Bob's Links and Rants

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Thursday, September 01, 2005

Blaming the victim

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff:
The critical thing was to get people out of there before the disaster. Some people chose not to obey that order. That was a mistake on their part."
Jerkoff apparently doesn't realize that being poor means that you don't have a lot of choices. You can't fill up the SUV you don't own with the $2.60 a gallon (last Sunday's price) gasoline you can't afford to drive to a no-vacancy motel you still couldn't afford. You might have been able to afford a $10 bus ticket to somewhere, back when the roads were still above water, if someone in the government, at Homeland Security say, had seen fit to arrange for buses (and been callous enough to charge for them). But you weren't given that choice then--it was drown in your home or the Superdome. It appears that both options had plenty of takers.

Digby points out that getting out wasn't even an option for many who could afford to:
For Christ's sake the tourists couldn't get out either. All the rental cars were booked and the airport was closed. Lucky for them, most of them were staying in high rise hotels and they rode out the storm. And now they have someplace to go --- home. The locals who didn't have cars aren't quite so lucky, are they?
The performance of the Bush administration before, during and after Katrina has been atrocious. Lots of people are dying because of this. And the Bushies are blaming the victims. Facing South suggests calling your congresscritters and tell them to light a fire under the nincompoops at the White House. Blame the people in charge, not their victims.