Bush: Relief “Results Are Not Acceptable”

No shit, Sherlock:

President Bush, facing blistering criticism for his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina, said Friday "the results are not acceptable" and pledged to bolster relief efforts with a personal trip to the Gulf Coast.

"We'll get on top of this situation," Bush said, "and we're going to help the people that need help."

Bleh.

Mr. Shakes said something rather depressing last night; Bush was largely criticized for his immediate performance directly after 9/11, too. He was criticized for not leaving that classroom, and again for spending the day flying around on Air Force One, and again for not visiting Ground Zero quickly enough. But once he got there and crawled up on a pile of rubble with his bullhorn, and eight gazillion pictures of him surrounded by firemen and American flags went out over the wires, all was forgotten. Even now, much of the criticisms from the media are contrasting his poor performance with the alleged strength and leadership he exhibited after 9/11. It’s the conventional wisdom, but it’s a rewriting of history. Whether the quite fair criticisms of him stick this time is not a certainty by any means.

Mr. S. followed up that dreadful thought with the possibility that this isn’t even the botch job it appears, but instead designed to play quite handily into the goals of the small-government advocates. Last night’s news was rife with the media gushing over the massive donations of corporate donors, and Mr. S. pointed out that’s exactly what conservatives think should happen—that private enterprise takes over where the government leaves off, that line being far short of the target liberals imagine. It also explains why they’re rejecting foreign aid; they want to compel corporations to step in as they believe they should. Pretty disgusting, but possibly accurate. Of course, corporations can’t do fuck-all about certain things, like the rescue effort, which is why it’s been so woeful. Yet more evidence that pure conservative ideology is wholly inept in providing for its people.