To me, the really troubling thing about analyses like these is the idea that this was a legitimate foreign policy exercise that was just mishandled.  To believe that you can institute a war and have any control whatsoever over the outcome, even if you win militarily, is nothing short of insane.  That is the fact that must be faced and accepted if there is to be any hope for America.

Posted at October 10, 2005 6:20 AM in response to An Epitaph for an Administration

From the earliest hours when it became clear that the administration's  performance was criminally incompetent, it's seemed like Brownie has been their designated scapegoat.  He was the one thrown into the news show snakepit when media talking heads finally pulled off their kid gloves.  Watching Ted Koppel reaming him on Nightline, you got the feeling that if the camera would back out a little you'd be able to see the vultures circling.  Meanwhile, Chertoff was a half-step behind George as he made the rounds of aid station/TV stage sets on the Gulf Coast.  I hope Brown's job performance, which is pretty much on par with the rest of this bunch, doesn't distract attention from the top-to-bottom corruption and incompetence this crisis has illuminated.

Posted at September 9, 2005 3:06 PM in response to You Call That Resume Padding?

 I'm not denying the racial component of this tragedy, but I feel it's mostly an incidental result (which doesn't excuse it)  of the culture of corruption, privilege, and incompetence that got us into this mess and seems powerless to get us out. I  haven't heard the reports about the hotel  guests, but I wouldn't be  surprised if their transportation was provided by Hyatt Regency, not the federal government.  If so, it's another example of the incompetence of the whole operation. And it might have been the feds, too.  My capacity to be amazed disappeared about 2 days ago.

Posted at September 4, 2005 8:21 AM in response to Two Americas

Yup, there's no doubt that evacuation of 100,000 people would seriously tax the resources of any nation.  I would expect the exercise to be much like a war, with all of the screw ups and second-guessing endemic in any such chaotic situation.  What's unforgiveable (and I meaean that in the most fire and brimstone sense) is the total absence of any plan whatsoever.  It's almost exactly four years since the US began devoting massive economic and political energy to disaster preparedness.  Yet evacuation of refugees, an integral component of any large scale terrorist attack or natural disaster, hasn't even been considered.

Posted at September 4, 2005 8:08 AM in response to Two Americas

Great point.  Somehow, along with every other problem in the country, liberals/democrats have been blamed for the coarsening of culture.  While this is totally bogus in the forum of politics and public debate, the average parent is much more concerned about daily influences on her children than some wacko radio host.  Somehow the republicans have hijacked the issue in the noise about abortion, obscenity on TV, traditional values, etc.

Posted at August 25, 2005 8:22 AM in response to Robertson's Influence

Why not?  Take a quick survey of the poo-bahs in  media and in positions of power  and see how many of them have sons and daughters in danger of being killed in military action.  That's why not.

Posted at August 22, 2005 9:35 AM in response to Only Iraq

Perhaps a leetle clarification is in order.  I mean our constitution was, as originally ratified, "a hodgepodge". I'm a little less critical of the constitution as it's currently interpreted.

Posted at August 22, 2005 8:46 AM in response to Get it Done, Get it Right?

There's something weird about Americans giving advice on how to write a constitution.

Our own constitution is a Rube Goldberg hodgepodge of blatantly racist, (yes, even by 18th century standards) compromises designed to sustain a slaveholding, genocidal society on its march across a continent.  Yet, today it's worshipped as a singular work of genius.

Posted at August 22, 2005 8:17 AM in response to Get it Done, Get it Right?

You don't understand, those decisions were all made by judges under the influence of the deadly drug of liberalism and are therefore invalid. 

Posted at August 22, 2005 7:49 AM in response to "Judicial activism"--an empty phrase

I've always found her amusing, too, and I wouldn't criticize her if she was in the same section of the paper with Dave Barry.  I  appreciate that she's willing to skewer hypocricy from either side.

But I was truly astonished by her appearance on Letterman during the presidential campaign.  I looked forward to hearing her comment on the state of the media which had elevated a draft-dodger to a heroic leader while questioning the courage of a soldier who had actually performed heroically in combat.  Or on the bizarro-world portrayal of a rich Connecticut frat-boy being the best friend of the common man, or any of the painfully obvious ironies rampant in the surreal media universe.

But the most memorable thing she said was that John Kerry is "lame". At a time when he was under some of the most misleading yet effective attacks in presidential campaign history, sweet Maureen took the opportunity to pile on.

It's one thing to dish out  criticism  wherever it's appropriate, it's quite another to completely lack a sense of political morality.

Posted at August 10, 2005 8:24 AM in response to maureen dowd