Day: September 6, 2005

New York City Fox Channel Refuses to Air Anti-Bush, Pro-Gay Campaign Ad

Jon Ponder

The Emporer Is Naked: Sometimes New York is not that different from the rest of the country:

Channel 5, the Fox-affiliated television station in New York, rejected a campaign commercial for a Democrat running in a local race, and the candidate alleges it’s because the ad slams President Bush.

Brian Ellner, one of nine Democrats running for Manhattan borough president, said the station had agreed to air his ad for the two weeks leading up to the Sept. 13 primary. But Fox 5 pulled out of the deal after it saw the 30-second ad, which features Bush’s head superimposed onto a bare torso as the voiceover intones, “He claims he’s a uniter, but New Yorkers know the emperor has no clothes.”

Ellner’s advertisement has already drawn attention because it concludes with a scene in which he throws his arm around his partner of three years, Simon Holloway. His campaign says no openly gay candidates for public office have ever featured their significant others in political advertisements.

Ellner said Tuesday that Fox told the campaign media adviser and the ad buyer that the spot was refused because it was “disrespectful to the office of the president…”

Ellner, 35, said … “I think that it’s a decision that’s disrespectful to voters,” he said. “I think it’s anti-American.”

Poll: Republicans Support Bush’s Response to Katrina

Jon Ponder

Delusional: There are none so blind as those who will not see.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll taken last Friday illustrates the point vividly. Just 17 percent of Democrats said they approved of the way Bush was handling the Katrina crisis while 74 percent of Republicans said they approved. About two in three Republicans rated the federal government’s response as good or excellent, while two in three Democrats rated it not so good or poor.

MD Tries to Volunteer for Medical Duty in Hurricane Zone – But Can’t Get Feds to Return His Call

Jon Ponder

Bureaucratic Outrage: The following was posted to a message board frequented by alumni of a prestigious university in the South. If any of our readers in the government would like to know more about this situation, email us here.

I have never been so frustrated in my life:

Last Wed: Contacted Red Cross about volunteering as a physician wherever they need me. They told me they were focusing on shelter and feeding for the time being which I understood. Told to contact Dept. of HHS. Called them and they didn’t return my call even after I told them I would pay my own way just to help.

Last Thursday: Called them again. They referred my to JC-Nationwide which is a physician locum tenens company that received a HHS contract to handle arrangement of physician volunteers. They didn’t call me back.

Last Friday: Called the JC Nationwide again. Got a person who took my information and said they would call me Monday.

Monday: No one called me and couldn’t get anyone but a voicemail.

Today: Called them again and they said they would call me later in the day after a “conference call” with HHS. They didn’t call. Called them back in the afternoon and they told me that HHS has decided to do the arrangements and gave me a new phone number. Called that number and they gave me a website to register and told me it would be a minimum of four days before anyone contacted me.

I just want to scream. We are willing to go whenever, wherever and can’t get anyone to do something. Called the Louisiana and Mississippi governors office who gave me the same phone numbers. It shouldn’t be this hard to help people…

Rove’s Smear ‘N Spin Campaign to Salvage Bush’s Reputation by Savaging Others Is Underway

Jon Ponder

Irresponsible: Led by lead White House message-meister Karl Rove, the campaign to salvage Bush’s reputation by laying blame for the president’s inadequacies on others is underway:

Like previous Rove operations, it calls for multiple appearances by the president in controlled environments in which he can appear leader-like. It calls for extensive use of Air Force One and a massive deployment of spinners.

It doesn’t necessarily include any change in policy. It certainly doesn’t include any admission of error.

It utilizes the classic Rovian tactic of attacking critics rather than defending against their criticism — and of throwing up chaff to muddle the issue and throw the press off the scent.

It calls for public expressions of outrage over the politicization of the issue and of those who would play the “blame game.” While at the same time, it is utterly political in nature and heavily reliant on shifting the blame elsewhere.

But in some ways, this post-Katrina campaign poses Bush’s aides with unprecedented challenges. […]

When the Bubble Hits the Rubble

Jon Ponder

Out of Touch: Remember when this President Bush’s father didn’t know that supermarkets used optical scanners at the check out? You do? Good. Now watch this CNN of the current president when he encountered two sisters in dire straits during his visit to Biloxi, Miss. on Friday September 2, 2005:

Bush to women: “There’s a Salvation Army center that I want to, that I’ll tell you where it is, and they’ll get you some help. I’m sorry . . . They’ll help you. . . . ”

Woman 1: “I came here looking for clothes. . . . ”

Bush: “They’ll get you some clothes, at the Salvation Army center. . . . ”

Woman 1: “We don’t have anything. . . . ”

Bush: “I understand. . . . Do you know where the center is, that I’m talking to you about?”

Guy with shades: “There’s no center there, sir, it’s a truck.”

Bush: “There’s trucks?”

Guy: “There’s a school, a school about two miles away. . . . ”

Bush: “But isn’t there a Salvation center down there?”

Guy: “No that’s wiped out. . . . ”

Bush: “A temporary center?”

Guy: “No sir they’ve got a truck there, for food.”

Bush: “That’s what I’m saying, for food and water.”

Bush then turns to the woman who’s been saying how she needs clothes and tells her: “You need food and water.”

Katrina Refugees — No Love Boat for Me, Thank You

Buck Banks

The Houston Chronicle reported today that Hurricane Katrina refugees at the overcrowded Reliant Astrodome were refusing to relocate to two Carnival Cruise Lines ships docked at Houston. As a result, FEMA officials decided to delay the relocation effort.

How do they decide who gets to go to the cruise ships? People over 60 get first dibs, followed by single parents with children, followed by two-parent families. The feds are making noise about setting up schools on board the ships, no doubt to indoctrinate the hapless children in compassionate conservatism.

But why wouldn’t folks prefer to move into a private stateroom, complete with bathroom and television, rather than stay at the noisy, crowded stadium shelter?

Some say it’s just too soon to uproot and relocate again, that they need to feel more settled before taking a next step. Others are weighing their options or trying to find missing relatives.

I have my own theory — I think that, as long as they are in a shelter, it’s a short-term situation, and there’s the sense that they will be going home sometime soon. The cruise ships, on the other hand, represent a long-term situation of perhaps six months, maybe more.

Like survivors of any life-threatening experience, I think many of those folks cannot or are not willing to admit that their situation is really as hopeless and as long-term as it truly is.

What Went Right: Absolutely Nothing. Next?

Trish

Let the spin begin! Bush claims there’s no hurry to investigate the Katrina disaster, but just in case, he’ll head the inquiry. Yeah, that’ll work.

Reuters:

“I think one of the things that people want us to do is to play a blame game,” Bush told reporters. “We’ve got to solve problems. We’re problem solvers. There will be ample time for people to figure out what went right, and what went wrong…”

“We’ve got to solve problems. We’re problem solvers.” – George W. Bush, shortly before his nose spontaneously grew six inches

“It’s very important for us to understand the relationship between the federal government, the state government and the local government when it comes to a major catastrophe,” Bush said.

“And the reason it’s important is, is that we still live in an unsettled world. We want to make sure that we can respond properly if there’s a WMD (weapons of mass destruction) attack or another major storm. And so I’m going to find out over time what went right and what went wrong,” he added.

O.K., let’s see if you were paying attention. What’s Bush going to figure out? What went right! And what is his administration? Problem solvers! And why is it important to understand the role of state and local governments too? So we can blame them!

And in case you weren’t properly scared, what could happen to us? A WMD attack! Wha?

Even Trent Lott, who lost his home in the storm, isn’t buying this load of crap. He’s also downright threatening to FEMA Director Mike Brown, Bush’s pick of the litter for problem solving.

“If he doesn’t solve a couple of problems that we’ve got right now he ain’t going to be able to hold the job, because what I’m going to do to him ain’t going to be pretty,” Lott said on CBS.

At least Bush hasn’t kissed Brown on the cheek, unlike poor Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. You know it was all she could do not to ralph up her lunch on the spot. AP:

“I know I don’t need to make any other introduction other than ‘Mr. President,’ ” Blanco said tersely, turning the microphone over to Bush after praising emergency management officials during a stop with Bush at an emergency operations center…

The president, looking choked up as he finished his brief remarks, nodded at Blanco and kissed her on the cheek. She nodded back and both left the podium, headed for separate spots in the crowd.

Blanco has refused to sign over control of the National Guard to the federal government and has turned to a Clinton administration official, former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief James Lee Witt, to help run relief efforts.

Blanco was not told when Bush would visit the state, nor was she immediately invited to meet him or travel with him. Blanco’s office didn’t know Bush was coming until told by reporters. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House reached out to Blanco’s office on Sunday, but didn’t hear back.

If anyone has the video of that kiss, please send us the link.

As If Katrina Wasn’t Bad Enough, Rush Hits Broadway

Buck Banks

It’s almost like a take on Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” — come up with what is arguably the worst idea for a Broadway show and tie it to a fundraising event:

The one-night only, one-man show by America’s most listened to talk radio host will be a special benefit performance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. “Rush On Broadway” will have a single performance on Oct. 18 at New York’s New Amsterdam Theater. The rare live appearance by Limbaugh will also feature a special introduction by ABC Radio Networks personality and WABC/New York afternoon host Sean Hannity.

I bet it will be SRO — Spewing Room Only. I’d like to see a sequel: “Rush In Hell.”

Sloppy Reporting by Newsweek

Jon Ponder

A Newsweek story has President Bush ending his vacation 24 hours earlier than he did:

When Air Force One dipped below the clouds on Tuesday so the president could peer out the window down at the disaster, the image was uncomfortably imperial.

Wrong:

In fact, Bush didn’t fly over New Orleans until Wednesday afternoon, a full 60 hours AFTER the hurricane… Had Newsweek, and the rest of the media, bothered paying more attention to the fact that our president stayed on vacation until the 3d day after the hurricane, they might have gotten this fact right.

They must not know how to use the Internets.