M O N D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 0 5 , 2 0 0 5Now Bush Will Spring Into Actionby Michael in New York on 9/05/2005 05:00:00 AMAnd now the real work begins.</p><p> The relief FINALLY starts to gainsome traction so look for Bush and his cronies to get more andmore vehement about dismissing criticism -- we're focused onhelping people, not the blame game, they'll say.</p><p> ANYONE whocriticizes them will be "playing politics." The farther away theyget from those disastrous first days, the more vicious they'llget and the more the American people will instinctively want tohear positive stories of hope rather than the bungledincompetence that shocked us to the core and cost untoldnumbers of the poor and helpless their lives.But Bush has two problems.</p><p> The first problem is that soonwe're going to be seeing gruesome images of the dead -- thebloated and discarded bodies of the weak and defenseless thatBush callously ignored during those first crucial 72 hours.</p><p> Thetrue horror of what happened in Louisiana and Mississippi andAlabama will stare us all in the face.The second problem? We're not going to forget that when theworst natural disaster in our country's history attacked us,BUSH STAYED ON VACATION.</p><p> Why did the relief effort falterduring those first crucial days? Because Bush and Cheney andRice stayed on vacation.</p><p> They couldn't be bothered to go towork during the worst natural disaster in our nation's history.And we're not going to forget that.NOTE: So I had this post ready to go.</p><p> Then I see this NYTarticle about Karl Rove taking control and it lays out exactlywhat I'd been expecting -- they don't even try to pretendthey're doing anything but exactly what they're doing: treatingthis disaster as a political problem instead of a humanitariancrisis.</p><p> How cold and calculating are they that the NYT can justspell out what they're doing and they think no one will catch onor care? Astonishing.Under the command of President Bush's two senior politicaladvisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend tocontain the political damage from the administration'sresponse to Hurricane Katrina.It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to theregion, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr.Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officialsnot to respond to attacks from Democrats on the reliefefforts, and sought to move the blame for the slowresponse to Louisiana state officials, according toRepublicans familiar with the White House plan.The effort is being directed by Mr.</p><p> Bush's chief politicaladviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, DanBartlett.</p><p> Daily KosHypocrisy Watch - Tennessee Edition - Next stop, ahiking trip on the Appalachia Trail: Meet Tennesseestate senator Paul Stanley.</p><p> He's a solidconservative Republican and married father of t...18 minutes ago HuffPost PoliticsCheney, Bush Officials, Considered Using TheMilitary To Arrest Terror Suspects In U.S. -WASHINGTON Top Bush administration officials in2002 debated testing the Constitution by sendingAmerican troops into the suburbs of Buffalo toarrest a grou...19 minutes ago Crooks and LiarsActual Facts About The Henry Louis Gates Case -DOWNLOADS: (62) [image: Download WMV][image: Download Quicktime] PLAYS: (225)[image: Play WMV] [image: Play Quicktime] TheHenry Louis Gates sit...1 hour ago FiredoglakeThe Ghoulish Old Party - The Republican position ina nutshell: Most of them know there's a crisis, andthey just don't care.</p><p> It doesn't matter what's bestfor the country, only wh...1 hour ago AMERICAblog GayE.</p><p> Lynn Harris Dies - NYT: E.</p><p> Lynn Harris, thebest-selling author of novels that addressedquestions of identity and sexuality among blackmen, has died, his publicist told Th...2 hours agoJ O H N ' S P H OT O S Show All AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Now ...http://www.americablog.com/2005/09/now-bush-will-spring-int... 1 of 57/25/09 12:11 AMA M E R I C A B L O G T V Visit our AMERICAblog TV site.see all 329 videos >I collect with vodpod Southern Poverty LawCenter calls on CNN to A two minute explanationof the warped and cynical The economy is better.But....</p><p> Judge order San Diego toget rid of the seals Massive brawl in SouthKorean parliament Mormons may havesecretly baptizedNext 6AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Now ...http://www.americablog.com/2005/09/now-bush-will-spring-int... 2 of 57/25/09 12:11 AMEzra KleinTab Dump3 hours agoWonk RoomF-22 Killed BySeven-Meme Voltron4 hours agoNYCeveHuge victories: Maloney& Pingree - Health CareHeroes, Clyburnreceives petition - video4 hours agoDaily DoseWill Doctors in theHouse, SenateInfluence Debate?5 hours agoThe TreatmentDoes the GOP ReallyHave an AlternativePlan in the Works?5 hours agoG AY P O L I T I C S Visit our new gay politicssection, AMERICAblog Gay.F E E D S Blog RSS AMERICAblog TV RSS Twitter RSSTwitter Feed Get the blog by email: Subscribe me! 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