There is an extremely dangerous divide in the United States. If you haven’t been paying attention to the recent poll numbers regarding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the mishandling of the rescue and relief efforts by the government, you need to start looking at them now.
You need to look at them because too many of your fellow citizens think Bush has handled this catastrophe adequately and that no one in the administration should be fired for their incompetence, despite the horrific scenes we have all witnessed of people suffering, starving and dying. The effect of those numbers is that you cannot count on your neighbours anymore to actually care about your personal safety. They don’t care about a system that is so absolutely dysfunctional that, should your neighbourhood be hit by a similar crisis, their family may not survive either. There is only one word for that attitude: dangerous.
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Here are the poll numbers from the recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Tuesday:
- Fifty-six percent of 609 adults polled by telephone September 5-6 said they believe the hurricane devastated the city beyond repair.
- 93 percent of poll respondents said they believe Katrina is the worst natural disaster to strike the United States in their lifetime.
- 63 percent — said they believe the city should rebuild.
- 66 percent said they believe all New Orleans residents should evacuate the city.
- Forty-two percent of respondents characterized President Bush’s response to the disaster as “bad” or “terrible,” while 35 percent said it was “good” or “great.”
- Federal government agencies’ response was described as “bad” or “terrible” by 42 percent, and “good” or “great” by 35 percent.
- State and local officials’ response was described as “bad” or “terrible” by 35 percent and “good” or “great” by 37 percent.
- Respondents also disagreed widely on who is to blame for the problems in the city following the hurricane — 13 percent said Bush, 18 percent said federal agencies, 25 percent blamed state or local officials and 38 percent said no one is to blame.
- 63 percent said they do not believe anyone at federal agencies responsible for handling emergencies should be fired as a result.
- 62 percent said they believe progress made in dealing with the situation is satisfactory.
- 79 percent said they believe gas companies are taking advantage of the situation and charging unfair prices to consumers as a result of the hurricane.
For poll results based on the total sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. For results based on the 268 respondents who say the city of New Orleans will completely recover from the effects of Katrina, the maximum margin of sampling error is plus or minus 6 percentage points.
Gallup provides a more in depth analysis:
By a margin of 69% to 10%, Republicans give Bush a positive rather than negative rating for his response.
Democrats give almost a mirror opposite — 66% negative to 10% positive.
Independents side with the Democrats, giving a more modest margin — 47% negative to 29% positive.
Digest those numbers. 38% say “no one is to blame”? Only 13% blame Bush? How can that be?
Rush Limbaugh explains, as only he can:
He then goes on to posit who makes up that 13% and, guess what? It’s you:
(and then he has the audacity to say this:)
Well, we know the number isn’t growing. I mean, every news cycle seems to feature a new avenue that the left thinks they have found to destroy the Bush presidency, and yet 13% — and this is a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll — that 13% number is not growing, and the reason it isn’t growing is simple; it’s understandable. Hatred is not inspirational. Hatred does not inspire people. Hatred is not like honey. It doesn’t attract people; it repels them.
This, from one of the most well-known hatemongers in the United States.
That is why the United States is in deep trouble. Millions of your neighbours believe what he’s saying.
The left and the rest who have been speaking loudly about the failure of the Bush administration need to yell a lot louder now in order to get through to those who continue to support their president – no matter what.
I believe this is a very serious turning point in American history. It is a time when the opposition will have to work faster, more diligently and more forcefully than they ever have before. If millions of people have failed to understand that the actions of your government have contributed to the deaths of thousands of people and may, one day, contribute to their own demise, the opposition has a duty to pull together every possible resource to get this message through.
If you have never volunteered for your political party, do it now. If you have never written letters to the editors, start now. If you have never participated in a protest, consider it now. If you have never distributed fliers, go now, If you have never manned phones, sign up now. Just do something.
If you fail to take action, you’re part of the problem. Every action will count and you must do your part. Your security, life and liberty are at stake. Your neighbours may not care, but I know you do.
It took a very long time for many Americans to realize that the Iraq war was a dangerous sham. Bush’s poll numbers have finally plummeted. That was the result of attacking the war policies on all fronts. Even when the MSM continued to spew Republican talking points, the left worked damn hard to make sure that the American public knew the truth. This is a call to action again now. We did it before and we can do it this time. We have to.
I love the way Limbaugh toys with the truth, in a way that is set to advance his agenda and disrupt his opponents. But then, its all just a game to him, and he’s good at it.
Truth is, there is some truth to what he’s saying. He should know, he was once in a similar situation, except he finally figured out how to exploit it.
Well, of that statement, we all know the bits that aren’t true.
IF you offer folks the chance to join your hate, they’ll decline — it does repel. It is not honey. It is not inspiring.
But if you offer folks the chance to join your righteous anger, and your feelings resonate with their own, it is inspirational.
If you speak out on an anger that is already in the heart of another, it is like honey.
If you offer someone a believable release for that anger, it does attract.
This is what leaders do.
We all hated the pointless war of vanity and greed. We had anger over it. We spoke out, and found each other to share our anger. But that alone didn’t attract. Often it was as depressing as it was inspirational.
Then came Cindy. She didn’t tell us how to express our anger, she gave us a focus for the anger. She gave us a shared goal — a release — for that anger. A call to withdraw troops, and stop the senseless death.
Katrina created more people angry at Bush. But there is no release. We all want the criminally-incompetant FEMA to aid in the recovery. We want the corrupt Administration to assist with the displaced citizens of New Orleans. So what good is our anger?
Clinton’s lousy blowjob was far, far less important to the vast majority of Americans. But that hot kernel of anger was nurtured into an impeachment firestorm. By (evil) leaders, using the power of the press to fan the flames (Who knew money-losing newrooms were so damn cheap! Much cheaper than a decent product launch, even).
At this point I’d settle for a tiny left-wing conspiracy, if only it would produce a leader who can stand tall and demand accountability.
And I don’t think it can be a Democratic politician. Not just because they’re spineless whimpering weenies, nor because they don’t have a decent orator with the ability to get national press coverage.
Because its going to take an outsider with nothing to gain, no partisan ‘side’ to push, no self-serving agenda to be smeared — its going to take an outsider to lend this the black and white clarity it needs.
Cindy could do it on the war. They venerated her group (military families who experienced loss), venerated her son (“died for freedom in Iraq”), and she had diddly squat to gain for it. She’s a grieving mother who wants answers — not book sales, not a seat in congress, not to burnish her credentials for a shot at the presidency.
Even Limbaugh served as an anti-(Democratic) establishment voice for people who were told they were excluded from the public debate. And he struck a balance between telling his believers what they wanted to hear, what they already felt, what he wanted them to believe, and convinced them that he had answers to make it all better.
Its pretty damn sad when a self-serving hypocritical money-grabber with delusions of grandeur has a better understanding of effective political leadership than our so-called political leaders.
Enough.
Where the hell are our leaders?
Who’s going to take the righteous anger over the handling of Katrina, the death of our citizens, and the farce that our country has become — and feed it, and shape it, and forge it into a true tool for political change?
Thanks for the well thought out commentary.
/Who’s going to take the righteous anger over the handling of Katrina, the death of our citizens, and the farce that our country has become — and feed it, and shape it, and forge it into a true tool for political change??
When leaders fail, followers must step in. That’s my message: lead, follow or get out of the way.
That’s a great philosophy for life — everyone marches to the beat of their own drummer. Its a good political philosophy too.
And its really the only reason the Katrina aftermath isn’t so much more horrific than it already is. Between the spontaneous rescues, the impromptu food and water deliveries, the wonderful grassroots re-uniting and housing drives — its just beautiful.
To solve the problem of the corrupt Administration, a more coordinated effort is going to be required. That’ll require leaders. It doesn’t matter where they come from — certainly “followers” (aka no one in the current power structure) are the most likely candidates. But for this task, we’ll either need a force of nature (massive numbers of people) or a strong lever (coordinated and specific efforts).
Most of all, we need leader(s) capable of delivering a message to a nationwide apolitical audience.
There is only one TRUTH in this whole fiasco:
Republicans can not Keep America safe
People voted for Bush because 9/11 scared the shit out of them and they wanted a “Crazy Motherfucker” in charge who wasn’t bashful about going “Mid-evil” on some terrorists ass…
Where the hell are all of our “Security Dems” and left-wing “Military Hawks”?
What if this was a terrorist attack…
Thousands of people have died this past week (some estimate say 10 time the amount of 9/11), 1.5 million were made homeless and a landmass the size of Great Britain (or the size of a nuclear attack) lay in ruins and the “Security Alert” never moved up from YELLOW… so what does that tell you.
This adminstration has no clue on how to keep Americans safe…