Really???

Drivers Waiting 6 Hours For Gas in NYC...
Tempers Rise in Wake of Storm...
'Finding bodies left and right'...
Restaurant, hotel prices skyrocket...
CHUCK SCHUMER CONFRONTED: 'We Are Gonna Die!'
CRAIGSLIST: $15 a gallon...
Utility workers pelted with eggs...
Misery...
'We have nothing'...
Residents Furious RED CROSS Offering Cookies & Hot Chocolate, Not Blankets Or Clothes...
Jet Fuel Supply Fast Becoming Concern At Airports...
Staten Islanders Plead for Help: 'We Need Food'...
'Please don't leave us'...
VIDEO: Stranded New Yorkers Defecating in Apartment Buildings...
DIRE...
NJ counties enact 70s style gas rationing... Developing...

What planet are you on???

So, no, not everything is ever storybook smooth.

That's the understatement of the decade.. :D

Michale.....

That's true, but the term "Katrina," like the term "Waterloo," has come to mean a systemic failure to grasp the impact of an event. That's not happening here, at the local, state, or national level.

You seem to think it's a malady only suffered by the Right..Manifestly untrue; both in terms of fact and in terms of my general opinion. In this circumstance, though, it is competence which is spanning the politicial spectrum.

BTW, power just came on in areas below 14th St. This caused the power to blow as far away as Princeton, NJ, for a few minutes, as ConEd evidently forgot to tell the neighbors the load on the grid was going to spike. So, no, not everything is ever storybook smooth.

And I am sure there were bright spots in Katrina as well..

Incompetence is incompetence...

You seem to think it's a malady only suffered by the Right..

You are in error...

Michale.....

Obama's Katrina.... Oh, please, Michale. The fact that parts of Staten Island are in bad shape is undeniable. Did you watch the whole video? The pain isn't due to incompetent response; it's due to the fact that the waves at the harbor entrance were over 32 feet, the surge on tide at the Battery was above 14 feet, and the areas being filmed, as can be observed, were only a couple feet above sea level.

If you want to address a real travesty, how about the fact that ING is unwavering in its insistence that the NY Marathon will go as scheduled?

Obama's Katrina....

Michale.....

I just had two comments whisked away to NNL...

Michale

Considering Benghazi, I think it's a futile effort, but I give Christie high marks for being the bigger man...

Er.... No pun intended... :D

Michale.....

Considering all the momentum is still with Romney, I don't see that as a possibility..

It's more likely that Christie is a nice guy and is offering an honorable finish to Obama's presidency...

Michale.....

Yesterday, I could see. Today, however, it just seems weird. I can think of at least three possible conspiracy theory scenarios, all of which involve a very chubby rat leaving a ship determined to be heading for the rocks. But so can all of you. Strong Law of Small Number of Moving Parts at work.

You're probably correct that more would have been made of it, but only because the Left, and their media surrogates, love ironic, eclectic, or meaningless crap like that and love even more to write about it. Personally, I would have still posted the xkcd cartoon.

There's a wonderful observation in math called the Strong Law of Small Numbers. Originally published tongue in cheek, it says, in effect, that there aren't enough numbers of comprehensible size to avoid the appearance of order or patterns in math, purely by coincidence.

There's a corollary in human events: elections, disasters, and assassinations all have them.

What do you think the reaction from the Left would be if it had been a DEMOCRAT who has won every election that has been held on 6 Nov??? :D

Probably a LOT more pointed than my nonchalant comment... :D

Michale......

Hahahahah ... Well played, sir.

No candidate with a middle toe larger than their big toe has ever won!

-David

Here's a compendium from the incomparable Randall Munroe http://xkcd.com/1122/ .

Hay, that works for me!! :D

You ever read Jay Anston's novel, 666???

It's pretty kewl.. :D

Michale.....

Out of those 6 Elections, Republicans have won each and every one...

so you're saying that 6 presidential elections on 6th of the month starting in 1848 (a year divisible by 6) were won by republicans? therefore republicans are the devil?

Since US Elections have been standardized in 1845, there have been 6 Presidential Elections that have fallen on 6 November..

Out of those 6 Elections, Republicans have won each and every one...

Nothing to make of it except that it's.... fascinating... :D

Michale.....

I am very pleasantly surprised at this. Kudos to you.. :D

Michale.....

Here, here ...

-David

But, on the other hand, if it is your first time, you might want to do it with someone who doesn't need eight years to get the job done. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying.”
-Jay Leno

Now, I don't care your politics, THAT was funny!! :D

Michale.....

Looks like Obama is not going to get much of a Sandy Honeymoon..

Benghazi is rearing it's ugly head again...

Rumors are circulating that there are secret emails from the White House to a TAC group that was assembling to rescue Americans in Benghazi..

These emails explicitly tell the TAC Group to "Stand Down. This is NOT a terrorist attack.."

If the rumors are true (we'll know in a couple days) then this sinks Obama's re-election and will eliminate ANY bounce he gets from his Sandy response.

Which, to be honest, is a shame. Obama done did good on Sandy....

Michale....

But that's not all that campaigns are. There are real issues at stake too. One of them is whether to de-fund FEMA and leave its functions to local private charities.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/26/hurricane-sandy-how-to-help_n_2022488.html

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20121030/DA2839L80.html

It's an extremely interesting article about postponing/rescheduling the election...

Michale.....

Michale.....

After re-reading this, it struck me that this can be applied to just about every controversial scientific issue of our time... :D

Michale.....

Such politicking is not solely limited to the Right, I am constrained to point out.

As I noted in a previous commentary, MSNBC ridiculed Romney for holding food drives and espousing Red Cross service. MSNBC claimed it was all a political stunt...

As you say, here in Weigantia, we are a bit more civilized than the rest of the country... :D

After all, if you don't listen to scientists' warnings, there's always a chance you'll get lucky and won't have to do something you don't want to do in the first place.

"Never make a decision until you absolutely have to."
-Captain James T Kirk, THE ABODE OF LIFE

There is a certain logic in such an approach. Making a decision TOO early, before all the facts are known, could lead to disastrous results.

For example, in this instance, let's postulate that Obama had committed a bunch of assets, spent a bunch of money and the storm petered out into nothing or veered away...

You KNOW that Obama would have been dinged for wasting all that money and would have looked like an ass...

Don't get me wrong. Obama erred on the side of caution and on the side of saving lives and he is to be commended for that. Obama did the right thing, no two ways about it..

But a case CAN be made for taking a wait-and-see approach in general...

The Right will slam Obama no matter what he does. I would have thought ya'all knew that.. :D

That being the case, in THIS particular instance, I don't think any one much cares what the Right says. Nor should they...

Michale....

We can, but not everybody can. I note that Michael "Heckuva Job" Brown gave an interview yesterday afternoon criticizing the President for moving too quickly, before the storm made landfall, in doing the "paperwork" that permitted FEMA assets to be positioned. He said that was just playing politics. Heckuva sense of timing, Brownie.

Of course, if it hadn't been done early, it would have been much, much harder to get done effectively. I'm sure he would have waited. After all, if you don't listen to scientists' warnings, there's always a chance you'll get lucky and won't have to do something you don't want to do in the first place. What a putz.

I would hope that millions of people are either just coming to, or possibly remembering, this realization on the East Coast today and in the days to come. We're all in this together, and we are all insignificant in scale to the might of Mother Nature. Some times, sadly, the best we can do is pick up the pieces and try to move beyond the disaster. My deepest wishes are for those affected by Sandy, and those whose lives have been forever changed by it. We'll have enough time for politics, later.

I was all ready to unload on a choice bit of partisan snark....

But this made me pause....

We can forgo partisan bitching and whining and sniping and snarking just a little longer...

Thanx, CW....

Michale.....