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This was one of the first articles I'd ever had published on DemocraticUndergound, and I thought it appropriate to re-post it here tonight.
"We Know What You Did This Summer"
By Nancy Greggs, September 7, 2005
In this past week of tragedy, anguish and death, Bush & Co. couldn't care less about the people who were living in hell. Well, that's no surprise to most of us. Been there, seen that. Just like they don't care about the soldiers they've sent to die in Iraq, or the innocent civilians there who have had their country turned upside down to the point of civil war. Just like they don't care about the millions of Americans they've forced into poverty, the people who have lost their jobs due to their policies.
So tell us something we didn't already know.
But this week, there was a more than obvious difference to their indifference. In a definite departure from the norm, they didn't even bother to fake it.
They didn't start the week off with photo-ops of the president hopping onto Air Force One, wearing that well-rehearsed look of concern on his face, winging his way back to Washington to "‘take charge." There were no press conferences held by Condi, or Dick, or Rummy, within hours of the disaster, assuring the citizenry that they were on the job.
No, this week there was something else in the photo-op line-up. Bush strumming a guitar with a country singer, Condi taking in a Broadway musical comedy, good ol' boy Georgie sharing a birthday cake with McCain; photographs of people enjoying themselves while American citizens, the ones they've sworn so often to protect from any catastrophe, went without food, without water, without help – without hope.
And make no mistake about it. This was not the usual paparazzi fare, taken from behind a garbage can in an alley somewhere, the subjects unknowingly caught in the act. No, these were frame-worthy photographs of our dear president, the kind you'd have autographed and send to your Grandma, to be hung with reverence and respect in the front parlour. Too bad Grandma will never appreciate the gesture. You see, she was left to die, slumped in a wheelchair full of her own excrement, waiting for help that, for her and thousands of others, never came.
One might think that some kind of contagious form of stupidity had spread through the Administration and its minions, some form of temporary amnesia that caused them to forget the PR angle, forget the political fallout, forget the impact these photographs would have on Americans across the nation, and on people around the world.
But I, for one, am not buying the stupidity-cum-amnesia theory. These people are too smart. These are the folks who managed to smear a decorated war hero while convincing American voters that a bumbling draft-dodger was the obvious choice for commander-in-chief. They're the folks that came up with a never-ending list of reasons-du-jour for going into Iraq. These are the professional Rapunzels who, given a minute's notice, can spin even the filthiest straw into gold.
I don't doubt for a second that there were advisors, albeit of a lesser class than Cabinet members and others of the inner circle, who stated the obvious: "Mr. President, playing the guitar and laughing, while people in Mississippi are dying, might not sit too well with the public," or, "Ms. Rice, maybe you should shop for shoes another time." Maybe even a PR-savvy underling who saw an opportunity to undo those plummeting poll numbers: "Mr. President, people might forget this whole Cindy Sheehan thing if they see you in Louisiana, with your sleeves rolled up, acting like you give a shit."
And you can also picture, without too much effort, the seasoned professional spinmeisters assuring the naïve and uninitiated that everything was under control, reminding them that there are dozens of people who they could blame after-the-fact, like the local authorities, the military – hell, even the victims themselves.
Why this lack of concern about how the antics of the past seven days would play in the press? It's a complex question with a simple answer: Because this administration is now arrogant enough to believe that no matter what they do, no matter how crassly they act, no matter how inhumane their demeanour, the American public will conveniently forget, or, out of unquestioned loyalty, will silently and deliberately look the other way.
Even after the outrage of ordinary, caring citizens drove Bush to the disaster site and Condi back to Washington, they still couldn't be bothered to play their parts with even a modicum of propriety. Bush stood literally feet away from sick and dying evacuees, and joked about his youthful escapades in NOLA back in the day. Condi arrived at a rescue centre, dressed in her designer suit – white, of course, in dramatic contrast to the people surrounding her, who had just spent a week living in filth and squalor – smilingly grasping the hand of a wheelchair-bound survivor, holding her pose for several seconds as the photographers did their work, ever mindful of how bad she can look in one of those fuzzy, out-of-focus shots.
Well, here's the scoop, Mr. Vacation Boy, Ms. Spamalot, Mr. Gone Fishin' VP: America noticed.
America watched closely as you smiled into the camera, as closely as they watched people dying of dehydration and lack of food. America watched, dumbfounded, as you partied and shopped for footwear, as you posed for the TV cameras and congratulated yourselves on a job well done. America watched as their fellow citizens begged for a drop of water for a dying neighbour, or a mouthful of food for a hungry child.
And for once, God be praised, even your own didn't look the other way. Even the media, who have ignored your posturing for too long, turned the spotlight on your utter indifference. Even your most loyal network cheerleaders publicly shook their heads in disgust.
In the weeks and months to come, as the bodies of the people you let die are slowly retrieved and properly laid to rest, we'll hear your excuses, we'll watch your finger-pointing, we'll listen to your well-practiced speeches about how grief-stricken you are.
But there are those photographs. Your own inhumanity, captured forever in photographic splendour, etched forever on the minds and hearts of all Americans, a Kodak moment that all the spinmeisters in the world will never, ever be able to undo.
And lest we forget:
"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." President Bush, six days AFTER repeated warnings from experts about the EXPECTED damage from Hurricane Katrina.
"FEMA is not going to hesitate at all in this storm. We are not going to sit back and make this a bureaucratic process. We are going to move fast, we are going to move quick, and we are going to do whatever it takes to help disaster victims." FEMA Director Michael Brown, Aug. 28, 2005
"We just learned of the convention center – we being the federal government – today." FEMA Director Michael Brown, to ABC's Ted Koppel, Sept. 1, 2005. Koppel’s response: "Don't you guys watch television? Don't you guys listen to the radio? Our reporters have been reporting on it for more than just today."
"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." President Bush to FEMA director Michael Brown, Sept. 2, 2005.
"Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, 'New Orleans Dodged the Bullet.' Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse." Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
"I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water." Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Sept. 1, 2005
”And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them." Former First Lady Barbara Bush re hurricane evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston.
”We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. The good news is that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before.” G.W. Bush, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005
"What didn't go right?" President Bush, as quoted by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), after she urged him to fire FEMA Director Michael Brown "because of all that went wrong, of all that didn't go right" in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
"There are a lot of lessons we want to learn out of this process in terms of what works. I think we are in fact on our way to getting on top of the whole Katrina exercise." Vice President Dick Cheney.
”There may be a need to look at tougher PENALTIES on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving." Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Sept. 6, 2005.
"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA).
"Last night, we showed you the full force of a superpower government going to the rescue." MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Sept. 1, 2005.
"I also want to encourage anybody who was affected by Hurricane Corina to make sure their children are in school." First Lady Laura Bush, Sept. 8, 2005.
"I don't want to alarm everybody that, you know, New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That's just not happening." Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Aug. 30, 2005.
"Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people." President Bush, Sept. 6, 2005
Post Script: Two years after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, thousands of its victims are STILL displaced from their homes, are STILL living in trailers that have been deemed unfit for human habitation, are STILL trying to collect from their insurance companies, are STILL waiting for help – help that STILL hasn’t arrived.
”Just to get you on the record, where does the buck stop in this administration?" White House reporter
"The President." White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Sept. 6, 2005
Heck of a job, Bushie - heck of a job.
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