In defense of Bush

By Mike Kelbert

Looking at the immense devastation and human tragedy the earthquake and storms of recent weeks have caused, one questions if the earth is coming to an end. If it is, rest assured the media will find a way to blame President Bush.

When hurricane Katrina first hit there were stories of heroism, daring rescues and the efforts of emergency personnel to help people stricken by this disaster, but these reports soon gave way to criticism of the speed the Federal Emergency Management Agency responsed. The primary responsibility for disaster relief is that of the state and local governments; FEMA is supposed to be a support agency backing them up, but the media chose to attack FEMA anyway. This can easily be explained, however: it was the shortest path to start blaming Bush!

Dropping all pretense of impartiality, the media ignored the Democratic Governor of Louisiana, the Mayor of New Orleans, and the 250 police officers who reportedly failed to show up for duty after the storm, then targeted the FEMA director and presidential appointee Michael Brown. The media cried about people suffering all because of Mr. Brown’s, and consequently George W. Bush’s, incompetence. This keeps with the liberal media’s mantra of ‘When in doubt, blame Bush!’

This criticism comes from people who, if you lie dying in the road, would film you and do nothing to help if it meant losing the story. They might be merciful by not asking if you blame President Bush for your imminent demise, but likely not. Ghouls and vampires are real, but they do not consume the dead and dying with teeth and claws but rather with camera and microphone.

Natural disasters are unavoidable. The real reason why everyone in the US is playing the blame game over Katrina is they cannot accept the most powerful and prosperous nation on the face of the earth being thrown into the anarchy and squalor of the developing world by an unavoidable storm. If the media stopped playing politics and did its job of educating the public on the universal frailty of human life, then it may be worth something.