Last night, as I was entertaining my sister at The Red Rooster Bar & Grill, I participated in a convivial discussion with two moonbats (to whom I shall refer as Luna and Myotis, although these are not likely to be their real names). The topic under discussion was the responsibility of George Bush for the hurricane in New Orleans.
LUNA: If one good thing comes of this, maybe Louisiana won’t be a “red state” anymore.
MYOTIS: Bush is to blame for the whole thing!
LUNA: Yes, in many ways. So many, many ways…
ME: (Silence.)
I didn’t say anything, because I was waiting to hear some of the many, many ways. (I do try to keep an open mind about these things, you know.) But the ways were not enumerated. I can only assume they would have been the same accusations I’ve heard from other moonbats: (1) Bush caused the hurricane by not signing the Kyoto Treaty, (2) Bush caused the hurricane by not saving the wetlands, (3) Bush caused the flooding by not strengthening the levee, (4) Bush caused the deaths from the hurricane by not evacuating the city, (5) Bush caused the post-hurricane crime wave by making people poor, (6) Bush caused the breakdown of order by sending our armed forces to Afghanistan and Iraq, instead of Louisiana.
MYOTIS: Thousands are dead, and it’s his fault!
LUNA: I know!
MYOTIS: I wrote an article about it, I hope it gets published.
ME: Wow. Did you see that one photo, of all the school buses? Hundreds of school buses that could have been used to evacuate people, and now they’re just sitting there under water?
MYOTIS: Yeah, um, this… thing, it’s, like, on so many levels.
LUNA: Yeah, many levels…
ME: Huh.
Since they were both looking at the ceiling, I deduced that they didn’t want to talk about the many levels, just the level with Bush on it.
They blame Bush, even though state and local authorities have always borne the primary responsibility for disaster relief. (FEMA was formed in 1979 to coordinate and supplement state disaster relief efforts.) They blame Bush, even though he begged Governor Blanco to cede control to the federal government, and she refused. They blame Bush, even though New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pointedly blamed Blanco for the stalling and mismanagement. This liberal Democratic mayor, who endorsed John Kerry in last year’s presidential election, had nothing but praise for Bush in interviews yesterday. But none of that matters: Bush caused the hurricane, and that’s that.
In this, my moonbat friends are not so different from the news media, who are even now sounding the incessant drumbeat of Bush-bashing. If anyone is crass enough to point out that Bush is not at fault for the governor’s many gaffes, the headlines are “White House tries to shift blame.” Even in stories that aren’t about the hurricane, they usually manage to work it in. “Bush, who faces a firestorm of criticism for the mismanagement of hurricane relief, today nominated John Roberts for Chief Justice…”, that sort of thing.
Luna went to the powder room.
ME: So, what’s in the article you wrote?
MYOTIS: It’s about how the rich and the poor in this country are so far apart. Man, they’re so far divided, you can’t even see across it!
ME: It’s probably the money.
MYOTIS: But there’s more of us than them.
ME: I reckon there are.
MYOTIS: Yeah! And Bush hasn’t helped anybody! Except himself. He’s doin’ okay.
ME: I reckon he is.
Myotis invited me to a sort of standing impeach-Bush rally, held each and every Tuesday at 5:00, at the Backdoor Coffee House, 3214 N. Classen. I’d go check it out, but I’m afraid it conflicts with my teaching schedule.