Not Quite a Random Thought, but Deserves Posting

REPRINT EDIT:  I know the man’s out of office, and this isn’t a dig against him, but this conversation took place with respect to Hurricane Katrina and how it was handled.  It wasn’t a RTOD, but I felt it was good enough to post among them. 

Debates: Politics with Blinders

Debates.  Anyone who knows me by now knows that I am all about them.  Although I have a hard time admitting that I lose, when I do so soundly I will state that, yes, I have lost my argument and case.  Jeremy and I debate on a regular basis.  It’s a lot of fun.  We have had our share of aggressive debates, but usually they end amicably. 

Today, I found myself in a “debate.”  The issue came up about politics and voting today, with JM absent.  The conversation started with the NH votes, which was simple, progressed into voting registration, and then into votes prior, which, obviously, I have none yet.  Over the course of the conversation, it turned to Bush being at fault for, well, basically everything that has happened in the US over the course of the past 4-8 years.  Now, yes, there are some things that happened that I cannot truly debate, but the topic switched to Katrina.  Somehow, Bush is the entire reason why the devastation was so bad.  It wasn’t local government, FEMA, or any other factor.  It was BUSH.  Obviously, this touched off a debate target for me, since I firmly beleive that nothing in recent history is the result of one man’s actions, not even the assassinations that have occurred (one person may have done it, but it was more or less a group that wanted it).  My simple return question was, why?  What made it Bush’s fault.  The general response strictly goaded it further: It’s Bush’s fault because he should have had someone there to see what was really going on, or, It’s Bush’s fault because he’s the president and should know everything the moment it happens.  Okay, point understood, but how does that make the entire thing Bush’s fault.  Again, it was Bush should have known exactly what was going on.  Now, anyone who has read the information, although there was plenty of it, knows that it was a long list of communication failures and old laws slowing down the process.  How was it one man’s fault?  I continued to press a little bit on it.  It turned a little more towards the, “Well, Bush is just a jerk and a liar” thing, which tipped off more debate fodder, including “What politician ISN’T a liar?” and What is it that makes a stronger leader? 

Unfortunately, at this time, an unexpected bystander came in and added a little to it, “It was Bush’s fault because it shouldn’t have taken months for anything to be taken care of.”  At this point I had to pull up some research because I honestly didn’t know how long it took to get back to operational.  Now, yes, there were people how still hadn’t gotten their money months later, but Bush declared a state of emergency for the ENTIRE REGION two days in advance, and had the Coast Guard, 400 units(!) stationed for assistance.  There was also concern of the levees being topped, but not necessarily toppled.  And, the majority of the refugees were being assisted within two weeks of the whole fiasco (although I was a little upset that it took that long to get everything straightened out communications-wise)  As such, I push further as a debater would, adding these to the debate.  By then, I guess it was assumed that I had “Lost” and was grabbing at straws.  Ultimately, NO ONE can say why it was Bush’s fault.  Ultimately, I “Lost” because no one wanted to debate it, and because I had two people trying to say that “IT’S ALL BUSH’S FAULT” obviously I “Lose”.  Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel that I have “Won” because no one could prove one simple point conclusively: How Was It All Bush’s Fault?  Any takers?

Now, to clarify, I’m not a direct Bush supporter.  I feel he was the better of two evils, but not the best for the country (at the time of the election, no one filled that spot).  But, I am also not going to say that he was the entire reason for the war in Iraq, for oil prices breaking $100/barrel, for the economy not being as great as everyone wants, or anything else everyone is trying to say is ALL BUSH’S FAULT!  I’m sure that there is more to add, but I’ll do it later. 

Also, as an FYI, all parties that found themselves included were apologized to, as the intent was NOT to start a debate, but to just chat about stuff.