Bush may find it hard to resist (independent) Katrina commission

[UpInArms]

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-09-27T171814Z_01_N27198532_RTRIDST_0_HURRICANES-COMMISSION.XML

WASHINGTON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The White House and Republicans may find it difficult to resist mounting pressure for an independent commission to examine government failures in the response to Hurricane Katrina, experts said on Tuesday.

Only two Democrats showed up as a House of Representatives committee began investigating the response to the devastating Aug. 29 hurricane. The Democratic leadership argues that an inquiry controlled by the Republican majority in Congress lacks credibility and cannot be trusted to honestly probe failures of the Bush administration.

Republicans have so far rejected calls for a bipartisan commission similar to the panel that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, even though polls show an overwhelming majority of the public supports such a probe.

A Gallup Poll last week found 81 percent of respondents in favor of an independent investigation with only 18 percent backing a congressional investigation.

"I don't know why they are resisting so hard," said pollster John Zogby. "The public is angry and they want answers. The Republicans may have picked a fight they can't win."

...more...

[rodeodance]

1. this shows how out of step the WH/repug congress are with the people.

A Gallup Poll last week found 81 percent of respondents in favor of an independent investigation with only 18 percent backing a congressional investigation.

[ClintonTyree]

31. The White House......

is still stubbornly acting under the assumption that bush is still a popular "wartime president" and has loads of political capital in the bank. They can't believe that his nosediving poll numbers are anything more than a blip on the radar screen and that this will all soon go away and everything will return to "normal". THAT'S how out of touch with reality these people are. THEY JUST DON'T GET IT! It's up to us and every other American to make sure they GET IT! :grr: Arrogant dickheads!

[babylonsister]

2. Pretty stupid IMO. Wouldn't getting to the bottom of

all the DHS and FEMA failures benefit all of us? :banghead:

[Atman]

3. No, not all of us.

It would benefit all of US, but none of THEM...they voted for the asshole with a fake resume and a 45 minute hearing.

There is blood on their hands, too.

[centristo]

25. I believe

Joe Lieberman headed up that hearing. However, it was for a lower post, a deputy position if I remember right, so it would be unreasonable to expect a John Roberts-type of in-depth hearing.

OK, maybe that wasn't a good example. :eyes:

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. It will be impossible to resist an independent Floodgate commission.

It won't officially be called Floodgate, but that's what it is.

81 percent is not just a landslide, it is like the side of Mt St Helens collapsing.

[pacalo]

5. I just wrote to Rep. Bobby Jindal...

I'd like to request that you please, please support the appointment of an independent panel that will investigate exactly why the government failed the people of Louisiana. I would much prefer a panel of experts asking the questions than a panel of Bush loyalists from the House of Representatives who are more interested in deflecting blame from the White House.

I've been watching the hearing today on C-Span & I'm sickened by the softball questioning of Michael Brown. I'm even more disgusted that Mr. Brown has been hired back as a FEMA consultant!

Appointing an independent, unbiased commission is the only way to discern the truth & to give the public confidence that this law body is serious about correcting the problems. Put the People first & let the chips fall where they may: This should not be a political game; our lives are more important than that.

[calimary]

12. That is one terrific note!

Good for you for writing it, and sending it.

Does make you wonder what they're afraid of if they're so pigheaded.

Well, actually, I take that back. Doesn't make ME wonder at all. I KNOW why they want to be left alone to whitewash it for/by themselves.

[pacalo]

22. Thanks, Calimary. :)

[raccoon]

6. This John Zogby must be a Bushbot koolaid drinker.

"I don't know why they are resisting so hard."

Well, duh...for the same reason you don't want the fox to guard the henhouse.

[fooj]

18. Gee, John. Why won't you conduct a poll re: impeachment?

"I don't know why they are resisting so hard." LOL!!!:spank:

[Nothing Without Hope]

35. No, Zogby's not a Bushbot. He's saying that the GOP's opposition to

an independent investigation doesn't make political sense because the public is so strongly set on this that the GOPs are likely to have to back down on their refusal. They would get far more political capital if they succumbed to the inevitable early and pretended to welcome a chance to get the truth. By continuing to resist, they are likely to be dragged kicking and screaming and this does NOT make them look good.

Zogby's shaking his head over their failure to see how serious people are about demanding that independent investigation. He's a professional pollster, and he trusts what his polls tell him. The GOP clearly believe that they can ignore the clearly expressed strong public opinion about this, that it will blow over and they can get away with everything yet again as they have in the past. He thinks they're wrong this time and will end up looking even worse in their resistance to finding out the truth. Makes them look guilty as hell, and anyone but the GOPs can see that.

I believe the reason they are resisting is that they fear what would come out. They can't completely trust their Poodle Press on Katrina, and the deliberate delays and blocks of aid after Katrina killed hundreds, probably thousands. The responsibility is OBVIOUSLY primarily Bush's and Chertoff's. There's no way around it if anyone looks at the documentation and has read the DHS National Response Plan.

The GOP want to CONTROL THE INVESTIGATION because they WANT SPECIFIC "ANSWERS" to be reported: namely, LIES that will allow them to call for wider powers for the POTUS, in effect martial law. TO do this, they have to lie and say that the reasons for the bad response to the Katrina disaster were the LACK of such powers and that the local and state officials are solely responsible and must be forced out of the loop. They want what is actually a military dictatorship, and they have been working toward this for a long time and obviously see the disasters as their chance to grab it. If you don't agree, read this entire thread, including the extremely important articles posted in the replies, and think again:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4790112
thread title: Missing A KEY POINT in *'s speech: POWER GRAB FOR POTUS AND MILITARY

A true independent investigation would NOT give them the "answers" they want. On the contrary, the truth would make it that much harder to get away with the power grab and dismantling of the Posse Comitatus protections against military dictatorship. By all means, they DO NOT WANT THE TRUTH. They know what it is and it is counter to their plans.

[raccoon]

38. I only hope you are right

"The GOP clearly believe that they can ignore the clearly expressed strong public opinion about this, that it will blow over and they can get away with everything yet again as they have in the past. He thinks they're wrong this time..."

They've gotten away with everything else so far.

[Nothing Without Hope]

39. Yes, they've gotten away with everything else. If the press shuts down

again, snaps back into full enabling/propaganda mode, they could get away with this too. We need to keep pushing the truth out there.

The other, even scarier idea is that the neocons are so certain that they are irreversibly entrenched in power, no matter what the voters want, that they no longer give a damn about public opinion. Let's hope that's not true, or if it is, it's not justified.

This is no time for silence or the "business-as-usual," "go-along-to-get-along" Dem enablers of the GOP agenda.

[Trevelyan]

41. I think it was brave of Zogby to give his opinion and I think we are meant

to read between the lines which is not difficult for Internet users who are aware of the Alternate media but 59% of households do not have Internet and the library only allows one hour a day and with loading time and the fact that libraries don't have a Help Desk and there are many problems and a number of people who do have internet are either wealthy or don't care or are afraid of the truth or don't know which is why I try to leave paragraphs and URLs of Truthsites on neutral messageboards like AOL. Had been including too many paragraphs and got warning from AOL though they didn't say why but still going to post petition sites and truthsites for those who are interested.

WaPo used to have a lot on the Soviet Union and how people knew to take Pravda and other Soviet media with a grain of salt and Americans are waking up but until Kerry took a dive, I knew almost nothing of the Bush Family Evil Empire, PNAC and Bilderberg.

[quispquake]

7. Which two DINO's showed up for this one?

Very curious...

[speedoo]

8. Jefferson of La. and Taylor of MS.

Jefferson was completely unprepared and totally ineffective, I understand he's a crook. Taylor was very effective.

But the most effective questioner was Shays (R-CT).

[myrna minx]

9. The Representatives of the flooded districts.

I can't blame them. Their constituents would demand their reps to be there.

[quispquake]

10. Cool...that makes sense...

I can't blame them either...thanks for clearing that up...

[Rose Siding]

11. The dems are boycotting, but gave the locals a waiver

[TygrBright]

16. Whoa, hol' on, there...

>>"Which two DINO's showed up for this one?"<<

Don't make assumptions. One, or even both, of those Dem attendees might have been there to keep an eye on what was going on so the GOPpies couldn't slip any creepy stuff in under the radar.

Think about it. Do you really want them to meet without adult supervision?

admonitorially,
Bright

[truthisfreedom]

13. let the thugs put all their energy into lost causes like this one. they

can't save bushco. bush is toast, and he has 3 years to go.

[cloudythescribbler]

28. no, see my comment below -- Repugs mitigating a political disaster

[MasonJar]

14. The best is the narcissistic Mouthfull of crap Brown investigating

himself. I am sure he got that job for the same reason certain other fired individuals got a medal (undeserved.)

[Miss Chybil]

15. I just wrote Kyl and McCain.

I doubt it will do any good, but they're my senators. At least, I'm on record.

[newswolf56]

17. Another classic example of Bush giving the finger to the public:

What Republicans fear the most about an independent commission is that it will reveal the extent to which the aftermath of Katrina was the calculated result of deliberate policy: not just murderous racism, but homicidal class warfare and deadly political reprisal as well -- in other words, genocide.

Alas, too many Democrats fear it too: this is why there is such acquiescence to the all-Republican commission. For now 80 percent of white America refuses to accept the notion of genocide, but an independent commission would force its acknowledgment, which in turn would revolutionize political debate -- the consequences of which terrify the oligarchy and thus also terrify all Republicans and every Democrat who supports the status quo.

[stickdog]

19. Bush has promised to investigate himself.

But he's not sure if he can get himself off, so he's appointing Jeff Gannon to be the head guy.

[ClintonTyree]

32. Get himself off, head guy...........

:rofl: STOP, you're killing me! :rofl:

[TankLV]

20. The 911 commission was a joke too, and they don't even want that.

We never had an "independent" 911 commission.

That scumbag repuke Warner even INSERTED LIES ABOUT THE NIGERIAN URANIUM CLAIMS as fact when the committee voted NOT to!

I want a TRULY INDEPENDENT commission - you know - the kind the repukes demanded with CLINTON - with ONLY RABID PARTISAN DEMOCRATS ont the committee - to make sure it is not a "whitewash" - just like the repukes insisted with all the REPEATED invesitgations after rabid repuke after rabid repuke EXHONERATED President Clinton with each successive one!

[nookiemonster]

21. Interesting.

"I don't know why they are resisting so hard," said pollster John Zogby.

Well, that's the $10,000.00 question, isn't it, Mr. Zogby?

The pattern of corruption should be apparent to any moran with half a brain.


Make the fuckers squirm. I'm enjoying this more than I should, I know.

:evilgrin:

[oxbow]

23. 81%! Those numbers are worse than when they were meddling w/Terri Schiavo

Let em stonewall if they want. The more they resist the will of the people, the more of 'em will be thrown out of Congress in '06

[paineinthearse]

24. Support Rep. Slaughter's discharge petition (H.R.3706)

(H.R.3706) is a discharge petition that would establish a National Independent Inquiry Commission on Disaster Preparedness and Response to examine and evaluate the Federal Government's response to Hurricane Katrina and assess its ability to respond to future large-scale disasters.

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2118891

[drone]

26. Guilty

You are automatically suspected of being guilty if you refuse an independent commission. People will say, What do you want to hide?

[nookiemonster]

37. Bingo.

Public perception is a cruel mistress indeed. They're truly dumber than a bag of hammers, and this little stunt illustrates it.

BTW, Welcome to DU!!

:toast:

[cloudythescribbler]

27. NOT SO FAST! Repugs are politically savvy .....

People here have cited the Schiavo affaire. But that is a good example. The political costs to the Repugs were minimal, but a hard core of so-called pro-lifers were palliated. If it turns out that EITHER of the two new Justices to the SCOTUS don't vote against Roe, the Repug leadership are going to need that goodwill.

Now as for an independent commission. Imagine you are in Karl Rove's shoes with his goals. This is a 'Hobson's choice' -- if you don't have an Independent Commission, people will be against you, but it is no big whoop as far as elections are concerned. On the other hand, if you DO go along with such a commission, the political bloodletting will go on, with full press coverage of how Bush has stacked FEMA from top to bottom with unqualified personnel who are only loyal to him, etc etc AND THAT THEY ARE STILL THERE, OTHER THAN BROWN.

ROVE MAY BE EVIL BUT HE IS POLITICALLY SAVVY. It's the old triage principle of taking your losses as painlessly as possible. And the Repugs are very effective at that.

IT WILL TAKE ACTIVE AND INTELLIGENT mobilization of the discontent by Democrats, the kind they OBEDIENTLY avoided in the 2004 election, like the media keeping their lips zipped about the bogusness of the flipflop spin as the Democrats and 527s did also, in a deafening chorus of silence, when belatedly Jonathan Chait was able to easily explode it (in terms of content, not political effect) in his cover story on the OCTOBER 18 New Republic, when it was too late. Then they all shifted to the distorting justifying-the-lying article by Matt Bai in the Sun NY Times Magazine on Kerry and terrorism.

Democracy begins when people are willing to refuse to obey illegitimate commands from illegitimate authority, instead of toeing the line and getting on the gravy train. So far, all I see is the latter where it matters. I understand that that is the way to get the goodies and avoid the baddies, so the fact of suffering for it isn't just a matter of 'the joke being on me'. The point is that either you believe in fighting for freedom and justice or you go for the cushy job and the well-preened image of the rebel with millions.
Is it surprising that, given the choice, everyone gravitates to the latter?

And the wind cries Mary

[Megahurtz]

29. The Government investigating themselves!

:rofl:

[ClintonTyree]

30. I can tell you "why they're resisting so hard".........

because the bush White House doesn't want the light of day to shine on any of it's monumental fuckups. This has been the most secretive administration, ever. As THEY keep saying when constantly trying to intrude on OUR privacy, "hey, if you've nothing to hide you've nothing to worry about". Well, the same goes for the criminal gang in the White House right now. If you've got nothing to hide then there shouldn't be a problem, right? The thing is they've got LOTS to hide, things we can't even begin to wrap our minds around yet. We know of countless transgressions, the "energy summit" that I believe laid the groundwork for the invasion of Iraq even before 9/11 happened, 9/11 itself, what DID the bush administration know and WHEN did they know it? The the lead-up to the war in Iraq, how many lies and falsified documents were used to lead us into that quagmire? The White House's connection to Enron and Big Oil, the outing of an active CIA agent in reprisal for her husbands refusal to play ball over the Yellow Cake Uranium lies, bush's gutting of FEMA and the rampant cronyism present throughout the administration. These are but a FEW of the ones we're aware of. Just think of the ones we AREN'T aware of!
Yes, we need an independent investigation. Just like 9/11, bush doesn't want the light of day to shine on their miserable failures. The people demanded an independent investigation and we got one (well, sort of). We demand one now. We want to know what the federal government did wrong and why. We want answers, not a whitewashed Republican version of same.
You're going down bush, and there aren't any lifeboats on your sinking ship because you cut all the programs that supplied them to give your rich pals more tax breaks. Fuck you, bush. You're going down shithead. :grr:

[fortyfeetunder]

33. Might as well take the bitter medicine of independent investigation

because the midterm elections of 2006 are only 13 months away and I doubt the events of 2005 will be long forgotten.

[prof_youngblood]

34. Dumbo Bush appoints Rove to oversee Katrina rebuilding efforts

This jerk is getting more stupid with each passing day -- Bush thinks the amount of BS. he insists on throwing at us we'e going to still but... this jerk is in his own fantasy world...!

[Lindsay]

36. As newswolf56 said above, it's Bu$hCo giving the American

people the finger. They don't care what we think. They don't care what will benefit the people. They took office to do what they wanted to do, and they're determined to continue on that course.

[Trevelyan]

40. The article says that MoveOn.org already has 400,000 signatures

I'm on their mailing list but will go to http://www.MoveOn.org to make sure my signature is on it.

Keep up the pressure and please continue to go to Rep. Conyers' Blog and main page, he has action items on his main site about honest elections and has short downloads of his interviews. Just listened to one on Democracy Now! about the history of Plamegate and Rep.Conyers' helping to get Ashcroft recused and Special Prosecutor Fitzgerals assigned and the lies told by Rove - also being interviewed with Rep. Conyers was the very knowledgeable blogger for blogspot Whatever, Already.

http://www.johnconyers.com/ http://www.conyersblog.us/