J' um...Accuse, Sort Of

Won't be seeing this anytime soon...

From PGR, a link to In Defense of Finger Pointing by Michael Grunwald. However, even as Grunwald correctly notes "After a fiasco like Katrina, there's not much difference between fault-finding and fact-finding," his take on the GOP House investigation is somewhere between creampuff and kid gloves:

The new House report concluded that President Bush was quite a bit less than fully involved, a rare rebuke from the GOP Congress.

"A but less than fully involved?" Look at the picture above--and take another look at this


Aside from a little compulsive photoshopping on the top pic, both chronicle the actions of the United States president during a time of grave crisis--the worst storm to hit the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Camille, and, at one time, what was looking to be the worst storm to hit the United States since accurate records began being kept. Hell, even in the ABSENCE of--literally--a killer storm bearing down on the Gulf Coast, there's also the little matter of two wars being fought. Under the circumstances, it takes an awfully detached individual--if not an utter fool or imbecile--to demonstrate "leadership" by going on vacation...from his vacation, which is what Shrub was busily engaged in at the time.

Small wonder that this administration went out of the way to pin blame on Nagin and Blanco...then turns around and, finger wagging, haughtily declares, "Fingers mustn't be pointed."

Besides, as so many others continue to point out--Wetbankguide is just one I'll mention for the moment--the hurricane, as horrible as it was--would've infliced superficial wounds on NOLA if the levees, a FEDERAL construction project, hadn't failed. Which is all the more reason to wonder just what the hell was going on in Shrub's pea brain when he decided that gee-tar and birthday cake was more important than command and control. I mean, even a goddamned moron shouldn't have too much trouble with the following concept: a city that owes its existence to a considerable system of levees for flood control might have problems with flooding if 1) a massive storm hits it and/or 2) the levees fail. How fucking difficult to comprehend is that?

Back in the immediate aftermath, I noted that evacuation of a city the size of NOLA would require a hell of a lot more than school buses (the favorite finger pointing argument of the drunk-on-Kool-Aid wingnut crowd). Those in charge should also have staged heavy equipment as a hedge against the possibility of floodwall/levee failure--this could have been done without risking damage to said equipment (they could've been staged in Baton Rouge, for instance). It's apparent they didn't. Someone in a position to do so should ask, "Well, why the hell not?"

I think the answer is pretty evident when you look at the pictures above. Sure, it doesn't take many functioning brain cells to show some leadership and make preparations. But the assclown-in-chief is even more deficient than that...