Michael Moore's Katrina jargon

More liberal pundit jargon, this time from Michael Moore in an email to supporters about Katrina:

There is much to be said and done about the manmade annihilation of New Orleans, caused NOT by a hurricane but by the very specific decisions made by the Bush administration in the past four and a half years. Do not listen to anyone who says we can discuss all this later. No, we can't. Our country is in an immediate state of vulnerability. More hurricanes, wars, and other disasters are on the way, and a lazy bunch of self-satisfied lunatics are still running the show.

In this passage, Moore goes further than any other liberal pundit I've seen, making the specific argument that the devastation in New Orleans was "manmade" and "caused NOT by a hurricane but by the very specific decisions made by the Bush administration in the past four and a half years." Whatever you think about what happened, saying that the primary cause of the devastation wasn't Katrina is lunacy.

Comments

[brent]

Lunacy? The failure of a responsible party to mitigate disaster means that some part of that disaster is the party's fault. That's not lunacy, that's the definition of "responsible."

Find me one person who thinks Moore is claiming that Bush officials ran around with wind machines and hoses rendering New Orleans crippled and flooded. I would agree that such a claim is lunacy. Is that how you read Moore?

[JDF]

Moore's statement seems to me like the epitome of psychological projection.

He is indeed the height of a lazy, self-satisfied lunatic running his show, and a bird of a feather among his breathren on the far left that is holding the Democratic party hostage.

[Rob]

Moore's comments are dead on accurate.

Yes, Katrina was a massive and powerful hurricane, but it was the failings of government from the top down, both before and after the event, that can be attributed as the cause of the unfolding human disaster. Michael is simply calling out the Bush administration, FEMA, and other government officials who are hiding behind the veil of 'Natural Disaster', when in fact it was their incompentence, negligence, and poor leadership that contributed to so many deaths.

Just a few of the reasons why the disaster was 'manmade':
1) Years of budget cutting and general neglect of the levee system at the hands of self-serving, tax-cut-happy politicians left New Orleans extremely vulnerable.
2) Poor disaster preparedness by local, state, and federal officials ensured that tens of thousands of residents would never be able to evacuate the city.
3) Poor disaster response by an inept government bureaucracy prevented assistance and aid from getting to those who needed it in a timely manner.
4) New Orleans is built in a vulnerable area where no city should be built
5) Social, ideological, geographical, and political prejudices that resulted in the poorest and least-able citizens to live in parts of the city that were the most vulnerable to flooding.

[Jake]

Rob, your points are valid when talking about a rational thinking... something Moore is absolutely not.

As soon as I hear Moore (or for that matter, ANY other Dem leader/pundit) say that the failure included, in a non-trivial way, the Democrat Governor and Democrat Mayor, I'm writing him off.

Once that happens, if that happens, then let's talk.

[JDF]

Rob,

Outstanding dissertation. Tell God I said hello.

[Rocco]

Ugh... The rants of you rabid right refusing to acknowledge your beloved leader's failures while diverting the subject matter to an outspoken - but hardly respected - social commentator.

Time to wake up and smell the coffee, Brendan et al.

How about I spend all afternoon pointing out the failings of Pat Robertson or Limbaugh? You'd be the first to point out I was using smoke and mirrors to divert the subject matter to an even more heated one - a classic tactic.

Oh yes, tactics. That's the middle name of the Right, a group who'd take "winning-at-any-cost" over actually contributing to doing good to this country of ours.

You people, and the people in charge, make me sick. In the mean time I'll be keeping an eye on the forthcoming impeachment of your beloved one (aka King bush) over his unconstitutional spying over all of us.

I wonder if you have it in you to allow criticism on your site, unlike a certain president who cannot even organise a rational discussion amongst a cross section of society (un-military).

/rant

[Brendan Nyhan]

Um, did you look at the sidebar? "Beloved leader"? Talk about projection...