The Curtain Pulled Away: Spin Can Bite You in The Butt
On "Special Report with Brit Hume" on Monday August 29th as Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Fox news pundits Brit Hume, Mort Kondracke, Charles Krauthammer and Fred Barnes (executive director of the Weekly Standard) suggested that now was the time to stop federal aid as the city faced a catastrophic event.
Hume: And what would the headline be in the Tabloid newspaper?
Hume: Bush
Barnes: Drop Dead
A few minutes later;
Krauthammer: It seems a bit unseemly to talk about cutting off aid to these people while the hurricane is still roaring through Mississippi. But lets give it a try. (laughter)
On our local hate radio station 1440 Keys Morning Show Sept. 2nd, host Jim Lagos and guests made fun of New Orleans refugees as either "too poor or too stupid to leave." They continued to generalize all looters as criminals, blamed the victims for "deciding to live in a city below sea level" and said don't send any refugees here, we won't be able to get rid of them. An obviously African American caller who stated they ought to be ashamed of themselves for such obviously racist talk was laughed at, belittled and cut off. When the next caller suggested the Mexican government was ready to help and had two million experienced waders standing by at the border to cross the river into the U.S., they laughed uproariously and suggested to the producer that he save that clip for future use.
While conservative commentator Peggy Noonan suggested "looters should be shot", Michael Brown, Bush's man in charge of FEMA (Yes that's the Federal Emergency Management Agency) made the statement " my heart goes out to every - even if they chose not to evacuate", as if there were no factors causing the catastrophe other then bad decision making.
Such is the dog eat dog, every man for himself, social Darwinism of the Neo Cons and other right wingers. Actually they should have been congratulating looters as the essence of free market principles. They should have congratulating the gangs who stole consumer goods, carjacked vehicles, raped women and shot people for the fun of it. They acted just like, the guys at Enron, World Crossing and other major corporations except of course they were black, poor and didn't wear suits. Get all you can for the lowest price possible regardless of its effects on others, this is the real philosophy of free market capitalism. They just like it better when it's a corporation that does it.
Neither Compassionate Nor Conservative
What the Neo Cons revealed is what it believes is the true purpose of government, to extend and protect the commercial interests of the rich. The current administration has demonstrated that the only real interest in smaller government is when it comes to taxing the rich, policing corporations, or stopping head start children from exploiting government resources. When it comes to creating a surveillance state or a military industrial machine, there are no limits.
To deal with the instability it foresees as it carries out the dismantling of America as we know it, it created a huge internal spy agency misnamed "Homeland Security" to monitor its own citizens. It is also in the process of bringing the military into domestic affairs like some banana republic. Playing on fears of "terrorism" it leeches funding from Corps of Engineers flood control projects, national guard troops and response agencies such as FEMA needed to save people in inevitable natural disasters. Thus they know what library book you took out but not that you are drowning in your house until they see it on the news. Faith based organizations are left to do the government's job. Where is Pat Robertson's National Guard when you need them?
These are the people that believe in transferring the national wealth from programs that protect or serve us all, to the very rich. They do this through privatization schemes, bargain basement sale of public resources, no bid contracts and tax cuts. Government for sale to the highest bidder. New Orleans lays all of that bare. The administration short changed the city of crucial money to build up their flood protection system, farmed out the disaster plan to a do nothing political contributor and blamed the victims for their fate.
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