Barbara Bush Was Right
by Big Dog on Feb 1, 2010 at 20:42 Political
When Katrina hit New Orleans after the biggest failure of local political leadership in many years, Barbara Bush was going through Houston meeting evacuees and she said that many were overwhelmed by the hospitality. She also said that many living in poverty so this was working out for them:
“And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway,” she said, “so this is working very well for them.” NYT
Of course some people were upset at this honest statement and had something to say about it. The reactions here and here are examples of the response with the last link indicating that Mrs. Bush insulted the people. I guess the truth is an insult here but not so much when the truth comes from Harry Reid (about light skinned non negro talking Obama).
So will these folks take a similar stance at Arne Duncan’s honest statement about the people of New Orleans?
Education Secretary Arne Duncan, one of the Chicagoans brought to Washington for “The Golden Age of Hope and Change” (aka, “The Unmitigated Disaster of Unprecedented Proportions”), said recently that “the best thing to ever happen to the school system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina”. HillBuzz
In other words, the best thing to happen to these poor people was Hurricane Katrina because they got better schools.
Is this any different than saying that the hospitality in Houston that was shown to the poor people “is working well for them?”
I think both statements are true and things after Katrina have worked well for the folks. This is not to say that the hurricane was a good thing, only that the things that happened after were good for them (though not everything has been perfect).
I wonder how much buzz Arne’s statement will create?
Want to bet none?
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Tags: arne duncan, barbara bush, katrina, Obama
What kind of buzz do you want? You’re comparing losing homes and being displaced to losing schools and getting new ones? Unbelievable.
Barbara Bush’s statement was possibly the most outrageous and tone-deaf thing ever said to the media in our lifetimes. For you to compare it to New Orleans losing schools and getting new ones places you right up there with Mrs. Bush.
Yep. And another reason why it wouldn’t get much buzz even if someone did say something outrageous? Katrina happened four and a half years ago.
So saying that what they had in Houston was not bad considering they lived in poverty was bad but saying that Katrina was the best thing to happen to the school system is OK?
How many of the students lost homes or family members and how many do you suppose would be happy with their old schools if they could have their old homes and family back?
I don’t know if it is the most tone deaf in my lifetime, I am a bit older.
Places me right up there with Mrs. Bush? Great deflection but I already told you how I feel. I don’t care if they were poor or rich they depended on government and were unable to care for themselves.
In a comparison of quotes as statements of lemons into lemonaid you’re taking Mrs. Bush saying “Well, at least they get to stay…in a crowded sports complex because their homes were destroyed and they had no place else to go.”
Duncan is saying “Well, at least the school systems improved, that’s at least one good thing to come from Katrina.”
How you can think those sentiments are on the same level is a mystery to me…
How about taking it as Mrs. Bush saying, it might not be the Marriott in Copenhagen that members of Congress stay in for $2200 a night but it is a place to stay and they are not homeless in New Orleans where they were abandoned by their Democrat Mayor and Governor.
If you take it that way you’re a fool. You know better. Bush’s statement was a load of crap with no basis in reality.
Actually, no- it was not a load of crap- in the first place, you had people who were so poor that they lived among trash- well, Katrina solved that problem, didn’t it? Some of these tenements were so dilapidated that it was worse than what they went to afterwards, and Houston took in a disproportionate amount of these poor people and gave them a place to live, and what did a lot of these refugees do?
Raised the crime rate double what it had been before they came- murder doubled, rape doubled, drug crime more than doubled.
Realize that the competition in this category is STEEP:
Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina
25 Mind-Numbingly Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina And Its Aftermath.