[URL=Dems at odds over Gulf: Kerry, Brazile choose sides]Dems at odds over Gulf: Kerry, Brazile choose sides[/URL]

Dems at odds over Gulf: Kerry, Brazile choose sides
By Rachelle G. Cohen
Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Memo to John Kerry: It's not all about you.

The rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, and the rebuilding of the lives disrupted by Hurricane Katrina ought to be a shared goal, not just more political fodder for the unbridled ambitions of a failed presidential candidate.

That's not to say the Bush administration and the ineptitude of its now departed FEMA Director Michael Brown ought to be above criticism. Far from it. But the increasingly shrill tone adopted by Kerry is hardly putting him on the road to statesmanship.

``If 12-year-old Boy Scouts can be prepared,'' Kerry said in a Monday speech, ``Americans have a right to expect that their 59-year-old president can be prepared.''

He made a blatant – and shameful – pitch to Brown University students to use the hurricane and its aftermath as a rallying point.

``We have to get angry and organize around that,'' Kerry said.

Yep, that will make the folks who simply want to return to their homes, their schools, their lives feel a whole bunch better.

It would be easy to ignore the latest self-serving Kerry bleatings were it not for the powerful contrast provided by another loyal life-long Democrat – but one who is a native of New Orleans.

Writing in an oped in the Washington Post, Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, said, ``I did not vote for George W. Bush – in fact, I worked pretty hard against him in 2000 and 2004. But on Thursday night, after watching him speak from the heart, I could not have been prouder of the president and the plan he outlined to empower those who lost everything and to rebuild the Gulf Coast.''

Brazile is as partisan as they come. Somehow if the topic turned to the nominee for Supreme Court chief justice, she'd likely work up a lather with little effort. But for her, rebuilding is above petty partisanship.

``There are times when it seems that our nation is too divided ever to heal . . . But we are one nation. We are a family. And this is what we do. When the president asked us to pitch in, he wasn't asking us to do anything spectacular. He was asking us to be Americans, and to do what Americans always do.''

Most Americans maybe, but not John Kerry.

``This administration is recycling all their failed policies and shipping them to Louisiana,'' Kerry said. ``After four years of ideological excess, these Washington Republicans have had a bad hangover – and they can't think of anything to offer the Gulf Coast but the hair of the dog that bit them.''

It's hard to imagine that Kerry and Brazile heard the same Bush speech. Actually it's hard to imagine these two Democrats are living on the same planet.

For Brazile, of course, all of this comes close to home.

``My hometown is down, but not out,'' she wrote, ``and with the help of every American, it will be back on its feet, bigger and brighter than ever.''

And in a closing that brought to mind a real John Kerry moment, Brazile wrote, ``Mr. President, I am ready for duty. I am ready to stir up those old pots again. Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.''

So let John Kerry continue his whining and his carping and his quest for political advantage, while others, like Brazile roll up their sleeves. And when the work is done and this first-rate political operative goes shopping for her next Democratic presidential candidate, he – or she – will deserve a careful look.

I raise this issue with this article because Gore's approach has been similar to Kerry's on this, so I believe the criticism in this article could be aimed as much at Gore as Kerry and any other Democrat who's been criticizing Bush for how he handled Katrina.

Do you approve or not of Brazile's approach? Is it time to put partisanship aside and work together? Or is it better to continue making sure people understand how poorly Bush handled the situation?

Just thought it was an interesting topic and that I'd start the discussion ball rolling . . .

I understand where Brazile is coming from, New Orleans is her home. For worse or for more worse Bush is in the oval office, and he has the most power at his disposal to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. She feels her most pressing priority is to restore what has been destroyed, and her actions are all focussed in that direction. She has in effect been disempowered by this castastrophe. If you ever view reality television shows such as Survivor or Big Brother, you can witness the same phenomenon.

Gore and maybe Kerry have even larger priorities, this is not to diminish from their dedication to rebuilding the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. I do not know Kerry as well Al, but I believe Al recognizes that as tragic as Katrina was, it is as he said "the first sip of a bitter cup" and we must change our ways. It begs the question how can we change if we do not recogize the problem. The purpose of his criticism is to bring about a recognition regarding the dangers of global warming. A danger that the corpwhorate owned MSM up until recently all but ignored or ridiculed. Another purpose of his criticism is regarding the cronyism that has taken over FEMA (the five top managers were all political appointees) after Bush came to power, if this were not to be corrected history would only repeat it self. We need professional people with experience running that department, also it makes no difference who is runnnig FEMA if most all of the vital funding is cut from it as Bush has also done.

I believe we can walk and chew gum at the same time.

The last time we "put partisanship aside to work together," we got ourselves into 21st century Vietnam.

Nothing wrong with working together, but forgetting what a failure Bush is still yet again, is just another victory for the republicans and another way for Bush get away with more screw-ups.

As far as Donna Brazile, who I have felt has turned her back on AL after the stolen 2000 election, now saying she's proud of Bush. That's sick. I don't trust a word that comes out of his lying mouth even if it might sound 'good.'