Republicans on Katrina

Posted by on . 12 comments.

Since a few people took issue (via email) with my assertion that Republicans don’t care about New Orleans, I thought I’d share this link on how the Katrina anniversary was marked by the clown show that is the Republican field:

Rudy Giuliani: Three-line press release, no specifics.
Mitt Romney: Nothing on the front page.
Fred Thompson: Nothing on the front page.
John McCain: Three-paragraph press release, no specifics.
Mike Huckabee: Nothing on the front page, at the top of the site is a news flash that “Gov. Mike Huckabee to Participate in the New Hampshire Republican Presidential Debate on September 5, 2007.”
Sam Brownback: Nothing on the front page.
Duncan Hunter: To his credit, Hunter was the only Republican to attend the “Hope and Recovery Summit” in New Orleans on Tuesday, and he writes about it. The story accentuates the positives, but at least he offers a tribute and some specifics.
Ron Paul: Nothing on the front page.
Tom Tancredo: Nothing on the front page.
John Cox: Nothing on the front page.

The worst natural disaster in American history, and 7 out of 10 of the Republican candidates didn’t see fit to even mention New Orleans on the Katrina anniversary. It’s almost as if there aren’t any primary votes in it for them…

Comments

  1. tom says:
    August 31, 2007 at 6:45 am

    only primary votes? i think only the seriously mentally handicapped would vote for the republicans in the general election in NO.

  2. matt says:
    August 31, 2007 at 7:10 am

    i think only the seriously mentally handicapped would vote for the republicans in the general election in NO.

    not who i was talking about. the republicans aren’t running for votes from people in the city of NO. and since a large portion of the votes they are trying to attract are from racists, there’s no percentage in mentioning katrina.

  3. JimC says:
    August 31, 2007 at 10:45 am

    votes they are trying to attract are from racists

    Got a percentage on that?

  4. matt says:
    August 31, 2007 at 11:03 am

    Got a percentage on that?

    you know what, i’m going to look when i get back home. in the meantime, are you arguing that a there is not a significant portion of republican primary voters who are straight up racists? seriously?

  5. JimC says:
    August 31, 2007 at 4:56 pm

    significant portion of republican primary voters who are straight up racists? seriously?

    Well, I don’t know any and I live in a strong Republican area. I think racism transcends party lines anyway…

    Just curious, how many ex-”Exalted Cyclops” are currently serving in the Senate? How many of them are Republicans?

  6. matt says:
    August 31, 2007 at 10:18 pm

    Just curious, how many ex-”Exalted Cyclops” are currently serving in the Senate? How many of them are Republicans?

    that has fuck all to do with the question. and unlike most republicans practicing racism via the legislative process, he’s fully renounced his past and made great strides to reverse the damage.

    and you haven’t answered my question. “i don’t know any” simply doesn’t come close to addressing what i asked you: “are you arguing that a there is not a significant portion of republican primary voters who are straight up racists?“

  7. sarabeth says:
    September 1, 2007 at 2:16 am

    Aw … JimC expresses some intellectual curiosity, and mean mister Matt comes along and tramples him with hob-nailed boots.

  8. JimC says:
    September 1, 2007 at 7:48 am

    are you arguing that a there is not a significant portion of republican primary voters who are straight up racists?

    Uh, yeah, I guess I am, because unless you have some way of actually backing that statement up with something concrete, it is just a delusion of grandeur.

    that has fuck all to do with the question

    Yeah, I guess you’re correct, it has technically nothing to do with that question, but it is a fun fact that a former KKK leader happens to be a sitting democrat senator. Actually it does have something to do with your question but indirectly. It has to do with it as a bright and shining example of how racism is not owned by any one party but by racist people in every dark corner of this country…it is a fantasy to think that Republicans wear the crown of racism…

    he’s fully renounced his past and made great strides to reverse the damage

    You mean great strides like his statement in 2001,

    Senator Byrd was interviewed by Fox News Sunday host Tony Snow in a segment that aired on March 4. While expanding on his comment that race relations are now “much, much better than they’ve been in my lifetime,” Byrd made reference to whites who are still opposed to equal civil rights by saying, “There are white niggers. I’ve seen a lot of white niggers in my time; I’m going to use that word.”

    Or perhaps this was the great stride you were talking about…

    He later issued a statement apologizing for his remark.

  9. matt says:
    September 1, 2007 at 8:29 am

    it is just a delusion of grandeur.

    do me a favor. don’t use expressions you don’t understand. it’s embarrassing, even if you’re not quite bright enough to actually be embarrassed.

    i made a post detailing the leading republicans’ lack of any katrina-related substance on the anniversary. you still haven’t responded to that, the substance of the post. this is the worst natural disaster in this country’s history. and it is ignored by all the republicans. why do you think this is? they forgot?

    so then you, like a dog with a chew toy, bite down on statistics which while difficult to come by are self-evident. then you find a new toy in robert byrd, totaly beside the point. when called on this, you grant that it is irrelevant, then continue to argue it.

    jim, i think honesty should be a goal for you. not sure where it fits in the hierarchy of christian beliefs, but i suspect that it is below gay-bashing, lower taxes, fighting terrarists etc. but honesty demands that you acknowledge what’s plain.

    while you can cite one formerly racist democrat, i can cite a hundred actively racist republicans.

    start here.

    how about hannity and limbaugh chastising ken mehlman for his fake renouncement of the southern strategy.

    throw in the corker-ford senate campaign which was won via nakedly racist ads…after mehlman’s promise to knock it off.

    how about minority voter suppression in the last 4 elections? how about not enough voting machines in minority districts? how about john roberts’ written opinion about school busing? Do you know what “states’ rights” is code for?

    jim: “but…but…but…robert byrd…”

    honesty jim. look into it.

  10. Matthew Tobey says:
    September 1, 2007 at 9:16 am

    In Jim’s defense, he has convinced me. I will not be voting for Robert Byrd for President.

  11. screwtape says:
    September 3, 2007 at 6:06 pm

    Lemme play devil’s advocate here.

    Not that I think there aren’t a bunch of hard core repubs who are racist, because I do. And not to agree with JimC, because he is a tard.

    But maybe they don’t care about NO because rebuilding it is the wrong thing to do. I know, that is giving those clowns a lot of credit. But still, they could be right without knowing it.

    Mrs Screwtape and I went to Venice recently. It was a lovely place, but the whole joint is sinking, like NO. At this point, the first floor of every building has at least 4 inches water in it.

    There is not a thing they can do about it. Sure, they can build dikes and walls and use massive pumps. They could use all the latest technology – lasers and computers and whatnot. But all that is temporary. Stop-gap measures. Long term, the joint is screwed.

    At some point they are going to have to pack up the REALLY important landmarks, and head for dry land.

    NO is in the same boat.

    I would rather my tax dollars not be spent on a futile endeavor like saving the Big Easy. I’d rather they spent some dough on relocating everyone. Preferrably someplace that is not so vulnerable to natural disasters.

    Before we went to Venice, we stopped in Pompeii. At some point the Pompeians (sp?) threw in the towel and quit rebuilding on a volcano. Maybe we should take a lesson from them.

  12. matt says:
    September 3, 2007 at 6:17 pm

    i can appreciate this argument. especially because it is actually an argument, albeit one that tom tancredo is making. and i’m sympathetic to it to a certain degree, but as i mentioned in my thoughts on my trip down to NO, for a lot of people, it’s home.

    people built homes and decided to move to or stay in new orleans because the government built the levees and told people they would be safe. if it weren’t for budget cuts and corruption, those levees would have held. lots of people live in risky areas, many of them on the pacific coast. doesn’t mean the government is making everyone leave malibu.

    with an investment in the levees and pumps, a real strategy on global warming, and a bit of innovation, new orleans would be ok. but absent that strategy/innovation, we’re all new orleanians. wanna move everyone in florida to tennessee?