Get Off His Back

American Spectator ^ | 9/4/2005 | Ben Stein

[visagoth]

A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:

1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.

2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.

3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.

4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.

5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.

6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.

7.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.

8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.

9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.

10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.

11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.

12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care.

God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.

****
UPDATE: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.:

More Mysteries of Katrina:

Why is it that the snipers who shot at emergency rescuers trying to save people in hospitals and shelters are never mentioned except in passing, and Mr. Bush, who is turning over heaven and earth to rescue the victims of the storm, is endlessly vilified?

What church does Rev. Al Sharpton belong to that believes in passing blame and singling out people by race for opprobrium and hate?

What special abilities does the media have for deciding how much blame goes to the federal government as opposed to the city government of New Orleans for the aftereffects of Katrina?

If able-bodied people refuse to obey a mandatory evacuation order for a city, have they not assumed the risk that ill effects will happen to them?

When the city government simply ignores its own sick and hospitalized and elderly people in its evacuation order, is Mr. Bush to blame for that?

Is there any problem in the world that is not Mr. Bush's fault, or have we reverted to a belief in a sort of witchcraft where we credit a mortal man with the ability to create terrifying storms and every other kind of ill wind?

Where did the idea come from that salvation comes from hatred and criticism and mockery instead of love and co-operation?


Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He also writes "Ben Stein's Diary" in every issue of The American Spectator. Please click here to subscribe.

[upchuck]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476744/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476485/posts

[SFConservative]

This version includes updates dated today at 2:13 PM that the prior two posts did not include. So thanks for posting it!

[popdonnelly]

The Democrats are doing the only thing they are capable of doing: blaming Bush. Look at the Louisiana State government and the New Orleans government. Why is it these people are totally incapable of handling a natural disaster. The Democrats are blaming Bush to divert attention from the incompetence, crime, government dependency, and corruption that their policies and their attitudes have created.

[Gator113]

I saw that too.......yes, Hannity did very good!!!!

[Bommer]

NAGIN: I need reinforcements, I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man. We ain't talking about -- you know, one of the briefings we had, they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out here.

I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

That's -- they're thinking small, man. And this is a major, major, major deal. And I can't emphasize it enough, man. This is crazy.

Louisiana disaster plan, pg 13, para 5 , dated 01/00

'The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating'...

they're thinking small, man!
they're thinking small, man!

they're thinking small, man!
they're thinking small, man!

they're thinking small, man!
they're thinking small, man!

they're thinking small, man!
they're thinking small, man!

small thinking man! small thinking man!

[LoudRepublicangirl]

Good for Sean. Gerald needs to cut out his drama queen antics and I'm glad someone was man enough to tell him.

[popdonnelly]

But if it was in the NYT, Newsweek, or Time, I wouldn't read it.

[dfwgator]

Bush had to overcome both the hurricane and the incompetent Louisiana state government. Which one was more difficult is hard to say. I don't think he anticipated the level of incompetence of the Governor and the Mayor. An understandable mistake, but hopefully one that won't happen again, live and learn.

[Right Wing Assault]

Well, I just did a search using 'get off back' and got this one and two others. I don't know.

Anyway, I'm glad for the triple post since I missed the other two. That would have been a bummer, because it was a great post. Honest and right to the point.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Thank God for men like Ben Stein. I'm sure he'll get an opportunity on the networks to express his opinion. Right.

[Savage Beast]

I love ya, Ben, but you're wasting your finger muscles if you think you'll convince those morons on the Left. They still think (1) Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction (nevermind that Saddam used them on the Kurds and the Iranians), (2) there was no connection between the Saddam regime and Al-Qaida, and (3) Bush stole the election. They also think--or are trying to think--that Bush blew up the New Orleans levees to raise the price of oil. As for the sociopathic leaders of the Left, they know very well what the truth is; in fact, they're the ones who make up all this outrageous fiction that gets the Leftist morons so upset.

[SFConservative]

While I agree with almost everything in this post, I must be the only Freeper that thinks Bush did not act quickly enough.

Since nothing is ever perfect, I'm sure the Federal Government could have done incrementally better. But do you know what it takes to stage transportation and supplies for the number of people that remained behind? There were many more people stuck in NO than there would have been, had the pre-hurricane evacuation effort been more effective and complete. Add to that the need to precede the help with a crime suppression effort that also was way more demanding than it would have been had one third of the NO police not abandoned their responsibilities.

If relief had been haphazardly rushed in and resulted in spotty application and significant inequity and confusion, the left and the media would now be criticizing the administration for the mess and would say that it should have waited another day to properly organize and stage the relief.

We seem to have lost our ability to appreciate exceptional efforts and results on the part of just about anything and anybody. We waste zero time in criticizing the crap out of everything, usually from a position of zero or minimal knowledge. The media help that along by focusing and dramatizing isolated sad cases and fail to offset that with the many positive cases. We should be all more objective in understanding that dynamic and realize we are being treated to 3+ sigma stuff on TV and to unscrupulous political opportunists who paint the bleakest pictures. Let's actually listen to a pro like LTG Honore, who tells it like it is.

The federal agencies doing this sort of thing are extremely disciplined in doing constructive lessons-learned exercises after each event. Let's give them a chance to do that in a few weeks and months and stop our uninformed carping.

However, that the LA and NO authorities failed to implement lessons learned from Ivan is documented and a disgrace. Those people should learn a few lessons from the feds and the equivalent FL organizations who have shown that they can actually execute effective operations to the point where relief efforts after a typical hurricane are hardly reported on anymore.

[Reagan Man]

>>>>What would Bill Clinton do?

Here's one way to look at it. God never gives you more then you can handle. When Clinton was POTUS, he had the fiscally responsible GOP Congress to keep him in check. And BillyBoy never faced a serious challenge while in the Oval Office. OTOH. PresBush has faced three great challenges. The attacks of 9-11, the WOT and now this devastating human tragedy of hurricane Katrina.

[Soul Seeker]

I don't know whether they would or have printed it, but would have to disagree about it only preaching to the choir. This particular article seems to be getting around, it's certainly been posted on FR quite often, and imo, with good reason.

It gave the facts and said what so many of us have been screaming in four loud short words. "Get Off His Back".

Unlike some other cowards (certain conservative notables in nuMedia), Stein didn't crawl in a hole and doubt or hit the President. He got the facts and stood in solid with Him. I admire him for it.

[onyx eyes]

......If we could go back in the MSM transcripts for Friday and Saturday before the storm hit we would see reporters talking about how so many people were still partying and dancing and doing the club-scene.

Reminds one of ...what ancient city was that?

[TheMole]

Very good point. Bourbon Street bars were still serving drinks on Sunday one hour before the storm hit. George W. Bush had declared a disaster area on Friday so that state officials could take advantage of federal resources immediately -- as Louisiana Governor Blanco acknowledged during her press conference with Mayor Nagin on Saturday morning. Let the good times roll indeed.

[Les_Miserables]

stop our uninformed carping.

Not uninformed by a long shot. And not carping either. The excuse of how long it takes to deploy is beginning to wear a bit thin. In fsct in this situation it is BS. 24 hrs after Bush said get NG-MPs into NO they were there. 3 days too late. Like I said. It all will sort out but to keep excusing the delay is not right. I probably am as well informed as you or most Freepers on this unfortunate event. I just will not white wash the situation. He did not act quickly enough. That is my opnion. You can have yours. I don't want to disparage your knowledge of this and you have no right to do so to me. Just disagree. Most Freepers do. Hail Dubya.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks, Ben Stein is like a great Red wine, that improves with age.