Ok, so I'm watching ABC news with my dad in the nursing home in NY

[WestHoustonDem]

and they do this horrible story about the Katrina victims in Houston. And our Mayor White says "If they can't find work they should go somewhere else, it's the American way." :wtf: I realize that was just a sound bite, but that was just awful.

I knew he was barely a Democrat, but I never thought he was stupid.

[eallen]

1. Jobs are one of the chief reasons people move. What's wrong with that?

That's why Silicon Valley grew in the 70s and 80s. It's why Detroit grew in the early part of the 20th century, and shrunk the 80s and 90s.

Obviously, that's a pretty defeatist thing for a mayor to say, since a city mayor wants to expand the economic opportunity locally. In that sense, yeah, the statement is stupid. But bypassing that issue, the last part of his statement is historically accurate. It is the American way to go where the jobs are.

[WestHoustonDem]

2. Accurate yes, but in the context of the challenges facing Katrina

victims who obviously don't have the resources to pick up and move, it's stupid and callous.

[acmejack]

3. Totally beside the point.

They should walk to where the jobs are. Just because the jobs in the immediate vicinity, like in a thousand mile radius, are all being taken by illegal immigrants who will work well below minimum wage doesn't enter into the discussion either. Mayor White is a complete asshole, and complete assholes are rare, Bush has taken most of them to Washington DC to serve in the administration.

[PDittie]

4. Bill White is squandering his political capital

He refuses to challenge Culberson on light rail; he refuses to take a side for ballot integrity, and he refuses to sign on to Kyoto. If he was the "most powerful Democrat in Texas" a year ago, he sure hasn't been acting like it.

The guy's always been too conservative for my taste anyway.