Demagoguing disaster...and not

By Michael Gaynor

Bob Herbert, the black Bush-basher at The New York Times, railed against the Bush administration in a September 5, 2005 piece titled "A Failure of Leadership" and tag lined "Bush to New Orleans: Drop Dead."

Bob's message: America's curse is "the dangerous incompetence and the staggering indifference to human suffering of the president and his administration."

(Bob obviously did not vote for President Bush, or get over President Bush's election and reelection over the opposition of Bob, The New York Times and the rest of the biased, leftist, secular extremist, pro-abortion media.)

Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath are more fodder for Bob.

Bob's bombastic blather: "The catastrophe in New Orleans billowed up like the howling winds of hell and was carried live and in color on television screens across the U.S. and around the world....and the colossal failure of George W. Bush to intervene powerfully and immediately to rescue tens of thousands of American citizens who were suffering horribly and dying in agony was there for all the world to see."

Bulletin for Bob: Color television is NOT news. It hasn't been news for decades. BUT, yours is a subtle racist message, so you used the word "color" to set a tone, didn't you? And then described the New Orleans victims of twin disasters of Hurricane Katrina and corrupt and incompetent local Democrat government only as "Americans in desperate trouble" without mentioning that New Orleans is a predominantly black city with black political leadership and a predominantly black police force and an even more predominantly black number of poor people whose Mayor (Ray Nagin) delayed in ordering mandatory evacuation and then collected releases from people who did not want to leave instead of putting them on hundreds of school and municipal buses and getting them out of harm's way.

On August 29, 2005, during an interview, Louisiana's Democrat Governor Kathleen Blanco, who owed her election to her support in New Orleans, gratefully acknowledged that President Bush had declared a state of emergency BEFORE Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, explaining: "[I]t allowed FEMA to come in here early. We've set the stage for a lot of help for evacuation help, and the federal government is standing by. The president called. He was very supportive of our efforts. He was encouraging evacuation. He was very concerned. We appreciate his concern."

But Bob insisted that President Bush "didn't seem to notice" even AFTER Hurricane Katrina had brought death and destruction.

Bob wrote: "Degenerates roamed the city, shooting at rescue workers, beating and robbing distraught residents and tourists, raping women and girls. The president of the richest, most powerful country in the history of the world didn't seem to notice."

What demagoguery! The Times motto should be: "All the lies we choose to print."

Bob tried his best (or worst) to nauseate his readers and to paint a bullseye on President Bush as a heartless wretch (while whitewashing the local authorities, who happen to be mostly black Democrats and virtually all Democrats).

"Viewers could watch diabetics go into insulin shock on national television, and you could see babies with the pale, vacant look of hunger that we're more used to seeing in dispatches from the third world. You could see their mothers, dirty and hungry themselves, weeping.

"Old, critically ill people were left to soil themselves and in some cases die like stray animals on the floor of an airport triage center. For days the president of the United States didn't seem to notice.

"He would have noticed if the majority of these stricken folks had been white and prosperous. But they weren't. Most were black and poor, and thus, to the George W. Bush administration, still invisible."

It is Bob, not President Bush, who is playing politics with a national disaster. And gutter politics.

"After days of withering criticism from white and black Americans, from conservatives as well as liberals, from Republicans and Democrats, the president finally felt compelled to act, however feebly. (The chorus of criticism from nearly all quarters demanding that the president do something tells me that the nation as a whole is so much better than this administration.)"

The nation is sooo much better than you and your ilk, Bob. That is, Bush-bashing Democrat demagogues. Not blacks.

Polls show that, despite media bias and sensationalism, most Americans do not blame President Bush, and more people blame local authorities than blame the federal government for the extent of the tragedy.

Eventually the truth will be known by even more people, and the demagogues will become even more frustrated.

Yes, it's all about power. And the Hurricane Katrina disaster is grist for Bob's mill.

"[I]t is this incompetence and indifference to suffering (yes, the carnage continues to mount in Iraq) that makes it so hard to be optimistic about the prospects for the United States over the next few years. At a time when effective, innovative leadership is desperately needed to cope with matters of war and peace, terrorism and domestic security, the economic imperatives of globalization and the rising competition for oil, the United States is being led by a man who seems oblivious to the reality of his awesome responsibilities.

"Like a boy being prepped for a second crack at a failed exam, Mr. Bush has been meeting with his handlers to see what steps can be taken to minimize the political fallout from this latest demonstration of his ineptitude. But this is not about politics. It's about competence. And when the president is so obviously clueless about matters so obviously important, it means that the rest of us, like the people left stranded in New Orleans, are in deep, deep trouble."

That should have been President Bush to you, Bob. And intimating that a man is a boy is not a snide limited to white racists, is it, Bob?

So many people read Bob.

Instead, they should read this email I received from Jim, who has been dealing first hand with the Hurricane Katrina disaster instead of demagoguing it:

"In case you are wondering if the reports from the New Orleans area were exaggerated ... Not a chance!

"We (Josh and I) just arrived back from Houston where 8 members of our Civil Air Patrol Squadron (Apollo Composite Squadron based at Georgetown airport -Texas) assisted the multi-agency disaster response team (the first time this has been activated on this scale). Our squadron also provided a HF communications (long distance capable and self-sufficient running off batteries and later a generator) in case it was required.

"The team that we were working with handled incoming aircraft from the New Orleans airport. They were transporting nursing home and hospital patients, as well as seriously injured victims that is some cases were taken from the helicopter to the airlift aircraft. We received some patients that were still wearing wet clothes from being pulled from the water!

"Aircraft were from the Air Force and Coast Guard, and included C-130's and some C-141's (both sizable cargo planes suited for the job).

"The team included Veterans Administration, US Army, US Navy, NASA, US Air Force, Coast Guard, Civil Air Patrol and other civilians. That is quite a feat....

"The team was based at Ellington Field (south of Houston).

"Over 700 patients ranging for critically injured to ambulatory were off loaded and processed from 21 aircraft by the time we left Sunday afternoon, when the team was told to stand down. This was done because other disaster relief cities were getting setup to help in the effort. Aircrews were telling us that they had requested to be sent to Houston due to the quick turn around professionalism of the team at Ellington. I have been involved in several government and military operations in the past and this was by far the BEST run with NO interagency headaches or bickering. Between aircraft there was cleaning restocking and more cleaning to be done plus setting up for the next aircraft.

"Due to the fact that once an aircraft was in the air they could be diverted anywhere that a disaster response team is located, the first thing we said to a victim was 'Welcome to Houston' ... several though they were supposed to be in Atlanta ... but that was a problem with weather and not bad planning.

"We stayed with our patients from the time they arrived through registration, triage, stabilization, and on to get them their 1st meal some had has since before the hurricane. During that time, we heard tales of the last few days particularly from the recently rescued from the water (they ALL considered themselves rescued). Note, as a strict rule we did NOT ask any of the victims what happened to them nor what they had been through. Some were not able to talk at all. Some were taken to the hospital directly from the aircraft ... others to the morgue.

"One man told us he had laid in [an] alley in the same position (legs contorted from his injuries) 'flat on my back watching and waiting to be found by rescuers and hoping that he was not found by the bad people that were raising hell, hurting people and running around stealing ... I am so embarrassed to be from the same place they call home'. He was so glad to be anywhere but there. He told me that the water he got on the plane and the boxed dinner was the first thing he had had since the hurricane.

"One couple that was visiting New Orleans when she was hospitalized for an illness was to be released the day before hurricane. However, she had minor complications and they opted to stay put rather than leave town. After the storm pasted they had to be moved from her room to the inner part of the hospital since their hospital windows were being shot out by gunman ... they were on the eight floor. The bottom floor had many bodies in it as they made their way out of the building ... they said 'not many of them were from injuries from the storm.'

"An elderly woman was asking to be put into a cab to be driven back to her home. She was not very coherent, but was certain that she would be able to get back to her home. She did not want to be anywhere else! Her injuries were particularly troubling since they were from being beaten and not from the storm. She had been sown up with regular sewing thread (not medical grade) by someone who had done a very good job (as in a doctor or nurse).

"There were a great deal of folks that were just sick and old being transported from nursing homes or hospitals.

"One elderly man was being signed in and was asking for his wife ... she had been loaded on a different aircraft and he was not sure if she had even been flown to Houston or not. As a member of our squadron got her name and started searching for her she was wheeled up by his stretcher. Their response was kind of thing that made ALL of the work worthwhile ... and THEN some."

[Note to Bob: Reread and memorize the next paragraph.]

"I want to address one subjected that was brought up by a couple of victims. RACE ... The older man mentioned above found in an alley (mentioned above) said something very interesting on the subject. 'The folks that are saying racism had anything to do with how we were treated or ignored should BE ASHAMED of themselves as THEM are being the RACISTS! I watched as the rescuers tried to do their job and as you folks are doing your jobs ... some of you are brothers here some are Mexican some are Asian a lot are white but you are ALL here helping TOGETHER ..'. . I did not mention but this gentleman is black as were most but not all of the victims we saw. This was an equal opportunity disaster ... it just happened to occur where a large number of the people were black. The inability to get aid to them was due to the daunting task needed to mobilize and support a force needed to do the job. [Emphasis added.]

"To a person there were all very glad to be out and very grateful for all of the workers help ... particularly the they mentioned several time the young kids in uniforms (there were high school kids in Jr ROTC and our cadets age 13 and up). They had just come from the mayhem, danger and lawlessness they were glad to see the kids because they knew that if the kids were there it was safe and controlled environment. In case you are wondering yes we all kept an extra special watch on all the kids to be sure they were as safe as possible ... to the point of having to inform them at the end of shifts that yes that HAD to leave sleep / rest. They wanted to keep working and helping.

"Unlike the dome (Astrodome and Superdome) which is a WHOLE different story and subject.

"PS Thanks NASA for the use of hangar 990 where the NASA aircraft at Ellington are based ... or least several of them are."

I'll place my trust in Jim, not in Bob.

© Michael Gaynor