It's hard to know just what this means without knowing the poll question. But, ABC is reporting a poll on the views of the hurricane response with this result, among others: Blame Bush? Yes 44%; No 55%. You can see the article here. (Found at Drudge Report .)
Listeners to C-SPAN's Washington Journal have gotten an earful of vitriol from people calling in on the "Oppose Bush" line. I'm amazed at how the Bush haters have so smoothly segued from hating Bush for the war in Iraq to hating Bush for the hurricane response.
Americans have opened up their hearts to the hurricane victims, and the non-governmental relief agencies have been inundated with donations. There won't be any way to verify this, but I suspect that a disproportionate amount of the money, food, clothes, blankets, shelter and whatever else people have contributed to help the hurricane victims came from that percentage who don't blame Bush.
By shifting the blame onto Bush or his appointees, the "Blame Bush" crowd probably feels no personal responsibility to help. Blaming Bush get's them off the moral hook to do anything themselves. Just as many see the Iraqi war as "Bush's war," they probably take that same attitude toward the problems in Louisiana and Mississippi. "It's Bush's problem. Let him clean it up."
But, maybe I'm wrong about this. Here's a liberal site titled DropCash -- supply your own jokes about that name -- and it's goal is to raise $1 million for hurricane relief. I wish them all the success.
9/18/05; 5:26 pm - I've tried to avoid participating in the partisan bickering that seems to bubble constantly on the airwaves. But, I broke my rule here, and I regret it. American are generous people, and there is no party line dividing them when it comes to helping those seriously in need. And the suggestion that liberals would not be generous? Hogwash. I'm humbled by the email from a life long liberal who reported making a four figure contribution to the Red Cross. Kudos to you. And thanks for demonstrating that when we all pull together great things can happen.
I tend to sit left of center and so am not much of a fan of President Bush. But neither am I a Bush-hater. Yes, believe it or not, I'm one of the few middle of the road Americans left. I do believe the response from the government to the devastation was slow, was anemic, was maybe pathetic. But I believe that started with local New Orleans government, worked up through Louisiana state government, and stopped at the US gov't. However, now is not the time to point fingers, from either side. Now is the time to save people and save New Orleans. The extreme left needs to stop screaming about Bush and the extreme right needs to stop screaming about the NO mayor and the LA governor. Come on, let's solve the problem, then we can beat outselves silly screaming at each other.
Posted by: Trey R. Barker | September 08, 2005 at 06:01 PM
Although I am not that surprised, I am still a bit amazed at how unwilling folks are to admit that the federal response was severely flawed from the beginning. What we are seeing is the result of removing FEMA from a cabinet level posting and placing someone in charge of it that did not have the experience or credentials to hold such a position. No, the New Orleans and Louisiana governments were not completely prepared for this disaster. But they also were not receiving the appropriate federal support for preparation. And, anyone who is willing to face the truth, has to admit that it was pretty apalling to hear the President of the United States say that no one could have imagined or predicted the flooding of New Orleans when FEMA had admitted that it was one of the three most likely disaster scenarios. If that's not out of touch with what's going on, I don't know what is.
As for the insinuation that liberals are not pulling their fair share in the recovery methods, give me a break. Liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike are doing everything in their power to provide the aid that our government has not been able to provide. Don't knock the efforts of other folks even if you don't agree with their politics. What matters is the good work that we are all doing.
Posted by: historydoc | September 11, 2005 at 12:25 AM
Trey, well said. Score one for the Middle!
But, I'm not yet ready to let the New Orleans and Louisiana politicians off the hook. If we do that then whatever springs up in the old New Orleans' place will be no better than the old one.
Posted by: Geo | September 11, 2005 at 01:50 PM
Historydoc, from what I've read, FEMA performed at about the same level with Katrina as it did with previous hurricanes. The big difference with Katrina was that there were incompetent local and state governments doing more harm than good, and the result was disastrous.
I think the President has been in a no-win situation since the year 2000. There are those who are going to be appalled by whatever he says or does. If the federal government had gone in and pushed aside the state and local government officials and taken over then those who are now blaming Bush would applaud him. Yeah right.
But, let me apologize if I knocked your efforts to help the hurricane victims. Kudos to you for whatever you are doing to help those people.
Posted by: Geo | September 11, 2005 at 01:52 PM