Today's Meme: Don't Criticize Until Disaster is Cleaned Up

Apparently this is Karl Rove's latest meme: Don't critize the government until Katrina is cleaned up. I have seen former presidents Clinton & Bush and several community leaders and talking heads trotting out this line. But they're wrong. The extreme incompetence cannot be ignored, because more will die if the most incompetent boobs -- the political hacks at the top of FEMA and elsewhere -- stay involved.

There is nothing wrong with criticizing the CURRENT MISTAKES being made by people running a disaster cleanup where there are still victims alive, waiting to be saved. It's called "constructive criticism". We're trying to help you understand how to do the job right!

Keeping out the NGOs is wrong. Not accepting international offers of aid is wrong. Not accepting public offers of aid, firemen, police, planes, doctors -- that's wrong. Requiring bureaucratic paperwork while human beings are dying for want of aid is WRONG. Delaying food shipments and suspending relief operations so the President can do photo-ops is wrong. And these are all decisions that have been made within the last 7 days by the federal officials running this disaster cleanup.

It is critical that Brown, Chertoff be removed IMMEDIATELY and replaced by experienced & competent disaster managers. (I'd like to remove Bush immediately as well, but that's not going to happen. And Cheney is probably in charge anyway.) Who ran the 9/11 cleanup? Send him to New Orleans. Do we really expect that the former head of the International Arabian Horse Association (Brown) is going to improve on the job? There are still people alive in the rubble. Send in a pro, send in someone from New York who knows how to bang heads and get things done. Put Bill Clinton in charge! Let BushI hold out the tin cup by himself. Do something. Send in more military with a broad authorization to do what it takes to get the job done.

But for any of these changes to take place, we have to first understand the enormity of the mistakes made by the people in charge. So I reject this meme. Criticizing the government at this juncture is patriotic. Saving lives is the priority, not making rich incompetent boobs feel better about their clusterfuck operation.