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Political Sitrep: Tactical and Strategic

Posted on 09/18/2005 1:53:44 PM PDT by jeffers

Tim Russert and a couple of other Sunday show hosts pretty much let the cat all the way out of the bag this morning, outlining the Liberal MSM overall strategy, and how they plan to implement it.

First a timeline, to avoid confusing seperate issues:

1. Blanco and Nagin led off the Blame Bush attack, a preemptive strike to avoid responsibility for their monumental failures in safeguarding Louisiana and New Orleans before, during and after the storm.

2. The Liberal MSM picked this up and ran with it, partially to support the Dems in Louisiana, and possibly partly as the first step in their grand campaign, but I'm not sure Liberals are capable of thinking that far ahead.

3. Bush conceeded responsibility for any as yet unproven or even alleged Federal failures.

4. The Liberal MSM and the LA local and staters picked this up, in order to: A. Blame Bush for all of it, as in "Yes there were failures at all levels and BUSH IS GUILTY OF MURDER, HE ADMITTED IT. B. Establish as "fact" that the federal response was "unconscionably slow".

5. Blanco, Nagin and Landrieu are running with this to ensure that they will control (and be able to steal a large portion of, if you believe they are so inclined, and I do)$200 to $300 billion Federal dollars.

6. The Liberal MSM is running with this in order to re-fight the Iraq war and the 2004 Presidential election, also to prime the ground for a recovery ( and face it, they failed so badly in 2004 that anything will be seen as a "recovery") in 2006.

7. Bush has promised a massive effort to rebuild in the hopes of negating the MSM and LA gov't's attacks, but has dropped in the polls because Conservatives are worried over the cost and many see Bush's actions as conceeding the blame game without ever firing a shot. Little else has changed, no new Liberals like Bush, no conservatives like the Left, nobody on any side currently trusts the media, and the media is using this as license to lie and spin at will.

8. Bush has managed to slide two critical strategic victories past the Dems, with at least one still yet to accomplish. Supreme Court nominee is almost certainly "in", and the Katrina comission will probably sport a conservative majority and deny the Libs subpoena powers.

That covers the strategic and tactical picture to date, now we can look ahead with a clear understanding of the current lie of the land, first at the strategic level, and second at the tactical level.

In the very near future, Conservatives need to establish at least three main objectives.

1. Control of the rebuilding funding MUST bypass local and state Louisiana governments for two main reasons: A. If not the money will not do anyone any good outside of state and local government's private wealth building programs. B. Success here will help unify Conservatives by demonstrating that Liberal tactics are being met and defeated, by raising poll numbers, by reducing overall recovery costs, and by allowing Conservatives enough breathing space to mount counterattacks based on a unified funding priority understanding.

2. Conservatives need to make crystal clear across the boards that funding and troop allocations for Iraq are NOT on the table.

3. Conservatives need to highlight the media's current abysimal credibility, in order to defang the only real potential post Katrina threat, that someone will start believing the media's lies.

Liberals can be expected to maneuver along three fronts as well: 1. They will try to maintain control over the relief money. 2. They will attempt to subvert the Katrina Investigation process and possibly wrest control back to their side. 3. They will attempt to exploit Conservative concerns over the cost of the rebuilding process and, at the same time, try to make a strong connection between Iraq and Katrina's cost.

At the tactical level, Conservatives have significant firepower, if perhaps not the will or currently the solidarity to use them.

1. Every significant failure regarding Hurricane Katrina was caused by the state and local governments, exacerbated by them in fact, including: A. The Dome fiasco, re flooded buses, poor command and control at the Mayoral level (holed up in the Hyatt with no phone for 3 days), complete breakdown of local and state law enforcement, and failure to pre-deploy state controlled National Guard, and refusal to allow Red Cross and Salvation relief in to those people. B. The Convention Center fiasco, ditto above puls the fact that no mention of the CC as a shelter appears in pre-storm plans (which were ignored). C. Failure to quickly rescue rooftop refugees due to looting (law enforcement failure, poor organization and C3) D. Widespread breakdown in civil order, resulting from complete failure of law enforcement, poor C3, refusal to deploy local Guard, refusal to Federalize the Guard's chain of command. E. Ignorant handling of early intelligence related to levee breaches and flooding, no contingency procedures for repairing levee breaches, negligent adherence to the belief that the Corps of Engineers could repair the levees in full flood without benefit of a pre-arranged plan and in near certain defiance of Corps assessments at the time, resulting in slow local and state response to flood related issues. F. Open breach between New Orleans and Louisiana governments, resulting in no significant relief or rescue efforts below Federal level.

2. Every major component of the disaster as listed above was, in fact, saved at the bell by either FEMA, Federal forces, or National Guard under Federal control. Additionally, the only thig which prevented total disaster at the Dome were the 90,000 liters of water and 43,000 MRE's prepositioned there by the Feds, before the storm. The Feds: A. Evacuated the Dome B. Evacuated the rooftops C. Relieved and evacuated the Convention Center. D. Re-established law and order E. Established long term temporary shelter for the refugees F. Created the environment noted in item E. of this list whereby the levee breaches could be sealed and the pumps re-started.

3. Complete control over the Federal portion of the relief and rebuilding funding lies with a Republican controlled Congress and Senate.

4. The US, overall is in good financial shape, the normal annual military budget is approximately twice what total Katrina rebuilding will entail, there is no logical reason to be forced into choosing between Katrina and Iraq.

5. The facts of the matter, as they come to light in the post storm aftermath will continue to show nothing but failure at the state and local levels, and success at the Federal levels.

6. The media has clearly and obviously and demonstrably failed to accurately report the facts as they emerge. Embarrasing failures include: A. Poo-pooing the pre-storm "hype" of a doomsday scenario. B. Reporting that New orleans "dodged a bullet" when it fact it was flooding. C. Continually reporting as fact that the Federal response was "slow" when in reality it was quicker than any other storm in history. D. Deliberately failing to compare how well things went in Mississippi compared to Louisiana. E. Deliberately failing to report any of Blanco or Nagin's numerous blunders. F. Attempting to "lead" witnesses and members of the public's opinions and reports. G. Complete and total failure to report on any of the major damage and relief efforts ongoing in other states.

On the tactical level, Liberals can be expected to attempt to achieve their objectives as noted above by:

1. Distortion, spin and mis-representation at the state and local level A. FEMA too slow in recovering bodies, therefor we had no choice but to deal with a corrupt mortuary firm. B. Bush admitted all responsibility. C. We are also losing in Iraq. D. No-one should point fingers, the important this is to fix what went wrong (at the Federal level).

2. The only real weapon they can use to execute these tactics is the cooperation of the media. (Which brings us back to the need to repeatedly attack the media's credibility on all fronst to ensure that their spin attempts do not begin to find traction down the road.)


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: blamegame; blanco; bush; iraq; katrina; katrinafacts; liberal; louisiana; msm; mtp; nagin; neworleans; russert
There we sit, Sunday, September 18th, two weeks and six days after the storm.

Feel free to cut, paste, revise update and discuss reasons for doing so.

End report, that is all.

1 posted on 09/18/2005 1:53:46 PM PDT by jeffers
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To: jeffers

"End report, that is all."

That is a lot. Well done, jeffers!


2 posted on 09/18/2005 2:34:01 PM PDT by rightazrain (Uh-til-uh's twin sister)
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To: jeffers

I think you have summarized this epic very well--with one glaring deficiency. The tens of thousands of the residents who have been alerted in advance of the catastrophe NEVER LIFTED A FINGER TO PREPARE THEMSELVES FOR THE WORST.

I haven't heard a peep from the MSM or the libs regarding PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY OR PERSONAL PREPARATIONS for a 4 or 5 Cat!

That's incredible and could have averted much of the human tragedy and misery. Where in the hell were they?


3 posted on 09/18/2005 3:04:15 PM PDT by Lightnin
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To: jeffers

Excellent report. Thank you, jeffers. You're a credit to FR.


4 posted on 09/18/2005 3:24:00 PM PDT by kitkat ("We're not going to let anybody frighten us from our great love of freedom." GWB, 7/22/05))
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To: Lightnin

Due to behavior of neighbors during previous hurricanes, some gambled that staying in their homes was preferable to leaving them.

Very bad choice this time. Again not a federal problem. Security of property is totally a local issue. New Orleanians understood their govt and [some of] their fellow man.


5 posted on 09/18/2005 3:46:27 PM PDT by maica (Do not believe the garbage the media is feeding you back home. ---Allegra (in Iraq))
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To: jeffers; Zacs Mom; MeekOneGOP; PhilDragoo; Happy2BMe; potlatch; ntnychik; Smartass; Boazo; ...

keep this one ping


6 posted on 09/18/2005 4:38:36 PM PDT by bitt ('But once the shooting starts, a plan is just a guess in a party dress.' Michael Yon)
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To: bitt; jeffers

Excellent summation.


7 posted on 09/18/2005 5:26:26 PM PDT by Enterprise (When Rats govern they screw up and people die. Then, the Rats want to punch the President.)
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To: bitt

I keep seeing a photo of all those school buses, and ask myself, "Why were they setting there being flooded"?


8 posted on 09/18/2005 5:43:40 PM PDT by Valin (The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.)
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To: bitt

Check FRmail.


9 posted on 09/18/2005 6:30:40 PM PDT by JLO
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To: bitt; Cindy; backhoe; Southack; dixiechick2000; Cobra64; Buckhead; Alamo-Girl; Howlin; ...

EXCELLENT. BUMP!


Bitt, thanks for the ping.


10 posted on 09/18/2005 8:26:20 PM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance (SAVE THE BRAINFOREST! Boycott the RED Dead Tree Media & NUKE the DNC Class Action Temper Tantrum!)
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To: jeffers

"2. The Liberal MSM picked this up and ran with it, partially to support the Dems in Louisiana, and possibly partly as the first step in their grand campaign, but I'm not sure Liberals are capable of thinking that far ahead."


I'm picking #2 because you mention that you're "not sure Liberals are capable of thinking that far ahead". However, Rush has been talking for days now about how the dems are using Katrina to pounce on Bush - when in actuality they had been planning on using this scheme when we were attacked again by terrorists. Rush believes the dems already had this plan laid out and were waiting for another attack. When it didn't happen - they launched this plan - partly to hide the dems' incompetence and partly because they were chomping at the bit to have something to blame Bush for.

While FEMA may have been overwhelmed and appeared to not be able to respond .. what the Gov and Mayor DIDN'T DO should be considered criminal - and they should both be impeached or forced to resign.

Just today we find out the water and sewage systems are not operating properly and the Mayor is already telling people it's safe to return - AND IT'S NOT! The libs are just so anxious to get things back to "normal" - so their mistakes don't show" - they are willing to risk the health of their citizens .. THAT IS JUST SICK!


11 posted on 09/18/2005 8:40:51 PM PDT by CyberAnt (America has the greatest military on the face of the earth.)
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To: bitt

Bump!


12 posted on 09/18/2005 8:46:22 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: CyberAnt

Very well said, Cyber!


13 posted on 09/19/2005 1:37:11 PM PDT by meema
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To: meema

Thanks!


14 posted on 09/19/2005 3:32:38 PM PDT by CyberAnt (America has the greatest military on the face of the earth.)
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To: CyberAnt

Your welcome!
:-)


15 posted on 09/19/2005 3:52:27 PM PDT by meema
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