Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> This was quite predictable from the following pieces of information:
>
> 9/11:
> loss of life ca 3,000
> Bush admin response: implementing police state
>
> NO:
> Loss of life ca 10,000 (predicted)
> Bush admin response: no problem, everything went just fine
>
> Even the deeply delusional GOP-bots can see a discrepancy with reality
here.
> If reality contradicts Repug political propaganda, it is the reality
> that must yield, or rather be doctored accordingly.
Actually, the death count from Katrina is one of the chief talking points this week for the extreme right wing. Just watch Fox News, listen to Rush, or look at the Drudge Report this morning.
Main headline at Drudge: WHERE DID ALL THE DEAD BODIES GO? OFFICIAL LOUISIANA TOLL AT 197 http://www.drudgereport.com/
Evidently, they are hoping for a low body count so they can use this to blunt criticism of the Bush regime.
I've had some interesting arguments with the family about the hurricane.
They consume a heavy diet of right wing propaganda, so most of what they say is so predictable that I normally don't talk politics with them. But my mother said something the other day that I found extremely odd. She argued that it was OK for Bush and Condi to be on vacation when a disaster happens because everybody deserves a vacation. She had no understanding of the responsibility of elected officials, or, was regurgitating some right wing talking points that have slipped under my radar.
Chuck0 ___________________________________
Clearly the Administration has an overwhelming interest in keeping the reported death toll down, and scarcely anything would stop them from cooking the numbers to ensure a politically tolerably body count. On the other hand, I've been somewhat skeptical of the estimates that have been thrown around of 10,000 plus dead. It seems to me that if there were 5,000 - 10,000 dead bodies most of those would be floating in the standing flood waters, and that would be a such an appalling sight that the media - particularly the somewhat emboldened media that we've seen recently - would be talking of little else. Even if the media didn't broadcast photos and video-clips of groups of corpses swirling in the muck, the reporters on the scene would be describing such a terrible thing. Of course, we all need to be thankful that the death toll appears to be much, much lower than originally projected. However, the administration will undoubtedly be able to benefit from the reduced death toll, in the same way that there were able to benefit from the failed projections at the start of Afghan war that 7 million people were likely to starve to death.