Let Me Eat Cake!

And so the real truth behind Katrina has come out [link requires New York Times registration but it's free to register]. Many of us already suspected it based on what we knew of Bush's past behaviour. In fact many of us were damned certain of it because Bush is consistently dishonest, crooked and looks after nobody but number one. But now the videos have surfaced and not even the shit-for-brains Bush supporters can defend their chimpanzee. If the Democrats don't have the intelligence and the balls to turn this into a major issue then you can write off the United States.

See this timeline for the full gory details. Highlights of the chimpanzee's inadequacy follow:

August 28th: Bush was warned that Katrina would be a disaster by the National Hurricane Center Director and did absolutely fucking nothing.

August 29th: Bush had a photo op with John McCain and ate some of McCain's birthday cake.

August 30th: Katrina wrecked New Orleans. Bush partied on by playing guitar with country singer Mark Willis.

September 1st: Bush LIED and said "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

September 2nd: Bush finally got off his arse and did something related to hurricane Katrina. That's right, he flew overhead on Air Force One for another fucking photo op.

Actual useful help came far later, and was bungled, and is still being bungled. But, of course, Halliburton is making out like bandits with no-bid reconstruction projects.

As a side-note, if Brownie's story is true (and who can believe anything said by anyone in the Bush administration?), despite being an idiot who got fired from his last job for incompetence, he actually showed far more leadership than Bush. He claims that he told his subordinates to do whatever was necessary, to "bend the rules" if they had to, and he'd take the blame if anybody complained. Yeah, he'd expect that as long as the rule-bending was for justifiable reasons he'd get away with it. Yeah, he'd expect that minor rule-breaking would be ignored even if it were unjustifiable. Yeah, he'd expect that even major rule-breaking that was unjustifiable would be glossed over by a President greatful for pulling his stones out of the fire provided the overall result were satisfactory. But he'd also know that if things went drastically wrong then he'd have to take the blame. And he might also suspect that he'd be made the scapegoat for just about anything if doing so would protect Bush. Nevertheless, if his tale is true, he showed true leadership by shielding his subordinates at risk to himself and by risking his career (and even liberty) in order to expedite matters.

If the Democrats cannot take advantage of all that they should be taken out and shot. Seriously. Bush has committed far worse crimes, and if left in power will commit even more (and possibly even worse still) crimes, but this is enough to destroy him (if the Democrats can be bothered). I'm no media type, but how about this:

The scene is a royal palace in France. A courtier approaches Marie Antoinette and says: "Your majesty, there is a bread shortage. The poor are starving." Antoinette replies "Let them eat cake."

The scene is Bush and McCain at McCain's birthday celebration. An actor imitates McCain's voice and says "Your majesty, your courtiers warned you yesterday that Hurrican Katrina would destroy New Orleans and today it has come to pass just as they predicted." An actor replies in Bush's voice "Let me eat cake."

The scene is an aerial shot of a flooded New Orleans with the cheery caption "Welcome to Lake Bush." A voice-over says "Deluded and out of touch as Marie Antoinette was, at least she wanted the commoners to have some cake rather than eat it all herself."

Yes, I know, Antoinette never actually said "Let them eat cake," and actually showed some degree of concern for her subjects. Which is more than Bush has ever done. But most people think she did, and that's what matters when getting the message across.