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Faulking Around - Sep 3, 2005 - Printable Version
- The Plastic President
by Mark Faulk
When President Bush showed up at Ground Zero.....okay, not Ground Zero, which was obviously the New Orleans Superdome, but somewhere not too far from Ground Zero, and the cameras started rolling, my first thought was "this is nothing more than a photo op." He did his usual thing....you all know it by now, the self-conscience "what expression should I give the American public now?" pre-expression expression...then the "Look-at-me-I'm-a-caring President, now-get-me-the-hell-out-of-this-mess" expression, followed by the "bring-me-a-victim-preferably-one-who's-white" Norman Rockwell Moment. It seemed contrived and concocted, even in the midst of the war zone that New Orleans has become. Mission Accomplished....plastic turkey, anyone?
Little did I know just how accurate my assessment of the situation was. This evening, less than a day after Bush did a "Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am" drive-by on the shell-shocked victims of Hurricane Katrina, the news is already circulating.....it was staged, just like every other event in this Plastic President's Reign of Terror.
One website reported that German station ZDF News said that the "open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of 'news people' had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time."
Even more disturbing was the press release issued by U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., which said:
“But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast – black and white, rich and poor, young and old – deserve far better from their national government."
And there's more: The Louisiana Times-Picayune reported today that food deliveries to hurricane victims were halted during Bush's visit, and that "Three tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bush’s visit to New Orleans."
According to that article, the provisions "baked in the afternoon sun" because all helicopter flights were halted while Bush made the rounds to his photo ops.
So there you have it. Once again, Bush has shown that every single thing that he's ever done in his entire life has been nothing more than sleight of hand. For all the good his staged trip to New Orleans did, he might as well have brought along the plastic turkey from his Thanksgiving 2003 trip to Iraq, and offered it to the starving victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Plastic President, anyone?
(Editor's note: Thanks once again to www.whatreallyhappened.com for the inspiration. They've become my favorite "one-stop shop" for the truth.)
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