Republicans See the Public as Losers and Whiners

Mr. Johnson, you say above, "...talking about the thousands who drowned in New Orleans".

Thousands? Please state your source/reference in regards to "thousands".

You need to be careful: an embellisher is no better than those he is trying to degrade with his embellishments, all things being equal.

I think if you read Senator Grassley's comment carefully, he was making an opinion on (liberal?) media coverage known. You just chose to view it your own way.

Since headlines are written to entice people to read an article, I'd say that success was achieved. Here's another fine example, though, of great heat and little light generated by current news and opinion writing. Who cares anymore if it's written from the Left or the Right? Both sides gleefully lob their word-grenades at the other. Not a hint anywhere of solutions or where we go from here.

Grenades that leave debris to trip us. Heat which throws up smoke to obscure.

Good point Wayne.

According to the Louisiana Dept. of Health and Hospitals, there were 1,464 confirmed dead in Louisiana, and the number of missing is estimated at various figures between 135 and 2500. Given that the missing after all these years are probably also dead, "thousands" isn't much of a stretch. And I'll grant you that maybe they didn't all drown. Certainly a significant portion died of other, equally horrible causes. But quibbling about how many people drowned in New Orleans only obscures the real point.

Senator Grassley has been pontificating from atop this particular soapbox wherever people would listen, maybe to help the people of Iowa, but also assuredly to help the Republican Party (which lacking a true plan strives always to make Democrats look as bad as possible). Senator Grassley never mentions the $2.65 BILLION dollars which congress has already appropriated for midwest disaster relief, probably because he knows the Executive Branch run by his party hasn't figured out who to hand them out to yet. In the words of Senator Tom Harkin(also from Iowa), "If there's any lack of funds in Iowa right now . . . it's not because of Congress."

I think the comparison to the Katrina disaster is more apt for its similarities, e.g. FEMA and other relief agencies hamstrung by an Executive Branch full of people appointed for their loyalty who couldn't manage their way out of a wet paper bag, and people suffering needlessly as a result, than for its differences.

But then again, being a Democrat, I tend to blame the idiots at the top rather than the victims.

Ralph,

Once again, the article above says, "Here is Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, talking about the thousands who drowned in New Orleans:".

The Grassley quote that follows has no reference to the "thousands" who drowned. The author plugged that inference in there himself.

Notice also the author referenced a city, New Orleans where "thousands" drowned. Your own research mentions the ENTIRE STATE OF LOUISIANA, not just the city of New Orleans.

You can't use two different scales simultaneously to "fix" the initial embellishment. Or was it just a mis-use of facts? Only the author knows...

But I have to tell you, if a government agency has a spread between 135 and 2500 folks missing, a 2365 person spread to be exact, there is something wrong with how they count things up isn't there?

Or perhaps they use the same formulas when collecting taxes and making up a budget...

Regardless, Grassley has to speak up for his folks but in praise during a time of duress and to get them whatever funding he can get his hands on. It is his job. What would you think of him if he DIDN'T do that?

What would you think of your representative to the federal government if a similar disaster hit your area and that person didn't do anything?

You guys gotta stop the partisan stuff somewhere and get real. Both in taking care of EVERYONE using an unbiased viewfinder and in the use of "facts" in your partisan arguments.

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