Jesse Jackson and the liberals are blaming the GOP for Katrina and the MN bridge, any credibility?

Question

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_080807/content/01125112.guest.html

To the Somalis who live near the bridge, the picture remains unfathomable. After all, they said, bridges collapse in underdeveloped African nations not in metropolitan Minneapolis. ... the collapse was something Somalis never expected to witness in their new homeland. And it has some wondering if the American government has misplaced its priorities by ignoring a decaying national infrastructure in favor of its costly foreign policy." The Chicago Tribune.

The reverend Jackson in the Chicago Sun Times, headline: "A lot more than one bridge could crumble under GOP -- What happened at both ends of the Mississippi and is happening in cities across the country are tragedies, but they aren't random accidents. They are the direct price of the right wing in power.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-bridge_wedaug08,0,1552524.story

Answer 1

Once again, you are lumping all liberals together. I agree with only one statement in that entire statement - "the American government has misplaced its priorities ".

Why the heck are we rebuilding infrastructure in Iraq when our own bridges are falling down? Why are we paying to build dams in Iraq but, in 2002, cut funding for maintenance on the levees?

These ARE random accidents, but our lack of preventative maintenance and our poor preparation due to misplaced priorities allowed these tragedies to happen. It doesn't matter who is in power. These things could have easily happened under Clinton, as well. There are 70,000 bridges nationwide classified as structurally deficient. This was an accident waiting to happen.

Answer 2

I observe a night and day distinction between Jindall's reaction to the Gulf Spill and Blanco's dismal reaction to Katrina. Nagin and Blanco did a some distance worse activity than Bush did. Katrina actually weakened without notice. judgements like Nagin sending human beings to the Superdome would've killed hundreds had the typhoon stayed at that is predicted capability. There don't have been everybody to "rescue" with the aid of fact the city ought to've been empty.

Answer 3

I think there is some truth to that statement and so do you. People in New Orleans were ignored by the federal government and they knew the levees were outdated as are many of the levees and bridges across America. It's not just the Federal level either. The states and the counties have to assume responsibility too. I hear that the city where the bridge collapsed was also building a multi-million dollar baseball stadium.

Answer 4

Jesse has no credibility and it would be great if he would just go home and write, or whittle, anything but all his annoying grandstanding.

The MN bridge is a tragedy and nothing more. I live in Red State Oklahoma and our bridges are rated the worst in the country. There is some truth that we have short changed ourselves when it comes to national infrastructure. But this problem belongs to both Republicans and Democrats. Congress is made up of both and they both together have set different priorities for the nation.

Honestly it really is reprehensible when folks use a tragedy to push their own political agenda. It's wrong whether a Liberal or a Conservative engages in this kind of behavior.

Answer 5

See, if the Rev. Jackson hadn't put his two cents in....MAYBE I would have looked twice at it. The man is a dinosaur, so removed from the dream of MLK, he's white knuckling to keep his name in headlines. It's shameful.

Now about New Orleans. What happened there was also shameful. The officials KNEW the levee's wouldn't hold. Poor folk had NO way out, many of them were/are too uneducated to know what to do when the flood waters started to rise. Then they were shipped to the SuperDome and held prisoner. The media likes to splash clips of black folk screaming,"HELP US" with the insinuation that they were demanding a hand out. Well, maybe they were screaming for help from the armed guards that were holding them there.
Ever think of that, dear Americans?
D

Answer 6

Political grandstanding. Jessie and the gang spread rhetoric which does not accomplish anything. I can remember when he flowed into town (Silicon Valley) one day and accused the high tech world of not hiring enough minorities (humm - the average engineer/technician is an Asian male - isn't that a minority??).

I think Bush and his crew of marginally competent merry men futzed up the response to Katrina and other disasters. This is why political appointees don't work very well at sustaining jobs (like FEMA, Dept. of Defense, etc). They are more concerned about looking like they are doing something that actually doing it. Brownie was a arsh-clown for the Bush administration. (Chartoff isn't much better). If you want someone who understands how to deal with disasters, appoint a retired firefighter.

Answer 7

You know...I just don't see how the two come together

Ok, New Orleans is in a bowl. They all knew that. They all knew that if they got a direct hit then it was all over. Ask any sane person from New Orleans. It was a chance they were willing to take. Now didn't they offer buses to get people out before Katrina hit yet they chose to remain. The aftermath of course was horrible but it was their own local corrupt Democrat government that caused the problems. We all know it. They took the casino money which was stealing from the poor and kept it for themselves. Louisiana is so corrupt. They just soooo wanted to pass the blame. Sure things could've been done better but we haven't experienced a disaster like that before.

And the bridge...how??? How is it Bush's fault? Wasn't it under construction? So weren't they trying to fix something? Now I'm not too up to date on that topic but it seems like a stretch to blame Bush

Answer 8

I know this isn't the answer you are looking for, but this is just my thought at this time.

I wonder if there were a Democrat in the office if they would be saying the same thing?

It is sad to me that on the one hand, the Liberals say Bush is nothing but a dumb ***, then they say he is responsible for so much.
911
Katrina
etc. etc. seems to me that if he could put together the plot that brought down the towers etc, that he would have to be very intelligent wouldn't he?...

I heard that the inspectors had been saying for the past ten years that this bridge wasn't safe, even supplied a list of things that needed to be done. The Governor of that state's comments to this, "They never said to close it." DAH! Here's your sign!!

Answer 9

Wasn't it Republicans that were talking about temporarily suspending gasoline taxes a few weeks ago? Civil engineers have been warning about the possibilities of a bridge failure for a long time. Some 30% of the bridges on the Interstate system failed inspections. We are using the system far above the capacity in weight and volume that it was designed for. We are not maintaining our infrastruture, while complaining about the taxes that pay the minimal maintenance that we do provide.

I can't resist commenting on the irony of asking about credibility and siting rushlimbaugh.com.

Answer 10

So some of you dont like Rush eh? What, because you dont agree with him he automatically has no credibility? Typical elitists. He has his sources cited, hes not making it up. You libs just cant face the facts can you?

If this is what Jacksons career has been reduced to, its worth less than nothing now. So Bush is all of a sudden in charge of keeping up on bridges that are covered under state money? Bush hatred pushes libs to make some of the most ignorant speeches Ive ever heard.