Shame on You, Barbara Bush!
I usually try to avoid this sort of chastising, but I could not resist to comment on this story. As reported by various news organizations, former First Lady Barbara Bush paid a visit to hurricane evacuees who are currently seeking shelter inside the Astrodome in Houston and made some very Marie Antoinette-esque comments towards the evacuees. Here is one of the quotes: 'What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.' The first part of that statement smacks of plain ignorance. What is so scary about them wanting to stay in Texas? These people have lost everything and have nowhere else to go. It will take months for New Orleans to get back to some semblance of normalcy. Are you afraid that they're all going to become wards of the state and become a burden to the taxpayers? Think about how this country grew. People moved westward to start new lives and to establish themselves and their families in places they could call home. The hurricane survivors aren't very different, they just have a different set of circumstances.
Here is another quote from the former First Lady: 'And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this -- this is working very well for them.' I don't see what that has to do with the fact that a hurricane came in and swept away everything that they had. There are people of various socio-economic paths that are being sheltered in Texas and other places across the country and how much money you have (or had) doesn't have any bearing on what happened. Did you think Katrina thought itself 'Hmmm. Maybe I'll just take out the poor section of town and spare the rich folks.' Sorry to burst the bubble, but natural disasters (much like alcoholism, drug use or any kind of illness for that matter) don't discriminate. I think that this type of behavior by a former First Lady is very inexcusable and shows that this country still has a ways to go when it concerns not only the economic disparity between the "haves" and "have-nots", but the difference in their respective attitudes and philosophies.
posted by Turd Ferguson at 9:04 AM
4 Comments:
You're absolutely right Scott. This comment shows that Conservatives aren't afraid to point out the obvious (many of these people will be better off after the storm thanks to the aid they're receiving) rather than pandering to political correctness, and stating that the loss of their shack was a terrible tragedy. Having lived through Hurricane Andrew I witnessed first hand how hand outs and large insurance windfalls helped people achieve a much higher standar of livng AFTER the hurricane. There's nothing insensitive about stating that the poor will be better off thanks to the aid they're receivng. Yes, not only the poor were affected. It's simply that the wealthy aren't living in shelters.
Political correctness has nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with one not putting their own foot in their mouth. Is it the evacuess fault that their homes were blown away and that the aid that they received "may" help them get some semblance of their life back? Perhaps it's the shot in the arm that they need after having such a tragedy befall them. It's not like they're going to become millionaires overnight. Do you honestly think that the people that lived through this tragedy want to hear comments about how better off that someone thinks they are. If I were o0ne of those victims in a shelter and heard those comments, I'd be mad as hell and ask myself where someone would have the audacity to make such a thoughtless and heartless comment. Let's not forget who the victims are here. As far as the 'large insurance windfalls', that sounds like a problem inherent with the insurance folks that dole out the money. I'm sure that a certain Senator from Mississippi isn't going to be too bad off either once he gets his "insurance windfall" for the damage done to his house. Perhaps his standard of living will improve, too. It's been said that liberals are guilty of being pessimistic when it comes to what is happening in this country. Aren't they pointing out the obvious as well when they speak, or are only conservatives allowed to possess that gift?
I don't know about Barbara Bush, but I'd be afraid of these people moving right next to me from New Orleans. They scare me! Don't get me wrong, I loved the city, but I never felt safe there.
As for what you and Art are arguing over. With the amount of coverage this situation is getting and the amount of help pouring in, I'm sure these people will make out much better than any person of Tornado Ally that had their house demolished in a different type of natural disaster. Regardless of how these people feel about the insensitivity of the comments, isn't it true?
If you want scary, try walking in the streets of downtown
Colon, Panama, which in its heyday, had a lot of similarities to New Orleans (I even commented about that to one of my co-workers when I was in New Orleans for a conference in May of 2002). I was mugged at knifepoint in Colon by folks that don't even speak my native tongue (Thank God I understood Spanish or we may not be having this dialogue). There are always going to be bad people no matter where you are. It's a fact of life. It's a matter of using common sense (something that I admittedly didn't use the night I was mugged). My main beef is with the comments that the former First Lady made. They sound like a 21st Century version of "let them eat cake".
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