If only 2005 had been an election year, and Louisiana had been a battleground state, then the atrocity of Katrina might have been better handled.
In this election year, Florida has suffered flooding and a handful of deaths in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Fay, and Bush/McCain didn't wait to declare a state of emergency. People in Florida played by the rules: they scheduled the storm during election season!
The next time your state faces a category 5 hurricane, make sure you are in a politically important area.
In fact, if your state or county faces just a tropical storm, but you have appropriately positioned yourself in a battleground state, then you will get plenty of help from the federal government.
For example, look at the devastation of Hurricane Katrina:
Looks bad, doesn't it? Well, unfortunately, the people of New Orleans didn't time this disaster very well. If only they'd waited until 2006, the midterm elections, or even 2008, the presidential elections, they'd have gotten assistance. As it turns out, the federal government didn't include any of the coastal areas of Louisiana in its emergency declarations for Katrina.
In a September 26, 2005 hearing, Michael Brown was questioned by Republican members of Congress about FEMA's response. During that hearing, Representative Stephen Buyer (R-IN) inquired as to why Bush's declaration did not include Orleans, Jefferson, or Plaquemines parishes.[15] (In fact, the declaration did not include any of Louisiana's coastal parishes, whereas the coastal counties were included in the declarations for Mississippi[16] and Alabama.[17]) Brown testified that this was because Governor Blanco had not included those parishes in her initial request for aid, a decision that he found "shocking." After the hearing, though, Blanco released a copy of her letter, which requested assistance for "all the southeastern parishes including the New Orleans Metropolitan area and the mid state Interstate I-49 corridor and northern parishes along the I-20 corridor that are accepting [evacuated citizens]."
I guess New Orleans really learned its lesson, huh? Images like these taught the smart state of Florida to keep its hurricane season in line:
Yesterday, President Bush showed what he can do to states that are in the right place at the right time:
Also Sunday, President Bush declared a "major disaster" area in Florida, making the counties of Brevard, Monroe, Okeechobee, and St. Lucie eligible for federal funds.
And presidential candidate McCain also was paying attention. He got briefed on Tropical Storm Fay, which scuttled his fundraiser:
I guess President Bush and wannabe McCain couldn't bear images such as:
This man's boogie board is going to blow away!
And this guy on a bike is getting splashed by a passing car!
With images like these, surely you can understand why the federal government stepped in. We can't have the precious voters of Florida losing their boogie boards and getting wet on their bicycles.
So, remember this, all of you who live in coastal areas:
Don't let yourself get hit by a storm unless it's election year.
The decision is yours.
PS
Just to drive the point home, presidential candidate McCain will be celebrating his birthday by announcing his VP. Remember when he celebrated his birthday on the day Katrina hit New Orleans?