Sunday, September 04, 2005
'Our old friend hyperpartisanship': The Katrina ideological battle lines are in the last stages of forming. Skirmishers have been firing for a few days now to gauge enemy argumentative strengths as the main bodies of troops have been brought up. Devastating fusillades are now imminent. ... Using my reality-check list from the other day is MANDATORY to understanding the following battle sequence. An abbreviated argumentative list is available immediately below. Here's how the battle has played out so far:
-- Liberal skirmishers immediately fired classic Point #5 volleys.
-- Conservative skirmishers were ready and countered with Point #1 and a reverse #2.
-- Liberals had to acknowledge Point #1 and almost got dragged into a Point #2 quagmire before resuming #5 volleys.
-- Conservatives started attacking with #4 but wisely pulled back in case they looked like meanies while complaining Point #3 was invoked too early.
-- Liberals bring up more brigades and focus all fire on Point #5.
-- Conservatives conceded some of Point #5 and curse Mike Brown and DHS, while abandoning #3 violation claims.
-- Liberals, sensing victory, typically go all with Point #5 frontal assault.
-- Conservatives, seeing excellent Sunday WaPo articles and a softening up of sympathy for locals, start hammering at #4 flank.
Battle lines at end of Week 1: Liberals fully committed to Point #5. Conservatives rallying late but in formidable numbers at #4.
But the key is: What's the hanging-chad component? Damn it, where's my Manhattan WMD Spy when I need him??!!
Abbreviated argumentative points list: 1.) Act of God. 2.) Blame pols for pre-storm levee work etc. 3.) Post-storm fair-game criticism. 4.) Blame locals 5.) Blame Bush.
Conservative sympathizer but always rational Reader No. 1's observations:
"I don't know if these are exactly hanging chads but there were a couple of clues in the WaPo article:
" -- '(FEMA's) response to crises such as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing received high marks, though some Republicans complained that it was used as a pot of money doled out to bolster Clinton's political standing. '
" -- 'Allbaugh's quote was 'You don't get it,' " recalled the senior FEMA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 'If you brought up natural disasters, you were accused of being a pre-9/11 thinker.'
"Here's a hypothesis: if the levies had been detonated by Al Qaeda terrorists, there would have been troops in New Orleans in 2 hours because that would have been a NATIONAL DEFENSE problem. Katrina is not the same kind of national defense. Again, not an excuse, just an attempt to explain.
"Kaus got the money paragraph in the other WaPo story. But the problem isn't federalism, it's our old friend hyperpartisanship:
"-- 'The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. 'Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals,' said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.' "
-- Liberal skirmishers immediately fired classic Point #5 volleys.
-- Conservative skirmishers were ready and countered with Point #1 and a reverse #2.
-- Liberals had to acknowledge Point #1 and almost got dragged into a Point #2 quagmire before resuming #5 volleys.
-- Conservatives started attacking with #4 but wisely pulled back in case they looked like meanies while complaining Point #3 was invoked too early.
-- Liberals bring up more brigades and focus all fire on Point #5.
-- Conservatives conceded some of Point #5 and curse Mike Brown and DHS, while abandoning #3 violation claims.
-- Liberals, sensing victory, typically go all with Point #5 frontal assault.
-- Conservatives, seeing excellent Sunday WaPo articles and a softening up of sympathy for locals, start hammering at #4 flank.
Battle lines at end of Week 1: Liberals fully committed to Point #5. Conservatives rallying late but in formidable numbers at #4.
But the key is: What's the hanging-chad component? Damn it, where's my Manhattan WMD Spy when I need him??!!
Abbreviated argumentative points list: 1.) Act of God. 2.) Blame pols for pre-storm levee work etc. 3.) Post-storm fair-game criticism. 4.) Blame locals 5.) Blame Bush.
Conservative sympathizer but always rational Reader No. 1's observations:
"I don't know if these are exactly hanging chads but there were a couple of clues in the WaPo article:
" -- '(FEMA's) response to crises such as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing received high marks, though some Republicans complained that it was used as a pot of money doled out to bolster Clinton's political standing. '
" -- 'Allbaugh's quote was 'You don't get it,' " recalled the senior FEMA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 'If you brought up natural disasters, you were accused of being a pre-9/11 thinker.'
"Here's a hypothesis: if the levies had been detonated by Al Qaeda terrorists, there would have been troops in New Orleans in 2 hours because that would have been a NATIONAL DEFENSE problem. Katrina is not the same kind of national defense. Again, not an excuse, just an attempt to explain.
"Kaus got the money paragraph in the other WaPo story. But the problem isn't federalism, it's our old friend hyperpartisanship:
"-- 'The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. 'Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals,' said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.' "
