.
So I am going to be unapologetically political here. What follows is my first draft script for a Katrina campaign ad, simple enough for amateurs to produce but designed for wide distribution. I’ve posted a version with photos at Dreaming Up Daily that gives a rough idea of what it might look like.
Each congressional race is different, but there are themes and storylines that unite the Democratic quest to regain Congress. These stories should be part of all campaigns, but they can also be told nationally, as a national effort that supports local candidates. Those major storylines are Katrina and Iraq, and Democrats demanding accountability. As I wrote last time, the main message is that Republicans control Congress: Republican One Party Rule.
The storylines are that Republican rule is responsible for the ongoing tragedies of Iraq and Katrina. These catastrophes are characterized by lies and corruption, and it is the responsibility of Congress to get explanations, to get facts on what should be done and what will work, and take action.
But with Republican One-Party Rule we haven’t gotten the facts and we won’t. No one is asking questions and demanding answers. Government is broken. It’s time to end Republican rule.
Some pols believe it isn’t advantageous to sound a Democrats v. Republican theme. National polls may not tell us how local races will turn out, but they sure show one thing: the generic Republican candidate is a loser. I believe it is precisely the Democrats v. Republican theme that will work, because voters don’t like how things are going, they can register that disapproval and try to improve things in a fairly low-risk way by electing Democrats to Congress. (It’s low risk because it will mean a divided government, so they aren’t turning over the country entirely to the Democrats, yet.)
Anyway, I illustrate one storyline, Katrina, with this first draft for a TV spot. The writing isn’t polished, I didn’t time it or anything, but I think it’s useful.
Again, there’s a version of it with images at Captain Future’s Dreaming Up Daily.
KATRINA SPOT
IMAGES: hurricane winds and water; computer weather maps of approaching hurricane
VOICEOVER:
A terrible storm was bearing down on the Gulf Coast. The National Weather Service issued a public warning:
IMAGE: teletype of this warning,
VO: If the storm hits the city, “Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer,” the Weather Service said. They warned that homes would be severly damage or destroyed.”Power outages will last for weeks. … Water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.”
IMAGE: Bush being briefed via video
VO: The Weather Service warned President Bush that New Orleans levees could fail. It was Hurricane Katrina.
IMAGES: levees, Superdome, etc.
Mayor Nagin ordered New Orleans to be evacuated, but hundreds of thousands who couldn’t get out were stranded when levees broke and much of the city flooded. Tens of thousands of people–including elderly and families with children– were abandoned in the Superdome for days, with no food and water, while a shocked nation watched.
IMAGES: Bush with guitar, Rumsfeld at Padres baseball game, Condi Rice on Broadway
VO: While the pleas of the Democratic governor of Louisina went unheeded by the Republican administration in Washington, President Bush attended political events, and members of his cabinet went to baseball games and Broadway shows.
IMAGE: Bush and FEMA director
VO:Not for hours but for days and weeks, the federal government was failing to avert one of the greatest tragedies ever on American soil. And President Bush’s response was to pat the director of FEMA on the back and tell him, “You’re doing a heckava job, Brownie.”
IMAGES: Gore, Waters at airport, Kerry
VO: Still the disaster grew, and as FEMA failed and actually refused help that poured in from around the country and the world, citizens tried their best to respond, including Al Gore, who flew more than 100 patients from New Orleans to medical facilities in Tennessee, and Maxine Waters, Jesse Jackson and the Louisiana Black Caucus, who rescued some of those stranded at the New Orleans airport, and John Kerry, who took a plane of emergency supplies to the Gulf.
IMAGE: Demonstrators at White House, holding up signs: SHAME
VO: Citizens saw what no one believed they would ever see in America, and they knew who was responsible.
IMAGES: destruction
Why wasn’t the federal government prepared? For years engineers told the government the levees could fail. Three years earlier, a in-depth study in a New Orleans newspaper warned that nearly a quarter of a million people would be unable to evacuate from New Orleans. Yet the Republican government cut back funds for those levees, and shortchanged emergency preparations. What was the Republican response?
IMAGE: Bush viewing New Orleans destruction from Air Force One
VO: President Bush looked down on the devastation from Air Force One. “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees,” he said.
IMAGES: construction, texts
VO Then the Bush administration began awarding no-bid contracts to Halliburton and other crony corporations for relief and reconstruction. In Sept 2005 the Wall Street Journal warned that they were bringing “many of the contracting practices blamed for spending abuses in Iraq.”
A year later, waste and fraud was estimated at up to $2 billion, New Orleans and the Gulf are still in shambles, lacking basic services and housing. And engineers fear the New Orleans levees are still not strong enough.
IMAGES: Capitol Hill
VO: Why wasn’t the Republican Congress demanding that the federal government do its duty to the American people?
Why aren’t they watching how that money is spent? Why aren’t they asking questions and demanding answers on behalf of the American people they represent?
An arrogant Republican leadership won’t allow real investigations or oversight. They close down committee hearings rather than let Democrats ask questions. They won’t allow a bill to be voted on that they don’t approve. They refuse to find the facts or to fix what’s broken.
No answers.
No action.
America is less safe, and less fair. Our government is broken.
IMAGE: voters–all kinds– at the polls
VO: Only you can fix it.
End Republican One-Party Rule. Elect Democrats to the US Congress— to the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Together, we can do better.