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Operation Cover Our Asses goes into overdrive

As Billmon and Kos point out, these firefighters have been ordered to appear alongside President Katrina Bush as the White House spares no effort in trying to rescue him from the devastation of New Orleans.  And these aren’t just any random firefighters; according to the Salt Lake Tribune, the guys you see above were flown into Biloxi from Atlanta just so that they could flank President K “as he tours devastated areas.”

Now, some of you might object that this little stunt isn’t really an optimal use of first responders.  Some of you might point out that this little stunt leaves Atlanta and other cities with fewer experienced firefighters, as replacements are called up in their stead.  But unless you’re a really cynical SOB, you probably wouldn’t go so far as to imagine that President Katrina’s administration is sticking cities with the bill for those replacements.  Again, from the Salt Lake Tribune:

Also of concern to some of the firefighters is the cost borne by their municipalities in the wake of their absence. Cities are picking up the tab to fill the firefighters’ vacancies while they work 30 days for the federal government.

And only the hypercynical among you would dare to suggest that this photo will do its job—that the Mark Steyns and the Hugh Hewitts and the Jonah Goldbergs will dash to their keyboards and begin gushing about their bold, steely leader rolling up his sleeves (note the sleeve!) and getting to work. For those of you who just can’t imagine that it will get any worse, I leave you with these words from Peggy Noonan:

This, truly, is a good man. And that is a rare thing. Agree with Mr. Bush’s stands or disagree, there can be no doubting the depth of his seriousness and the degree to which he attempts to do what he is convinced is right, and to lead his country toward that vision of rightness. We have had many unusual men as president and some seemed like a gift and some didn’t. Mr. Bush seems uniquely resolved to be as courageous as the times require and as helpful as they allow. There is a profound authenticity to him, and a fearlessness too.

A steady hand on the helm in high seas, a knowledge of where we must go and why, a resolve to achieve safe harbor. More and more this presidency is feeling like a gift.

Good nautical metaphor, no?  A five-gallon barrel of New Orleans water will be awarded to the first right-wing hack who retools Peggy’s January 30, 2003 column for emergency deployment in Operation Cover Our Asses.

Ladies and gentlemen of the wingnut press, power up your laptops.

Posted by on 09/07 at 09:44 AM

  1. That’s the best goddamned homoerotic Chevy light-truck commercial I’ve ever seen. And there’s not even a truck in it! Genius!

    Posted by norbizness  on  09/07  at  11:38 AM

  2. Stumbled onto (stepped in?) this ”Open Letter to Bush Haters” during my last Internet binge:

    I just want to say that, however much I disagree with you, I sympathize with your frustration. Since, in the rather restricted circle in which you move and converse (mathematicians would call it a “closed set”), everyone shares your hatred, it is hard for you to see us nodding approval at almost everything Bush does [especially since, being enclosed in a small circle-set, you can’t see us]. You wonder how we can be so fatuously stupid; why can’t we see how wrong, how evil Bush is!

    The intensity and irrationality of your hatred—even to the point of a willing suspension of disbelief in the blatant mendacities [and girth!] of Michael Moore and insanities like blaming Bush for Al Qaeda, for Katrina, and for the fact that New Orleans is below sea level—is rather amazing [as is the fact that I neglected to mention Iraq]. I think that in some professional circles, it might even be called paranoia. But I want you to know that I understand and even sympathize with your anguish. I’ve been there [i.e., insane, irrational paranoia] and it’s a dreadful place…

    So, my dear Bush haters, in this your darkest hour [or your brightest, if you, like, get off on hating], remember that there are those of us who, though disagreeing with you, remember our [insane, irrational and paranoid] disgust with the Clintons’ antics and, to use Hillary’s own immortal words, “feel your pain.” We will pray for you [because we know you hate that], try to moderate our speech when arguing with you [and stop calling you insane, irrational and paranoid starting...now], and refrain from flaunting our current success [in fomenting epochal death and destruction].

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  11:54 AM

  3. again, there are many, many people in ‘the base’ who take comfort in Peggy’s saccharine prose...at the expense of having to really think about what’s going on--what, me worry?

    otoh, Oprah’s on the case now, and whether you like her or not (i’m in the latter category), there’s no doubt that she has the middle american woman’s ear, and I don’t think she’ll be as kindly predisposed as Noonan towards our Fearless Leader’s steely response, and firm hand in the till, er on the wheel…

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  12:34 PM

  4. What a picture of our Dear Leader! It’s so, so, well Stalinesque, don’t you think?

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  01:05 PM

  5. It might take a while.  It might be very hard for President K to do anything.  But, when he does get to work, he does roll up his sleeves. work of course is covering his ass, blaming others and giving good photos.
    One thing that Peggy and other members of the nutwing press do not get, looking ocasionally Presidential is President K’s job and saying terrible things that have to be translated along with helping the superrich, screwing the poor, the environment, the planet and assisting multinationals in raping the planet.  K’s job is hard work, but somebody does it. Will he personally thank the late and unlamented chief Justice for stealing the election?

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  01:14 PM

  6. Open Letter to the Photographers on the Bush Beat

    Dear Photographers,

    I would like to know that I am in sympathy with the pressures you are under.  Your bosses need photos to illustrate their stories.  You need to keep your jobs by providing these photos.  However, I’d like to ask if you could possibly refrain from “photo ops” set up by President Bush.  I’m sorry to ask this; I know this is your bread and butter and the staggering cynicism and incompetence displayed by the sheer number of these events is not you fault.  However, you are in collusion every time you snap one of these non-news Potemkin moments.  I’m not saying stop photographing the President, but please, for love of God, restrict the photos to the President actually doing something. 

    I’m sure you are smart people who have worked their way up the ladder of news photographers to be put on a prestigious beat, so I’m trusting you to spot the blatant photo ops.  Example:  You see on CNN that equipment is desperately in New Orleans and yet, mysteriously, there appears to plenty of equipment (at rest and not working on or at any of the problems) at precisely the same moment the President is available for a photo.  For further illustration a hypothetical situation:  You meet some good ol’ boys sent by the fire department of Atlanta.  I am sure (if I may be permitted a moment of home town pride) that they are ready and eager to help the victims of this disaster.  You are ready to photograph them doing something but they are called over to walk with the President so that you and your brethren can snap a few pics.  I know you can see the problems with this image composition; bravery and competence are not contagious.

    I cannot hazard to guess the thought process of the White House.  However, I would like to think that if every time the President diverted desperately needed resources for a photo op and every photographer put down their camera and waited until the resource went on its way to where it was needed to save lives, that perhaps someone would get a clue.  Less spin, more cholera prevention is something I think we can all agree on. 

    Sincerely,

    Caroline Anderson

    Posted by Caro  on  09/07  at  01:26 PM

  7. That’s an amazing Open Letter, Sven.  Thanks for passing it along—I hadn’t even considered blaming Bush for Katrina or al-Qaeda!  Until now, that is.

    Further on in that letter, its author, Paul Schlichta, writes, “Although I agreed with most of Nixon’s policies, I could see how his mannerisms could irritate and even anger a liberal. But the intensity of hatred against Nixon and the hysteria that the Watergate affair provoked seemed disproportionate.” He then goes on to decry the incipient Presidency of Hitlery: “Just the thought of the architect of Travelgate as President, being fawned over by European dignitaries, brings on a wave of nausea.”

    Watergate:  no big deal.  COINTELPRO, ratfucking, and the secret bombing of Cambodia:  no problem.  The firing of seven employees from the White House Travel Office:  nausea-inducing.  Now there’s a reliable moral compass for you, a steady hand on the helm in high seas.  Open Letter from Paul Schlichta:  priceless.

    Posted by Michael  on  09/07  at  01:27 PM

  8. That’s the best goddamned homoerotic Chevy light-truck commercial I’ve ever seen. And there’s not even a truck in it! Genius!

    Well, norbizness, that’s because all the Chevy light trucks, which were supposed to deliver barrels of fresh water to hospitals and shelters, have been prevented by FEMA from entering the city—for security reasons.

    But yes, you really should be playing Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock” when you look at this one. 

    Posted by Michael  on  09/07  at  01:37 PM

  9. Or “Blinded by the Light,” because Bush certainly looks revved up like a deuce . . . or is it wrapped up like a douche?

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  02:14 PM

  10. I posted about the firefighters yesterday.

    More recently:

    Brownie’s deputies at FEMA.

    They’re not normal.

    That overseas aid.

    Also: that time gap of Brownie’s.

    Rewarding helo pilots.  Not.

    See no evil; no photos allowed.

    The water; Broussard quote.

    No forced removals yet.

    Just get on the plane.

    Resettlement.

    Send those trucks somewhere.

    The real story.

    Attacking stegosaurus, or at least a wild boar.

    We’re from the Republican Party and we’re here to help you with your bankruptcy.

    The $2k debit card plan.

    The dirty blue line.

    Corpsicles.

    Brownie’s five hour gap.

    1000 trained Potemkin firefighters.

    Don’t tell them they’re going to Utah.

    The ugly rumors.

    Let’s politicize now.

    The self-investigation.

    The experience necessary to be on SCOTUS.

    The real disaster.

    And so on and so forth and so on.

    Posted by Gary Farber  on  09/07  at  02:26 PM

  11. Wrong firefighters, sorry.

    That picture is from Friday in Mississippi:
    ra2838142191.jpg

    The firefighters referenced in the Salt Lake paper were in Louisiana on Monday.

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  03:11 PM

  12. What is “a profound authenticity” and how is it different from some other kind--say, a shallow authenticity?

    Peggy Noonan: Sound Poet. Who knew?

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  03:15 PM

  13. Wrong firefighters, sorry.

    That picture is from Friday in Mississippi.

    The firefighters referenced in the Salt Lake paper were in Louisiana on Monday.

    Wow.  The deployment of photogenic firefighters is more widespread and rapid than I’d thought.  Thanks for filling me in on the full scope of Operation COA. 

    Posted by Michael  on  09/07  at  03:22 PM

  14. .. I needed the laugh .. I really burst out on that one ... probably because I do not know the whore but that is above par and since I cannot add another vile repub piece of shit to my repertoire of shitheads I will continue not knowing her… but the laugh was useful.
    That sorry bitch really reminded me of the poor would-be preacher, in the Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, who wanted to stop and praise the new Messiah just outside the city walls but the crowd kept on going as they were following Brian to his next miracle: the guy in the hole and his juniper bush ...

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  04:27 PM

  15. From Yahoo News:

    House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., renewed her call for Brown’s dismissal and declared: “There were two disasters last week: first, the natural disaster, and second, the man-made disaster, the disaster made by mistakes made by FEMA.”

    She told reporters she had urged Bush in person at the White House on Tuesday to fire Brown.

    “Why would I do that?” Pelosi quoted the president as saying.

    Why indeed?

    Posted by Linkmeister  on  09/07  at  04:51 PM

  16. I think there’s a good chance he will fire Brown. Today’s papers are strikingly unanimous in calling for Brown to get the boot, which suggests to me that a mainstream consensus is emerging on making him the fall guy--not Chertoff, not the President, not the war, not the relentless drive to privatize everything.

    “Pentangeli? He’s small potatoes.” --Hyman Roth, in Godfather II

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  05:11 PM

  17. Thanks. I’ve been trying to diet. That should help with the appetite control.

    Posted by KathyR  on  09/07  at  05:16 PM

  18. If you haven’t eaten yet do not go to townhall.com to read John Stoessels’defense of price gouging.
    If you want a good sleep tonight do not see Tuesday’s Oprah.
    (Sorry about linkagelack)

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  05:58 PM

  19. Since in German, “gift” is “poison,” (and have we ever had a more Germanic presidency than this?) La Noonan has it right: this presidency is a gift. 

    Current reports are that this particular gift killed 25,000 people in New Orleans alone.

    Posted by Charles  on  09/07  at  07:27 PM

  20. An eyewitness story of the hurricane - police official lying about where to find busses, and sherriffs scattering an organized group of refugees on the highway - taking their food and water - because they were too visible.

    http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-2/556/556_04_RealHeroes.shtml

    Yes, extremist source, but the writers were trapped there for days.

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  07:31 PM

  21. Regarding Ms. Noonan’s depiction of W as hero, a President hasn’t been treated so good since Monica and the blue dress.

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  08:12 PM

  22. Is Bush losing his mind, or what? Isn’t he supposed to be wearing a flightsuit in that picture?

    Posted by Ophelia Benson  on  09/07  at  08:40 PM

  23. "Good nautical metaphor, no?”

    Well, no, obviously. But if the aim is to combine greeting card schlock with just enough of a biblical cadence to suggest a depth of meaning and a strength of purpose behind the cheap comforts of Hallmark saccharine, then

    “This, truly, is a good man. And that is a rare thing....More and more this presidency is feeling like a gift”

    is probably quite effective.

    We should probably be more unsettled, maybe even more frightened, than we already are.

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  08:43 PM

  24. Most of the pictures from the disaster crush your heart or hit you hard in the gut.  This “Let me roll up my sleeves” pic with that smug look made me angry.  What we do with how we feel right now will determine where the country heads not just tomorrow, but long after.

    We cannot waste the strength in us as others have wasted fortunes and squandered opportunities to save lives.  How are we the people going to change things around here?

    Posted by The Heretik  on  09/07  at  08:54 PM

  25. If Bush wasn’t in that picture, it would be vaguely reminiscent of the GE ad that shone underground strobes on sweaty miner babes to the tune of “Sixteen Tons.”
    http://slate.msn.com/id/2119668/
    I’d say in terms of the shameless appropriation of labor and class symbols/stories to sell something we have no choice but to buy (for the moment at least), we’re in pretty much the same psuedo-workingman’s-land here. Anyone who would like to rewrite a few of Merle Travis’s verses can contact me privately ...

    Posted by Beth  on  09/07  at  09:56 PM

  26. Mary Catherine, that ("combine greeting card schlock with just enough of a biblical cadence to suggest a depth of meaning and a strength of purpose behind the cheap comforts of Hallmark saccharine") is the single most accurate description of the Bush PR strategy I have ever read.  Bravissima!

    Posted by  on  09/07  at  10:14 PM

  27. looking on the bright side, they will also be needing policemen and construction workers in New Orleans so the photo-ops are only going to get gayer and gayer.  Is there a local football mascot that could lend Bush an Indian headdress?

    Posted by  on  09/08  at  03:37 AM

  28. This, truly, is a good man. And that is a rare thing. Agree with Mr. Bush’s stands or disagree, there can be no doubting the depth of his seriousness and the degree to which he attempts to do what he is convinced is right, and to lead his country toward that vision of rightness.

    And that makes him a good man? Hell, Hitler’s idea of rightness was Judenfrei. Do his serious attempts to lead his nation towards that vision of rightness make him a good man too?

    It’s amazing how so many of those who spend so much time talking about goodness and morality have such a poor understanding of the concepts.

    PS. No, mathematicians would not call it a closed set. That would be what mathematicians call “stupid”.

    Posted by  on  09/09  at  01:08 AM

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