Oh, Those Sensitive Republicans ... (NRR)
SonicReducer
421 Posts
Usually I don't post this type of stuff but these guys kill me. How out of touch can you be as a political party? Santorum: Penalize Those Who Don't Evacuate[/b] By SEAN D. HAMILL, Associated Press Writer Tue Sep 6,11:33 PM ETPITTSBURGH - Sen. Rick Santorum said in a weekend interview that people who don't heed future evacuation warnings may need to be penalized, but said Tuesday he did not mean people who lack cars or other resources.His remarks were sharply criticized by the campaign of Democrat Bob Casey Jr., who is seeking to unseat Santorum, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate."At face value (Santorum's comments) show an incredible amount of insensitivity to the Gulf Coast," said Jay Reiff, Casey's campaign manager. "What exactly does Senator Santorum mean by imposing penalties on people who often times had no transportation and no place to go?"In a weekend interview with WTAE-TV about the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Santorum said: "You have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving."On Tuesday night on WTAE, Santorum clarified his comments."Obviously most of the people here in this case, an overwhelming majority of people just literally couldn't have gotten out on their own," he said. "Many didn't have cars ... and that really was a failure on the part of local officials in not making transportation available to get people out."Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert and former first lady Barbara Bush also have drawn criticism in recent days for their comments in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.After a tour of the Houston Astrodome in Texas earlier this week, where thousands of hurricane victims are being housed, Barbara Bush said in a National Public Radio interview: "So many of the people here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."And last week, Hastert told the Daily Herald newspaper in Arlington Heights, Ill., that since New Orleans is located below sea level, he wasn't sure if it should be rebuilt.He later issued a statement saying: "My comments about rebuilding the city were intended to reflect my sincere concern with how the city is rebuilt to ensure the future protection of its citizens and not to suggest that this great historic city should not be rebuilt."
Comments
And its not like he is surrounded by brilliance.
Correct. I failed to note what a significant acheivement that was...
Mother's remark puts silver foot in Bush's mouth
Published September 7, 2005
I was all set to defend President Bush as a guy who really doesn't want poor black people in Louisiana and Mississippi to die of starvation and disease, no matter what the Democrats say.
But then Barbara Bush, the president's mom, went and dusted off the Bush family silver foot Monday. And she used it.
While touring the Houston Astrodome, where thousands of Hurricane Katrina refugees have been huddling, Barbara Bush said they didn't have it so bad because, heck, they were poor to begin with.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas," she was quoted as saying in an interview on National Public Radio.
Thousands of hurricane refugees were sitting on or near their green army cots, perhaps thinking of lunch, presumably waiting to be fed something hearty.
Anything but cake.
"Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality," Barbara Bush said. And here comes the fastball over the middle of the Democratic plate:
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."
At least she didn't ask them to sing and dance. But I'm sure it's working out very well for them. How often does something nice like a hurricane come by and change your life so you can hang out with thousands of others in the Astrodome and have Barbara Bush say it wasn't so bad, because you were poor anyway?
By my calculations, Barb's foot is about a 10 1/2 EE, but by the time you read this on Wednesday, after Leno and Letterman get through with her, she'll have an EEEE at least. There should be some back teeth stuck to the pinky toe when the surgeon general finally pulls it out.
You've got to figure that somewhere, former Texas Democratic Gov. Ann Richards is smiling. It was Richards, or perhaps one of her pointy-headed ghostwriters, who came up with the devastating line about former President George H.W. Bush.
Richards said the former president couldn't be blamed for his misstatements, because he was born with a silver foot in his mouth. Now it turns out Barbara was in charge of the silver. She polished it up good and shiny. And in political terms, she put her foot in her son's mouth and knocked loose a few teeth.
I'm sure Barbara won't be able to fix things up just by bringing a lime Jell-O mold (with floating chunks of pineapple) over to the White House at suppertime.
"Son?"
"What, Ma?"
"I'm sorry what I said about those people. However, I did make Jell-O to cheer you up."
"With the chunks?"
Most of us have moms, but if we're lucky, they never made Jell-O with or without the hideous chunks. But most of us don't have moms who could start a war with China or overturn the Republican's Southern Strategy with a few choice words, like Barbara Bush just did.
Please don't get it into your head that my constant exposure to people in the mainstream media--many of whom are still peeved that Al Gore isn't president--has changed my political views. It hasn't.
But what Barbara Bush said can't be ignored. She's the former first lady, the current first grandmother, and she's no political cream puff.
Even though she's got that soft white hair and those crinkly blue eyes, she also has that deadly string of pearls and probably rattled them at Laura Bush when they first met, and Laura got flustered and blurted out that her two hobbies were reading and smoking.
Who wouldn't get flustered? I'm scared of her, too, and I've only seen her on TV.
Like the president, my mom's a Republican, so I called to warn her about what Barbara Bush said.
"No!" she said. "That can't be true."
I could hear her fingers typing on her laptop, frantically trying to get to The National Review Online, where she could find ammunition to refute such a heinous story created by the liberal mainstream media.
But it is true and she knows it now, and I had to remind her of something that all reporters and editors remind their families, particularly moms: Don't talk to reporters, ever.
It has nothing to do with journalists thinking we're famous or popular or that anyone cares what we say. It does have to do, however, with the ancient fear held by most humans (except for the Jerry Springer set) that anything our moms say may be embarrassing, that the women who brought us into the world can take us out of it with one foolish statement, a la Barbara Bush.
And, besides, we're reporters. We know what we're like.
So, what did I say about reporters?
"Never to talk to them, ever?" said my mom, who was a reporter once, but repeated this to humor me.
Exactly.
Ms. Jones said on the morning show today that she doesn't want NOLA refugees clogging up NY schools and slowing down her kids.
BARF
Yeah, that would be horrible. If she was any kind of DECENT American, she wouldn't be relying on the Public School system in the first place, fucking drain on our resources!
this whole article is
John Kass doesn't take shit from anybody. I ran into him in an elevator a couple times; he's really short, pockmarked as hell, and mean; the consummate South Side Chicago man.
"At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the hotel saying 'Can you help us?' and the policemen said 'Show us what you've got' and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts. When the girls refused, they said 'Fine' and motored off down the road in their boat."
This can't be real...
Exactly what I was thinking, but then again if it was, would we be surprised?
Dude I hate that bitch. I wish they would fire her.
Further proof that a pig is a pig all over.
damn. I was just watching Bill Maher and he made a joke about that happening. from the standpoint of it's absurdity. but if this is true, there went his punchline..
I asked her why would some guy from the UK, who was trapped with his family in NO, make something so outlandish up?
"To get in the news."
Bah - I don't know man. Cops shooting themselves, quitting the job en mass, shooting innocent people etc.
I could see people degenerating to something like that, but it does sound pretty outrageous.
People are real particular about their kids schools. I know I am.
I understand, but it is the PUBLIC's schools, and the big problem is that parents only care about the one their kids attend. We need to start spreading some love to ALL schools, then maybe in 100 years you might not have people killing each other after 1 day of a catastrophe. Education can potentially fix problems that money can't begin to address.
do you REALLY wanna defend her comments here? Really?
Maybe it's chicken and the egg.
Trust me, in my perfect world, universal quality health care and education would be prioritized at the top of the heap, money wise. I am addressing issues though that stem from the existing reality, and throwing dollars at a distressed school system like DC never works, because it disappears down a mystery hole before it EVER sees a student, never to be seen again, and NOLA and similar cities are no different. The whole thing needs a top-to-bottom reform by people who are NOT dedicated to simply Privatizing and dismantling. And every year that the existing state of public education is allowed to deteriorate is another step towards its utter decimation at the hand of the Republicans and the Social Darwinists. And it makes me fucking sick.