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More on Katrina [Ben Stein]
American Spectator ^ | September 12, 2005 | Ben Stein

Posted on 09/12/2005 6:00:49 AM PDT by Quilla

Fact: Katrina was a devastating storm. It left terrible damage to innocent people's lives and to property throughout the Gulf South.

Fact: There have been other storms as damaging and some far more damaging. What, then, is different about this storm? Here are a few tentative thoughts.

First, the incompetence of the local and state authorities in Louisiana and especially New Orleans was breathtaking. To issue a mandatory evacuation order without providing means of transport is almost criminally irresponsible. To take citizens to shelters where they would be beaten, robbed and raped and to provide no police protection for them was astoundingly incompetent. To allow armed gangs to shoot at rescuers was almost beyond belief.

Second, the response of the federal government is described as slow, and it was slow at first. But can anyone name a natural disaster in which more federal troops, supplies, and money have been dispatched as quickly as they have been done in this disaster? Bush's response has not been unusually bad, but amazingly powerful and swift. In other hurricanes, survivors have been left for weeks on their own. In Katrina's case, the whole affected area has been covered with money and aid and troops to restore order on a scale and with speed never seen before.

Third, the networks and newspapers have been quick to cry racism because so many of the victims were black. This is total nonsense. New Orleans is a mostly black city. Obviously, most of the victims of the storm would be black. No one has been able to point to a single instance in which black victims were mistreated because of their race by whites. In fact, just the opposite has happened. The whole story is of rescues and salvation by people of all races aimed at people of all races. In a gesture never seen before, the whole heart of the nation has taken in poor, bereft black families and sheltered them absolutely without regards to race. This is a mirror of the basic goodness of Americans and the disappearance of racism as an acceptable action basis of American life. It is also a measure of the total absence of racism in the heart of George W. Bush. The media may play this as a story of race versus race, but that is pure incendiary fantasy, and dangerous nonsense.

What is the real story of Katrina is (I suggest) not so much that nature wrought fury on land, water, people, property, and animals, not at all anything about racism, not much about federal government incompetence. The real story is that the mainstream media rioted.

They used the storm and its attendant sorrows to continue their endless attack on George W. Bush. Wildly inflated stories about the number of dead and missing, totally made up old wives' tales of racism, breathless accounts of Bush neglect that are utterly devoid of truth and of historical context -- this is what the mainstream media gave us. The use of floating corpses, of horror stories of plagues, the sad faces of refugees, the long-faced phony accusations of intentional neglect and racism -- anything is grist for the media's endless attempts to undermine the electorate's choice last November. It is sad, but true that the media will use even the most heart breaking truths -- and then add total inventions -- to try to weaken and then evict from office a man who has done nothing wrong, but has instead turned himself inside out to help the real victims.

In the meantime, George Bush does not lash out, does not attack those who falsely accuse him of the most horrible acts and neglect. Instead, he doggedly goes on helping the least among us. I don't know how he does it, but we are very lucky he does. As for truth, it eventually may be salvaged from the flooded neighborhoods of The Crescent City, but not as long as there is a lie to use to hurt an honest man trying to do the best he can, and hundreds of thousands of brave, tireless men and women who do more than point fingers and tell tales. The Katrina story is a disgrace to the people who are "reporting" it while pouring gasoline on a fire. They and their crusade against George Bush are the real stories, and they are dismal ones.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: benstein; katrina; katrinafacts; mediabias; neworleans; presidentbush
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Outta the park!
1 posted on 09/12/2005 6:00:51 AM PDT by Quilla
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To: Quilla

Lets not leave out that they closed one of the exit routes from the city!


2 posted on 09/12/2005 6:03:19 AM PDT by stockpirate (If you are a John Kerry fan check out my about me page, you'll toss your lunch.)
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To: Quilla
The real story is that the mainstream media rioted.

Perhaps the most unprofessional reporting I've ever seen.

3 posted on 09/12/2005 6:04:01 AM PDT by Peach (South Carolina is praying for our Gulf coast citizens.)
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To: Quilla

Ben Stein for White House Press Secretary


4 posted on 09/12/2005 6:06:49 AM PDT by silverleaf (Fasten your seat belts- it's going to be a BUMPY ride.)
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To: Quilla

Big Ben Bump!


5 posted on 09/12/2005 6:07:09 AM PDT by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: Quilla

I like Ben!!


7 posted on 09/12/2005 6:07:34 AM PDT by Mathews (Shot... Splash... Out!)
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To: stockpirate

I recall seeing video of bumper to bumper traffic leaving New Orleans in the outbound lanes only. I was dumbfounded when reporters stated both incoming and outbound lanes were being used for the evacuation when that obviously was not the case.

I must have lying eyes.


8 posted on 09/12/2005 6:07:34 AM PDT by Quilla
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To: Quilla

Excellent! Thank you so much for posting it!


9 posted on 09/12/2005 6:09:19 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Quilla
Finally, someone said it, the DNC/MSM were hysterical, incendiary, and wrote the script of this hurricane, a fictional script.

Bastards, how many times will we allow them to do this, first it was the 2000 elections, 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Abu Grab, Guantanamo...on and on. They write history, and they run this country completely. Just as they did under Clinton, they define the conventional wisdom.
10 posted on 09/12/2005 6:09:53 AM PDT by roses of sharon
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: Quilla
To issue a mandatory evacuation order without providing means of transport is almost criminally irresponsible.

In the case of NO, this is the crux of the matter.

12 posted on 09/12/2005 6:10:30 AM PDT by kabar
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To: Quilla
Great column. Thanks for posting it.

I'd suggest one tiny change

Stein's phrase:

The media may play this as a story of race versus race..

should read

The MSM concubines of the DNC may play this as a story of race versus race...

13 posted on 09/12/2005 6:10:45 AM PDT by syriacus (Ebbert, NOLA DHS, said at 1st - the water is rising slowly + the levee will be fixed in hours.)
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To: silverleaf
Ben Stein for White House Press Secretary

"There's been a what in the Gulf Coast? Anyone? A hurricane. Hurricanes have very high ... Anyone? Winds. When a disaster strikes, who do you people in the media blame? Who do you blame? The Republicans. Why do you do this? Anyone? Bueller? Because you hate our country."

14 posted on 09/12/2005 6:11:12 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: Quilla
The real story is that the mainstream media rioted.

Best line of the month - maybe the year. When clear-headed analysis was called for, they instead gave us a hissy fit.

15 posted on 09/12/2005 6:11:24 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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To: Quilla

Bump--I noticed the same thing, too. It's called the "Hodges Conundrum" (I made that up, but there was a governor of SC who muffed up a hurrican evac, too. He was a puppet of the trial lawyers and that's ALL he was...)


16 posted on 09/12/2005 6:13:22 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: stockpirate
Lets not leave out that they closed one of the exit routes from the city!

One of the suburbs did that I believe. Was it a white suburb? If so blame the local racists. But the Donks prefer to try to stick it to GW and FEMA and our stupid mass medai is working hand in glove with them.

Never have I seen such ignorance about what the responsibilities of state and local governments are. That this nation is not run out of George Bush's office, that it has many local governments tasked with governing and providing leadership in time of disaster

17 posted on 09/12/2005 6:14:27 AM PDT by dennisw (***)
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To: Quilla

BEN STEIN BUMP! Your eyes were wide open, like the rest of us "civilians"... MSM may be the loser (we can only hope)!


18 posted on 09/12/2005 6:14:32 AM PDT by pageonetoo (You'll spot their posts soon enough!)
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To: Quilla

Now, if only the administration were half as articulate as Ben Stein! It's all well and good to help the hurricane victims first before answering the lies of the media and other Dims, but too many voters don't have enough background to understand how outrageous the claims against Bush are. There need to be many more articles like this.


19 posted on 09/12/2005 6:14:35 AM PDT by labard1
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To: Quilla

The mainstream media had a temper tantrum.


20 posted on 09/12/2005 6:25:34 AM PDT by Maceman (Pro Se Defendant from Hell)
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