WTF: More Americans rate the oil gusher as a worse government response than Katrina.

[Fire Walk With Me]

On tele this morning, it appeared that in a poll, some 69% disliked the US handling of the BP disaster, versus 62% regarding the government's response to Katrina.

Um...

Katrina's amazing LACK of government response is because the Bush family are racist, and love watching people suffer in general. And laughing.

How is this even possible to compare...amazing.

Thoughts?

[arcane1]

1. Such is the power of the "librul" media n/t

[Enrique]

2. people forget

it was five years ago.

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. Yep. Astonishing. How many people died in Katrina? How many lost homes?

I am in no way diminishing the BP debacle and its obvious ominous effects upon Gulf living and Gulf life forms...but still.

[phasma ex machina]

40. +1 "people forget" The powers-that-be bank on it. nt

[Big Blue Marble]

3. Frankly because the government seems overwhelmed by the disaster

and unable to effectively control BP. Do you not yet understand that the consequences to our country, our environment, our
people, our wildlife, and our economy are so much worse than Katrina? We are only at the beginning of a catastrophe of
Biblical proportion.

[napi21]

11. I agree the Gov't is overwhelmed by the oil disaster, but

so is BP! They SAID they had the equipment & procedures to control a spill 10 times the size of this one, but THEY LIED! They simply didn't expect anything like this to ever happen!

What does "control BP" mean? Control them to do what? Stop the gusher? I believe they would if they could, but it's obvious to me that they don't know how! They appear to be trying everything anyone that's been suggested, hoping that something will work but so far all has failed!

I don't fault the gov't at all.

[laughingliberal]

29. BP is doing the minimum they can get by with as far as cleanup goes.

I think most people get it stopping the gusher is complex. But cleanup is another story. There are those who have the know how to do that correctly and BP has not been returning their calls. I think the President should have called one of these teams in and told BP they are now answering to them and they are expected to provide whatever resources these guys say are needed.

[napi21]

36. Why do you think someone else has the answer on how to fix the gusher?

I have listened to every interview of every scientist, geological engineer, and oil expert that I culd find, and the only solution they all agree on is the drilling of an alternative well that will relieve the pressure on this one then they can cap them both.. They also all agree that drilling that alternative well is not easy, and in the past sometimes 2,3 or more have to be drilled before they actually hit the pocket of this gusing well.

I've heard many suggestions to cleanup, but nobdy with a solution to stop this gusher NOW.

[laughingliberal]

38. Seems people always divert discussion of the weak cleanup efforts back to stopping the gusher.

This happens so consistently, it almost looks intentional. No one can credibly argue BP is not doing everything possible to stop the gusher. But they are definitely cheaping out on attempts at cleanup and aggressively avoiding the experts who have the know how to do it right.

[Big Blue Marble]

43. What does control BP mean?

It means control what dispersants they are using. It means forcing them to allow free access to scientists and journalists.
It means force them put more resources toward mitigation and cleanup. It means making sure that their assets are available
long term for the recovery process.

It certainly means to stop taking their word for everything and always assume they are lying until they are proven otherwise.
And it certainly means start collecting the evidence for the criminal prosecutions that must go forward.

[Oregone]

4. Maybe its BPs continued involvement

Katrina was a cluster, but one without some greedy corporation mucking it up.


Yeah, I wouldn't think its comparable. Another thought is that its more hopeless (making people more depressed). The nation is also in a worse state, so people may perceive events as darker and more screwed up than when economy was not imploded

[AndyA]

5. Today's M$M can make the message whatever they want it to be.

Obama almost said that much during the interview with Matt Lauer.

The corporate, self-serving interests that own the media in this country have an agenda. Until Congress does something to remove that very obvious CONFLICT OF INTEREST, the media will control public opinion.

Congress needs to get its shit together. We need a new Fairness Doctrine now more than ever, updated to fit today's needs. And quickly.

[Grassy Knoll]

35. Exactly !

Plus the poll leaves out who they were polling, with those results you can
see it was sore losers ,and bushies, but they only polled 1000 people,
Hell, I know 1000 people that want to put bush/cheney in prison.

[rzemanfl]

6. Well, if there was a law that in the event of a hurricane the New

Orleans Saints were responsible for public safety and Chef Emeril was in charge of the levees this might make sense.

[Blue Owl]

7. bullshit

The M$M is so dumbed down they can't even tell a man-made disaster from a natural disaster.

Fuck those propaganda-spewing shitlicks.

[rotund1]

14. I think they are accurately reporting the public opinion.

Do you have some data that says they're wrong?

[muffin1]

21. The M$M SHAPES public opinion. nt

[rotund1]

24. Perhaps but that is not relevant to the facts.

You can complain about the cause but only the effect is of consequence.

[Blue Owl]

27. All the data in the world doesn't mean jack

When you're comparing apples to oranges.

[rotund1]

34. Most of the public (whose opinions matter even when wrong) don't know the difference

between apples, oranges and dog turds. Unfortunately.

[Xipe Totec]

8. It's true

Dubya single handedly stopped Katrina before it reached the Pacific Northwest.

If not for Dubya, the Hurricane would have gone all the way through to Anchorage.

What has Obama done compared to that?

Nothing.

Oh, sure he's kicking BP's ass and making sure they pay for the mess...

But they haven't plugged the well, the way Dubya plugged the hurricane.

[dipsydoodle]

9. And posting it here compounds the issue

.

[rotund1]

15. As opposed to hiding it which would make it go away?

:eyes:

[Bluebear]

16. That's right, musn't post anything negative about the spill ,eh dipsydoodle?

[donco6]

18. How so? n/t

[dipsydoodle]

20. You'll find it comes up on searches

and is a freepers delight - that's why.

[arcadian]

12. I'm leaning that way.

[rotund1]

13. Right now there is WAY too much energy wasted on affixing blame and not enough

dealing with the problem. It's almost as if some people think putting somebody in jail will magically clean up the mess.

It's really weird.

[dipsydoodle]

22. Nice to see

a common sense post.

:hi:

[Bluebear]

17. My thought is we know how to respond to hurricanes.

Even though Bush played guitar and ate cake instead of actually doing anything. The perception may be this is a "worse" government response because of the so-far futility of the response.

[avaistheone1]

19. No. Bush's response to Katrina was much worse.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

23. Americans will swallow anything the media feeds them.

No matter how difficult it may be, they'll choke it down and ask for seconds.

[Rex]

25. Until I SEE a picture of Obama laughing and joking around,

strumming a guitar and cracking smiles - while people die on his watch, I won't buy ANY bullshit comparing Obama to Bush...

[William Z. Foster]

37. is that what it is about for you?

Which of the two men is the better human being?

Who is "comparing Obama to Bush?" You must be considering it.

In some ways we could, as Democrats, say that the administration's response to the Gulf catastrophe is worse than the response to Katrina.

- We expect more from Democrats and hold them to a higher standard. "He is not as goofy as Bush strumming a guitar" is hardly a defense of the President of the United States. In fact, it is insulting to the President.

- This disaster could well cause more trouble for far more people than Katrina.

- The Katrina response did not cause people to promote and defend privatization.

- The Gulf response is a much more clear and blatant cave in to corporate interests at public expense.

Saying that is not "tearing down the President" nor is it "helping the Republicans" nor is it "disloyal" to any cause. Even if we reduce this all to partisan politics, to merely being a matter of cheering for our team, still the attacks on critics are unwarranted and misguided. We all criticize our favorite sports team when they are using the wrong personnel or running the wrong plays - because we want them to win, not because we want them to lose.

The administration is running the wrong plays and using the wrong players.

[Mudoria]

26. Both have been epic disasters

And frankly, responses and actions from the government have been terrible in both.

[Catherina]

28. Both responses. Epic FAILS.

Gulf area residents are used to hurricanes and now that after the storm, the sun comes up and life goes on. That was KATRINA.


In this case, life will not go on. Livelyhoods are destroyed for generations. Culture is lost. Health effects will last decades and kill. This is far, far worse.

Millions of gallons of a toxic substance, that children and all young forms of life are patricularly susceptible to, were dumped into the Gulf with our governments approval. Species are being extinguished before our very eyes.

As far as the response goes, this is worse than Katrina.

Hundreds of thousands are being condemned to a slow death, not to mention the dolpins gushing with oil and birds so heavily coated they can barely move.

How is it even possible that so many people here REFUSED to listen to the anguish and just buried their heads deeper in the sand pretending it was 3-D chess?

[stillwaiting]

30. It's probably due mostly to the fact that left leaning individuals will honestly evaluate

the government's response. A much larger percentage of people who voted for Dems will call them out when they don't perform.

The % of Republican voters who will ALWAYS support Republican efforts no matter what in polling is much larger.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

33. You win the cupie!

That is exactly what the abc story said

[SemiCharmedQuark]

31. because a larger peoportion of republicans rated Katrina reponse as exellent than Dems rated oil

Response.

I read through this study yesterday. Something like 30 percent of republicans rated bush's response as excellent

[frustrated_lefty]

32. It waits to be seen what happens to the coastal gulf...

Estimates on the immediate loss of life due to the failed response to Katrina range from around 1,800-3,000+ dead. There's no comparison between the immediate outcomes of response to the two events.

As a forced New Orleans emigre, I do wonder about long term effects. The long-term response to Katrina generated a shift in the racial and socio-economic demographic of the city. Poorer New Orleanians couldn't afford to come home. Affordable public housing wasn't developed post-Katrina to even make that remotely possible. I think it's still too early to draw conclusions about the full impact of federal response to Katrina, but it's obviously causing major demographic changes.

The long-term effects of this oil catastrophe have the potential, in my opinion, to be more damaging than Katrina. The immediate loss of life is far less grievous. But, fishing in the Gulf as a way of life may be dead for generations. The shipping industry in the Gulf may be shot to hell. The pristine beaches in Mississippi and Alabama, shot. Tourism dies along the way.

I'm not going to take sides on the debate as to which federal response was worse. If I still lived and worked in Louisiana, though, I would be asking myself why I live in a country which lets my friends, neighbors and family die, and then turns around 5 years later to take away our ability to make a living.

[happy_liberal]

39. Now these bastards are really starting to piss me off...

Beyond Incompetence
Pattern Emerges in Katrina Lack of Response Stories

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066

[joeybee12]

41. Maybe, because when all is said and done, we see that the fed govt is BP's bitch....

And we know who is really in control in this country.

[MiniMe]

42. Probably the same people who are for the privatization of everything

What do they expect Obama to do? I blame Bush and Cheney for this one too, for deregulating the oil industry.

[Imagevision]

44. Over 800+ people died from Katrina... google it

[gulliver]

45. Means nothing. If Bush were handling the oil gusher....

...he would have much higher approval than Obama right now. Republicans back anything with an R on it. Katrina hit poor blacks on the watch of a Republican president. That's not a formula for much Republican disapproval, at least not expressed disapproval. A few Republicans were probably rooting for more drownings. They really did think Brownie did a heck of a job.

Obama, on the other hand, gets unanimous disapproval from the Republicans no matter what he does. He could have scuba-dived to the gusher and plugged it with the dead body of Osama Bin Laden. Republicans would still disapprove. They would say he didn't know how to delegate.

Dems saying they disapprove? Probably ignorance and emotion for the most part. But they are the crucial swing voters in this poll. That's why it means nothing while still being damaging. Obama gets a poor grade from the unfair and the incompetent.

[Feron]

46. It's easy to compare...

The gov't is incompetent to handle a major disaster and especially a longlasting one that affects an entire region.

A lot of what is happening now is reminiscent of the Katrina response. We're on our own down here with a reluctant Coast Guard to help us. Hopefully we'll avoid a hurricane this year, but we won't get lucky every year until the oil is gone.

The well gushing is only the beginning. For years we'll be dealing with massive problems and it won't take long for the rest of America to tire of us.

We know what's coming because we've lived it already.