Story Archive September 8, 2005 (Page 1 of 1)

"Blame Game" = Family Values

Seriously.

The amazing usurption of the Conservative Right and Religious Right in Amerika over the use of semantics is at work in the usual way. Name something and then you give people a hook, a key phrase that will now become what you want it to mean. In this case, "Blame Game" is used by the Bush administration to draw attention from what the media and PEOPLE are saying about the continuing debacle of the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the all-too-insufficient federal response. As we know, if the phrase catches on further, it will come to mean:

Anyone who continues to discuss concerns and bring up documented FACT that does not put the US federal government in a good light."

For evidence, see the first major document revealed by the Freedom of Information Act in the publication of the exact letter the FEMA chief sent to the Homeland Security chief THE DAY AFTER the Hurricane devasted the Gulf States. Here is the plain truth:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0907051fema2.html
(scan of entire document and horrifying bureaucratese language)

http://tinyurl.com/7mcsy
spin control ordered by FEMA

And then there are the "timelines" now fluorishing in online publications! I spent part of yesterday recording complete web pages and archiving them of relevant articles in respected sources. Just in case they "disappear" from public view. After all, a federal "investigation" has been ordered, oh, say for FEBRUARY 2006, that will be the time to investigate the failures of this administration and the departments from FEMA, to Homeland Security, to the Pentagon, to the National Guard. The heroic attempts of the National Weather Service and NOLA to alert the Bush administration and request complete attention to the disaster BEFORE it happened will also be awash in the nether lands because they will point to documentation that does exist to show that the federal government was fully informed prior to the Hurricane hit and during the disaster.

Oh, except for those federal government officials that claimed they had no idea that there was chaos and over 20,000 trapped in the Superdome until 2 days later. Even though there was round the clock TV news coverage on all channels! Maybe they missed this video from Monday a week
ago:
Insane video taken on Monday, August 28 over New Orleans

Or this fine set of video clip links on the Daily Show with John Stewart, covering the timeline and the "Blame Game" with the usual "fair and balanced" pointed humor to direct attention where it must be not forgotten:
http://www.overspun.com/?cat=2

And maybe we the people need to keep more tabs on the amazing growth curve of federal government secrecy:

Let's Reverse the Pattern of Secrecy

Concerned that our government keeps from the American public information that we need to make our families safe, secure our country and strengthen democracy, a broad-based set of organizations formed OpenTheGovernment.org. We hope you'll help.

Oh, but doing all this investigation on a minor scale by easily accessible search results on the Internet by the PEOPLE is probably just going to be dismissed as a "Blame Game" tactic to discredit the esteemable BushCo, isn't it? Perhaps my "family values" are different. And thankfully so, for whatever it is "called", this Blame Game stinks.

After all, Blame Game spin is on a national and multi-national corporate scale these days... And we really need to have our attention on more money to rebuild Iraq, FAR MORE IMPORTANT than a rebuild of the Gulf States. And if Dennis Hastert has his way, New Orleans will not be rebuilt. Didn't take long for suggestions to come on that level and spin. Now let me see, after the 9-11 disaster, were there any calls to rebuild NYC somewhere else? I think not. But then we launched the War of Terrorism (no, I did not slip on the verbage) to seek revenge. Where is the War on Poverty in Amerika? Oh, doh, I forgot, there's no money to be gotten from uncontrolled foreign oil sources there.

Blame game, indeed.

BTW, here's that timeline, summarized by MoveOn.org:

Friday, Aug. 26: Gov. Kathleen Blanco declares a state of emergency in Louisiana and requests troop assistance.

Saturday, Aug. 27: Gov. Blanco asks for federal state of emergency. A federal emergency is declared giving federal officials the authority to get involved.

Sunday, Aug. 28: Mayor Ray Nagin orders mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. President Bush warned of Levee failure by National Hurricane Center. National Weather Service predicts area will be "uninhabitable" after Hurricane arrives. First reports of water toppling over the levee appear in local paper.

Monday, Aug. 29: Levee breaches and New Orleans begins to fill with water, Bush travels to Arizona and California to discuss Medicare. FEMA chief finally responds to federal emergency, dispatching employees but giving them two days to arrive on site.

Tuesday, Aug. 30: Mass looting reported, security shortage cited in New Orleans. Pentagon says that local authorities have adequate National Guard units to handle hurricane needs despite governor's earlier request. Bush returns to Crawford for final day of vacation. TV coverage is around-the-clock Hurricane news.

Wednesday, Aug. 31: Tens of thousands trapped in New Orleans including at Convention Center and Superdome in "medieval" conditions. President Bush finally returns to Washington to establish a task force to coordinate federal response. Local authorities run out of food and water supplies.

Thursday, Sept. 1: New Orleans descends into anarchy. New Orleans Mayor issues a "Desperate SOS" to federal government. Bush claims nobody predicted the breach of the levees despite multiple warnings and his earlier briefing.

Friday, Sept. 2: Karl Rove begins Bush administration campaign to blame state and local officials—despite their repeated requests for help. Bush stages a photo-op—diverting Coast Guard helicopters and crew to act as backdrop for cameras. Levee repair work orchestrated for president's visit and White House press corps.

Saturday, Sept. 3: Bush blames state and local officials. Senior administration official (possibly Rove) caught in a lie claiming Gov. Blanco had not declared a state of emergency or asked for help.

Monday, Sept. 5: New Orleans officials begin to collect their dead.

(Adapted from: Katrina Timeline, http://thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline/ )

Those are the facts. State and local officials BEGGED for help as people in their city suffered. The Bush administration didn't get the job done and when their failure became an embarrassment they attacked those asking for help.

The New York Times reported on Friday that Karl Rove and White House communications director Dan Bartlett "rolled out a plan...to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina." The core of the strategy is "to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana."

This is the same pattern of smearing that the Bush political machine has used for a decade. John McCain and John Kerry had their war records smeared. The CIA cover of Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife was blown after he criticized the Bush Iraq policy. Now, Hurricane victims are attacked when the Bush administration failed to do their duty to help them.

It isn't just the Bush administration. Republican Senator Rick Santorum blamed victims in a TV interview and House Speaker Dennis Hastert suggested New Orleans should not be rebuilt.

We can't let them get away with this. Please sign our petition today and do your part.

MoveOn Petition