Scrivenings: More on the Racial Divide
Scrivener asks the question "what kind of fantasy world are these white people Gallup tracked down living in?" I had a similar question when I read about the low poll numbers for Bush: Who are the 38% that still approve of him? Really, who could possibly still feel comfortable about this man as president?
My best guess is that these are the 38% of the population that are completely unqualified to do much of anything but sponge off the wealth and power of those that came before them, and they are counting on a high-level position in this administration.
posted by Not Scott @ 9/13/2005 11:45:00 AM
6 Comments:
See, I'm not so concerned about that 38% approval figure, first of all because that's an astoundingly low number for a President. And a certain number of people are going to feel an obligation to say they support him, especially in a "time of crisis," just because even the appearance of competence in the President is desperately important. Then there are lots of people who made their minds up about him years ago, voted for him, and simply will not reconsider that decision no matter what happens.
The fact that 2 out of 3 white people think, even after Katrina, that race is not an important issue in America just boggles my mind. I just can't understand how they can possibly maintain that belief system. You'd think that the evidence would simply be so overwhelming for them that they would have to make a paradigm shift.
1 - very comfortable with W as prez
2 - still approve
3 - not in nor ever will be in govt
4 - pretty sure I'm not sponging my way through life.
Poverty a problem in this mess - absolutely. But race is far from the principle driver in this one. Poor planning, coordination and distruction of infrastructure necessary for resupply by a nearly uncomprehensible force of nature rank a bit higher.
I will take Bush over Nagin or Blanco any day of the week.
BD
Really?!
What's it going to take? How many more fuck-ups that kill people? How much more corruption? How tight will the noose have to get? How many more college roommates, amoral ceo's, and vengeful politicos? Do we have to wait until his dick falls out of his pants before he's declared unfit to lead?
"Pretty sure I am not sponging my way through life" - there you go, another conservative claiming that the poor are poor because they do not work hard and just want to live on welfare with poor health care.
The reason this was about poverty is because the people with means to got out and those without couldn't. If something like this had happened when I was young, we would have been in the same mess because my parents didn't have a car until I was 15. I guess my parents didn't work hard enough.
Therefore it is also about race because we get to see how many of the poor are African-American.
And about Bush, are you really comfortable with Halliburton (and therefore Cheney) "losing" billions of your tax dollars in Iraq and then getting more no-bid money (probably much more than should be earned for their work) in the South? Oh, that's right, your taxes were cut, so that's my money.
I'm simply saying it was primarily Nagin and Blanco's responsibility to plan and execute evacuation for those they could and provide shelter and relief for those they couldn't. They failed to follow their own plans and Louisiana EMA chose not to allow the Red Cross to bring food and water to the Superdome. I don't find either of those folks to be racist. I don't think they really hate the poor either. I just think they handled the situation poorly.
The sponging my way comment was in response to Scott's suggestion that I (and all other Bush supporters) must be unqualified to do anything on my own if I am moronic enough to not want Bush impeached tomorrow. By the way - I will tell you what I mean to say. Nowhere in any comment have I ever said or written will you find your little bit about hard work and poverty. If that's what you think, sign your name to it, not mine.
Jude, I'm pretty sure there are few hurricanes in Chi town, but I bet Daley would be a far better executive in such a crisis.
By the way, anytime you want to trade tax bills, you let me know. It is still, after all, a heavily progressive system.
If you know of another company currently operating anywhere in the world that can handle logistics like Kellog Brown and Root, I would love to hear about them. Haliburton can move people and equipment to fix this mess. PETA cannot.
There is so much more to this than the 'Bush and all who support him are evil morons' tirade. A discussion can be had about the various facets of the problem without resorting to 'Dick out of pants'. I have heard though that pants is one of the finest words in the english language.
Peace & Love
BD
Sorry BD, I, as usual, didn't listen really closely to what Scott said. I have heard alot since the hurricane about the poor being at fault for being poor and was reacting to that. But the goal of this administration is to reduce government aid to the poor. Sure, you can say the best way to help the poor is to grow the economy but four years after huge tax cuts that were meant to stimulate the economy, there are millions more in poverty and without health insurance. (Clinton raised taxes and the number of poor decreased during his administration) Trickle down isn't working and now we also have huge deficits to pay. Not to mention Bush's constant pandering to industry by reducing environmental regulations - and who gets the worst of the pollution? Low-income neighborhoods because they don't have the political power to keep power plants and other polluters out of their backyard.
We don't know if there are any other companies that can handle the logistics of the hurricane cleanup because noone else got a chance to try. Is there really only one company in all the US that could do this? That's not saying much for American business. Even if they were the only company, does that give them a pass on frauding American taxpayers? The best way to help New Orleans would be to use New Orleans business people and workers and pay a livable wage, I doubt Halliburton will do that. The fact is we suppress small business and innovation in this country by subsidizing the same powerful companies over and over.
What's PETA got to do with anything-talk about putting words in someone else's mouth.
I'll gladly trade tax bills as long as I get to trade salary also. My salary just jumped with my new job and I'll pay more in taxes because of it. That's fine with me as long as my taxes go to help the needy and conserve the environment. Not when it goes into Cheney's pants though (I said pants, he he).
Peace & Love back atcha,
Jude
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