Bush's Defenders: In the Foxhole At Last
I'll have to come back and do the links, but I might as well note some of the extreme statements coming from Bush defenders.
1. Even if every one of Bush's appointments to FEMA has turned out to be a complete and utter disgrace, it remains to be seen whether this is worse than Clinton's record. (As long as we're not provably, beyond a shadow of a doubt, worse than Clinton, we're a brilliant success? So we can just keep saying Clinton was worse, whether we have any evidence or not?)
2. It's the fault of Democrats in Congress for confirming the people Bush nominated. (The Corner; link via Julian Sanchez, Hit and Run). (I guess: If they were patriotic Americans, they would fight every Bush nomination with everything they've got, revealing these people to be the hacks they are.)
3. It's probably hundreds of people left to die, and then their bodies left to rot, in a major American city for days on end--not thousands. And this is quite likely a better record than that of the perfidious French in their heat wave a few years ago (Here and here). Besides, it's no worse than Clinton letting people die in a heat wave in Chicago in 1995. (Link via Corner, Instapundit). The article accuses Hillary Clinton of hypocrisy: she has never suggested the feds should have played a role then, when at least 700 people died as a direct result of a natural disaster. I guess in that situation, it is difficult to justify evacuating everyone who doesn't have AC, and it is almost as difficult to provide a cool place and drinking water for everyone who needs them. In 1997 (and 1998?), there was another heatwave, and Texas was heavily affected. Clinton came through with aid for Texas.
4. The only reason the media wants to show bodies is to embarass Bush. Otherwise, they would stick to their position after 9/11, which was that the reminders of bodies might inflame the public. On this one, Julian Sanchez:
Quoting Instapundit:
I can only conclude that this time around, the press thinks it's a good thing to inflame the public. What could the difference be?
Sanchez:
PowerLine agrees, which as a rough rule of thumb, should hint there's something wrong with the logic there. Perhaps it's that George Bush, Roy Nagin, and even weather patterns are unlikely to be beaten to death in the streets?
Ah yes, that rings a bell. The media was concerned about protecting people of Arab or Middle Eastern ancestry, some of them U.S. citizens, from mobs. As one camp counsellor of my youth said once: mob rule is very unhealthy.
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