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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPoll: Louisiana GOPers Unsure If Katrina Response Was Obama’s Fault
The latest survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling, provided exclusively to TPM, showed an eye-popping divide among Republicans in the Bayou State when it comes to accountability for the government's post-Katrina blunders.
Twenty-eight percent said they think former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time, was more responsible for the poor federal response while 29 percent said Obama, who was still a freshman U.S. Senator when the storm battered the Gulf Coast in 2005, was more responsible. Nearly half of Louisiana Republicans 44 percent said they aren't sure who to blame.
....
Brown's handling of the response ultimately led to his resignation, but Bush offered an infamous endorsement of the FEMA chief only days before he stepped down.
"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," Bush said.
Let the jokes commence
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)it's that the sheer weight of all that stupid is making Louisiana sink.
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)sinkingfeeling
(51,279 posts)Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)Return to teaching civics in high schools.My incoming freshman daughter and her friends have no idea what civics even means,outside of "civic center".And only that because there are friday night post football game dances there.
LearningCurve
(488 posts)But I think there is merit in this idea. Maybe not IQ tests, but something that requires a certain level of knowledge of government.
bobclark86
(1,415 posts)There used to be literacy tests and questions about the constitution.
Oh, wait. They were part of the Jim Crow laws...
LearningCurve
(488 posts)Those "literacy tests" were nothing of the sort. Hell, I couldn't have passed several of those in the allotted time. Those tests were also not administered across the board, certain people were grandfathered in. The point of those tests was never to determine if a person had an understanding of government, it was to exclude non-whites from voting.
ET Awful
(24,753 posts)If I recall correctly, it came from laws which said you could vote if your grandfather had voted.
LearningCurve
(488 posts)Since blacks had been recently given the right to vote, few of them had grandfathers who had voted. The opposite was true for whites.
Cobalt-60
(3,078 posts)Government and constitution.
I thought this came from the Onion at first.
gopiscrap
(23,674 posts)I had to pass a test to become a US Citizen!
PatrynXX
(5,668 posts)to pull a jim crow law. most republicans wouldn't pass
City Lights
(25,171 posts)Stuart G
(38,365 posts)Yes, there is such a movie....Idiocracy...................
Private Joe Bauers, the definition of "average American", is selected by the Pentagon to be the guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program. Forgotten, he awakes 500 years in the future. He discovers a society so incredibly dumbed-down that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.
....have fun with the movie...this poll is almost unreal...
Quantess
(27,630 posts)Destined to be a classic.
Buns_of_Fire
(17,121 posts)I really can't blame the poor republicans, though -- they simply aren't getting enough electrolytes in their diet...
jeffrey_pdx
(222 posts)Tommy_Carcetti
(43,085 posts)Joe: "For the last time, I'm pretty sure what's killing the crops is this Brawndo stuff."
Secretary of State: "But Brawndo's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes."
Attorney General: "So wait a minute. What you're saying is that you want us to put water on the crops."
Joe: "Yes."
Attorney General: "Water. Like out the toilet?"
Joe: "Well, I mean, it doesn't have to be out of the toilet, but, yeah, that's the idea."
Secretary of State: "But Brawndo's got what plants crave."
Attorney General: "It's got electrolytes."
Joe: "Okay, look. The plants aren't growing, so I'm pretty sure that the Brawndo's not working. Now, I'm no botanist, but I do know that if you put water on plants, they grow."
Secretary of Energy: "Well, I've never seen no plants grow out of no toilet."
Joe: "Okay, look. You wanna solve this problem. So why don't we just try it, okay, and not worry about what plants crave?"
Attorney General: "Brawndo's got what plants crave."
Secretary of Energy: "Yeah, it's got electrolytes."
Joe: "What are electrolytes? Do you even know?"
Secretary of State: "It's what they use to make Brawndo."
Joe: "Yeah, but why do they use them to make Brawndo?"
Secretary of Defense: "'Cause Brawndo's got electrolytes."
City Lights
(25,171 posts)Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)Buns_of_Fire
(17,121 posts)Or SHOULD be, anyway.
Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)to hear the president tell everyone in the House of Representin' to sit their monkey asses down before giving the SOTU?
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)Just watched today online, and wanted to find an easier site to watch the movie for a friend, and found this from Mike Judge in an interview with Alex Jones.
Turning to recent scandals involving the IRSs targeting of conservative groups and Americans who teach the Constitution, Judge commented, That does scare me, I think Im gonna make sure to not use the words tea party or constitution in any of my work
.that actually is scary, thats gonna make me listen to some more Alex Jones.
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)EC
(12,287 posts)denverbill
(11,489 posts)Why should anyone be surprised by anything these morons think?
Mr.Bill
(24,104 posts)azureblue
(2,131 posts)That Bush cut the Army Corps of Engineers' budget to the bone for three years, stopping an in place and active levee rebuilding project called SELA. In a nutshell, if Bush had not stolen the SELA budget, the levees that failed would have been inspected and repaired before Katrina hit. Try telling them that Bush was eating cake in AZ while New Orleans flooded. It's all documented.
IOW the flooding of New Orleans is entirely Bush's fault. But they will never admit that, they just close eyes and ears and try to blame Obama.
Cyrano
(15,023 posts)Yeah, sure, there will be those who claim that Obama wasn't even born yet. Nonetheless, the Titanic disaster needs to be looked at again.
Who knows where this treacherous fiend named Obama has struck? Wait, he claims to be from Hawaii. We need to look into Pearl Harbor again.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)where Obama's grandfather was at the time?
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)in New Orleans on events, etc to inform about events which occurred during and after Katrina. People was taken to an overpass and dropped off in 103 degree temperature without food and water and left for days.
To hear critics talking about how the people should not be begging for assistance is a shame. I read on critic who said he lived in Fargo and they had a blizzard and neighbors got out and helped others to shovel snow, etc, my question to him had he ever shoveled water, of course this was not the thoughts he had in mind. Yes, Bush flew over and looked down from Air Force One but did not get concerned until days later when the media started broadcasting they were able to get in and through lots of areas but Bush did not care and I have a suspicion it had a lot to do with there being a Democrat governor and mayor but we are all citizens. There are a certain number of people who would back Bush no matter what he did or said. He had a nobody Brownie who he paid back for support in the elections who did not ever plan to do any work.
azureblue
(2,131 posts)February 2001
Bushs first budget proposed more than half a billion dollars worth of cuts to the Army Corps of Engineers for the 2002 fiscal year. Bush proposed half of what his own officials said was necessary for the critical Southeast Louisiana Flood Control Project (SELA)a project started after a 1995 rainstorm flooded 25,000 homes and caused a half billion dollars in damage.
Bush did this to offset the tax break he gave to the top 1% of rich Americans. The first major economic initiative pursued by the president was a massive tax cut for the rich, enacted in June of 2001. Bush signed his massive $1.3 trillion income tax cut into law-a tax cut that severely depleted the government of revenues it needed to address critical priorities.
February 2002
Bush provided just $5 million for maintaining and upgrading critical hurricane protection levees in New Orleansone fifth of what government experts and Republican elected officials in Louisiana told the administration was needed. Bush knew SELA needed $80 million to keep working, but the he only proposed providing a quarter of that.
February 2004
The SELA project sought $100 million to repair the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain levees, but Bush offered only $16.5 million. The Army Corps of Engineers asked for $27 million to pay for hurricane protection upgrades around Lake Pontchartrainbut the White House cut that to $3.9 million. Gaps in levees around Lake Pontchartrain & the Industrial Canal, which were supposed to be filled by 2004, were not filled because of budget shortfalls. Repair work on the levees, including the ones that failed, was stopped due to lack of funds.
A COMPARISON OF PREVIOUS HURRICANE RESPONSES:
President Nixon -- August 1969 when Cat-5 Hurricane Camille hit roughly the same area as Katrina, President Nixon had already readied the National Guard and ordered all Gulf rescue vessels and equipment from Tampa and Houston to follow the Hurricane in. There were over 1,000 regular military with two dozen helicopters to assist the Coast Guard and National Guard within hours after the skies cleared.
President Clinton -- September 1999, Hurricane Floyd -- Cat-3, was bearing down on the Carolinas and Virginia. President Clinton was in Christchurch, New Zealand - meeting with President Jiang of China. He made the proclamation that only Presidents can make and declared the areas affected by Floyd "Federal Disaster Areas" so the National Guard and Military can begin to mobilize. Then he cut short his meetings overseas and flew home to coordinate the rescue efforts. All one day BEFORE a Cat-3 hit the coast.
President Bush (41) -- August 1992 -- was in the midst of a campaign for re-election. Yet, he cut off his campaigning the day before and went to Washington where he martialed the largest military operation on US soil in history. He sent in 7,000 National Guard and 22,000 regular military personnel, and all the gear to begin the clean up within hours after Andrew passed through Florida.
George Bush (43) -- August 2005 -- Cat-5 Hurricane Katrina bears down on New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf. Both states are down nearly 8,000 National Guard troops because they are in Iraq -- with most of the rescue gear needed.
Bush is on vacation. The day before Katrina makes landfall, Bush rides his bike for two hours. The day Katrina hits, he goes to John McCain's birthday party, The day Katrina hits, he goes to John McCain's birthday party, and lies to old people about the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company welfare boondoggle.
People are dying, the largest port of entry in the United States (and fifth largest in the World) is under attack. Troops and supplies are desperately needed. The levees are cracking and the emergency 1-1/2 ton sandbags are ready, but there aren't enough helicopters or pilots to set them before the levees fail. The mayor of New Orleans begs for Federal coordination, but there is none, and the sandbagging never gets done. Bush goes to San Diego, to play guitar with a country singer and lie to the military about how Iraq is just exactly like WWII. The levees give way, filling New Orleans with water, sewage, oil and chemicals. Ten percent of all US exports, and 50% of all agricultural exports ordinarily go through this port. It is totally destroyed. Bush decides he'll end his vacation a couple of days early -- BECAUSE HE HAS TICKETS TO A PADRES GAME.
.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)of body odors, holes in roofs which people beat their way out after the streets was flooded and other roofs where recovery teams removed bodies from attics after the people had to enter to escape the water. This is very sad our nation turned their backs on the folks, it was racial slurs against those who did not leave but this storm took lots of folks by surprise. Until you are faced with situations like this you don't know what you would do yourself.
malaise
(267,827 posts)These sheeple are robots
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)from a state that's on the same river as Louisiana, so it's entirely plausible.
penultimate
(1,110 posts)Last edited Wed Aug 21, 2013, 02:27 PM - Edit history (1)
But you have to wonder what world those 29% of the people live in... I would love to hear them explain their thought process.
I can overlook the ones who said they don't know, because they may not blame Bush themselves and they found the Obama part to be WTF-ish...
Harry Monroe
(2,935 posts)It's pretty simple really, they see "blame" and "Obama" in the same question and the reptilian part of their brain kicks in. Like the proverbial Pavlovian dog, they've been conditioned to blame Obama for everything. A poll question with Obama as one of the choices? Doesn't matter what it is about, Obama has to be the choice for them!! No other choice matter!! Obama and blame, that's all they saw. Rage overtook reason and they didn't bother to think about the question for two seconds to see that their "reasoning" for choosing Obama was completely wrong and invalid.
As a native Louisianian, I am ashamed of how far that state has fallen.
penultimate
(1,110 posts)It's just a knee-jerk response based on their twisted rage. Which is why I'd love to see them try to explain how they came to that conclusion. I don't even see how they could stretch to come up with that conclusion, so they'd have to admit they were wrong. Well, I guess they could come up with some crazy theory, but they'd have to dive pretty deep into tinfoil hat land to do it.
benld74
(9,889 posts)mfcorey1
(10,997 posts)Harry Monroe
(2,935 posts)....more Louisiana Republican Teabillies blame Obama for the Titanic sinking than President Taft.
They also blame Obama more for the Hindenburg disaster than President Roosevelt!!
Oh the humanity!! I weep for the future of my home state, Louisiana.
NOLALady
(4,003 posts)said that a poll described Mississippians as the dumbest state. But, I think the poll is wrong.
That honor must go to my fellow Louisianians!
TheLion
(44 posts)If only three in ten Lousianna Republicans are that moronic, they've certainly made great improvement.
jimlup
(7,968 posts)God what can we do???
maui902
(108 posts)an alarming lack of knowledge of the facts. It's just breathtaking that anyone could believe President Obama (then Senator Obama) had anything to do with the response to Hurricane Katrina. I was already prepared for the inevitable blame he'll receive for things that happen after he is no longer the President, but to blame him for things occurring before he took office is just cluelessness on a whole other scale. While watching Carly Fiorina this past weekend on This Week, I was once again amazed that someone who is recognized as a business leader could continue to claim that the U.S. is driving up deficits, when in fact the deficit is going down-rapidly. Both David Plouffe and Rep. Ellison reacted by shaking their heads and trying to say no, but on the show went without George Stephanopoulus stopping the dialogue to challenge Fiorina's obvious misstatement. Subsequently, Plouffe corrected her statement, but viewers who don't read or work to understand the issues too often just accept a misleading narrative. Although the national debt continues to grow, and will do so as long as we run any deficit (which is the norm), it is not rising nearly as fast as it was previously under Bush and the first four years under Obama because we the deficit is decreasing rapidly.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)and the other $12B is all from "redistribution to the poor": THIS IS THEIR WORLD; they only get their new from Fox (proven by a study) and that's used to pretend that libs have a similar bubble or echo chamber
and they pretend that libs get their worldview the same way (pace MSNBC's partisanship--which is used to defend O's conservative policies)
Bossy Monkey
(15,863 posts)Also, this is as good a time as any to say, "Thank you, Captain Obvious!"
I don't need the sarcasm tag for either of those, do I?
Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)Snake Plissken
(4,103 posts)Because Clinton was the president before it happened and Obama was the president after it happened. It could also be the fault of the president who is elected in 2016, assuming a Democratic Candidate is elected President.
malthaussen
(17,066 posts)-- Mal
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Even Louisiana Dems aren't sure. Case in point: Mary Landrieu.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,085 posts)Lobo27
(753 posts)Is going to come true.....................................
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)"He lost us the Civil War too!"
TDale313
(7,820 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)NOLALady
(4,003 posts)Only 28 per cent of Louisianians have good sense.
I am so embarrassed.
The Wizard
(12,482 posts)he's only half white.
DinahMoeHum
(21,737 posts)And if said rapture ever comes, I'm claiming their property and possessions.
Tien1985
(920 posts)I can't even fathom that level of stupidity right now.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)underpants
(182,281 posts)This has been the point of RW media and their followers (MSM and dashboard believers). 2001 to 2009 didn't happen. Obama did the bailouts, "Obama phones", Obama created the deficit....etc.
Scalded Nun
(1,231 posts)You have to fight it (tooth and nail), but you just can't fix it.
Beartracks
(12,761 posts)Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Just lying.
JI7
(89,182 posts)when you have idiots like this electing idiots into office
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Botany
(70,291 posts)Who can forget bush showing up 5 days later and looking at an old weather satellite photo
of the storm w/Brownie?
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef01348070d192970c-600wi
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)would bet a significant portion would say yes and a larger number would say they didn't know. Considering Barack Obama would have been two years old at the time - that wouldn't necessarily deter them from thinking is was plausible.
MFM008
(19,782 posts)now it is shown to be a fact.
Boom Sound 416
(4,185 posts)Bill USA
(6,436 posts)recommended and bookmarked!