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Condi: Race and Poverty Can Still Come Together "in a very ugly way" in the "Old South"

By Last Night in Little Rock, Section Huricanes Katrina and Rita
Posted on Tue Sep 13, 2005 at 05:48:46 PM EST
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by Last Night in Little Rock

Still defending the Administration's argument that race had nothing to do with the Katrina debacle, Secretary of State Condalezza Rice, who was watching "Spamlot" in NYC in front row seats, buying expensive shoes the next day on Fifth Avenue, and getting tennis from a NYC tennis pro while NOLA flooded, hedged her bets on CNN.com today.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the people who were stranded in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina are evidence that race and poverty can still come together "in a very ugly way" in parts of the "Old South."

According to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday, more black Americans than whites view race as contributing to troubles with the federal response to Katrina.

President Bush on Monday denied allegations that the response to Katrina was slower because thousands of people stuck in New Orleans without food, water or medicine were mostly poor and black.

So, now we have an admission from an administration official that New Orleans is a part of the "Old South" and that race and poverty in fact had something to do with escaping the Big Easy in times of a horrific crisis. An admission of the obvious. Finally.

Meanwhile, Bush's poll numbers are sinking faster than a rock in Lake Pontchartrain. No. The lake is too shallow. Let me rephrase: Sink deeper than the Mississippi at the Port of New Orleans The Mississippi is over 200' deep at its deepest at New Orleans. That's how low the President's number should be allowed to go.

We keep hearing about how she is a sharecropper's daughter, but I'm getting a little tired of that apocryphal historical reference when she can spend and party like any other fat cat Paleo-Con in NYC while Americans die at home from government indifference.

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    Condi: Race and Poverty Can Still Come Together "in a very ugly way" in the "Old South" | 7 comments (7 topical)
    Re: Condi: Race and Poverty Can Still Come Togethe (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:47 PM EST
    I am in no way a fan of George Bush so don't take this question as a defense of any of his wrong doing but rather as a 7th grade history refresher. Other that the fact that she is one of Bush's appointees, why is everyone so upset with Condoleezza Rice for buying shoes or whatever she was doing after Katrina? Doesn't the State Department concern itself with foreign affairs and policy? I mean nobody asked what the Education Secretary was doing after the storm. Probably because her job does not relate to disaster response. So why should the secretary of the office that deals with foreign affairs be any different? Now be easy, its just a political science question.

    Re: Condi: Race and Poverty Can Still Come Togethe (none / 0) (#2)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:47 PM EST
    It's the appearance of one of the highest office holders in the land living it up on vacation while the worst natural disater in a century goes down. And she did have something to do, coordinate the offers of foreign aid pouring in. For the salary she makes, I'd expect her to be at her desk during such a crisis.

    Re: Condi: Race and Poverty Can Still Come Togethe (none / 0) (#3)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:47 PM EST
    The foreign affairs secretary should have been interacting with the international leaders as they responded to Katrina. She may not have missed anything by being gone, but she was taking the chance of missing an offer to help in a time when we may have needed it. She should have been somewhere she could easily be updated on the situation and contacted by foreign diplomats that may have offered assistance or had any questions about what was going on, anything of that nature. Personally, I dont think it's all that big of a deal that she was trying on shoes b/c she most likely can be contacted where ever she is and had she been given urgent information/requests she would have probably responded.

    Re: Condi: Race and Poverty Can Still Come Togethe (none / 0) (#4)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:47 PM EST
    "...Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!....

    Re: Condi: Race and Poverty Can Still Come Togethe (none / 0) (#5)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:47 PM EST
    So why should the secretary of the office that deals with foreign affairs be any different?
    The Secretary of State is a leading member of the National Security Council (along with the President and Vice-President). Wouldn't you imagine that the nation's security is most vulnerable during a time of a catastrophic natural disaster? Then why should all three of the top members of the security council be on vacation?

    Re: Condi: Race and Poverty Can Still Come Togethe (none / 0) (#6)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:47 PM EST
    QIB- It was God's fault because he should have been on vacation too. Everyone knows that anybody who is anybody should be on vacation for at least two weeks before Labor Day.

    Re: Condi: Race and Poverty Can Still Come Togethe (none / 0) (#7)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:50 PM EST
    President Bush on Monday denied allegations that the response to Katrina was slower because thousands of people stuck in New Orleans without food, water or medicine were mostly poor and black.
    He ain't lying. The real reason why they were left for dead is because they don't vote Republican.

    Condi: Race and Poverty Can Still Come Together "in a very ugly way" in the "Old South" | 7 comments (7 topical)