Wait, wait, let me guess.
If you're breathing and pay any attention to the news whatsoever, you are doubtless aware already of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. It goes without saying that we here at Total Drek extend our sympathies to those who have lost loved ones, and our hopes that the missing are recovered safely. The blogosphere is, of course, humming about the whole thing and the most common comment appears to be: "This is what you get when you keep deferring infrastructure spending so as to give tax cuts to a short-sighted electorate." I can't really disagree.
Of course, the problem is many Republicans have built their careers on providing bread and circuses, so I doubt that this sudden wakeup call for fiscal and governmental responsibility* will be well-received. I'm sure many of my readers doubt that there's any way that conservatives can dodge this particular bullet- I mean, hell, a damned bridge just fell down and may well have done so due to chronically under-funded maintenance. Unfortunately, this shows a tragic failure to understand how the Republican spin machine works. Coming from a Republican family- and having been a Rush Limbaugh listening Republican myself** once upon a time- I don't share this breed of myopia.
The problem isn't that Republican neglect allowed an expensive piece of infrastructure to decay in place. The problem is the liberal media. You see, the crazy wacko left-wing media is going to focus all this attention on a bridge that collapsed. There will be nightly reports, newspaper articles, magazine coverage, and so on, all trying to point fingers and uncover the explanation for how this bridge fell down. Yet, at the same time, will even one article be written, will even one news report be filmed, about all the bridges that didn't fall down during Republican administrations? Will there be any news reports that, despite a Republican administration, the Brooklyn bridge remains standing? No. And what about the Golden Gate bridge that has so far survived Arnold Schwarzenegger?*** The problem isn't that Republican policies are fatally stupid, it's that the media doesn't report all those times when the Republicans don't accidentally destroy things.
And if you think I'm kidding, consider this: What approach are the Republicans using to explain Iraq?
Welcome to the spin zone, kids, and make sure you take your dramamine- it's gonna be a wild ride.
* And I think it's really difficult to label the current Republican party with anything even vaguely approximating "fiscal responsibility."
** It's difficult to be an atheist Republican since, to put it bluntly, Republicans hate atheists.
*** I will readily admit that I don't know how to spell his last name and don't care enough to look it up.
Of course, the problem is many Republicans have built their careers on providing bread and circuses, so I doubt that this sudden wakeup call for fiscal and governmental responsibility* will be well-received. I'm sure many of my readers doubt that there's any way that conservatives can dodge this particular bullet- I mean, hell, a damned bridge just fell down and may well have done so due to chronically under-funded maintenance. Unfortunately, this shows a tragic failure to understand how the Republican spin machine works. Coming from a Republican family- and having been a Rush Limbaugh listening Republican myself** once upon a time- I don't share this breed of myopia.
The problem isn't that Republican neglect allowed an expensive piece of infrastructure to decay in place. The problem is the liberal media. You see, the crazy wacko left-wing media is going to focus all this attention on a bridge that collapsed. There will be nightly reports, newspaper articles, magazine coverage, and so on, all trying to point fingers and uncover the explanation for how this bridge fell down. Yet, at the same time, will even one article be written, will even one news report be filmed, about all the bridges that didn't fall down during Republican administrations? Will there be any news reports that, despite a Republican administration, the Brooklyn bridge remains standing? No. And what about the Golden Gate bridge that has so far survived Arnold Schwarzenegger?*** The problem isn't that Republican policies are fatally stupid, it's that the media doesn't report all those times when the Republicans don't accidentally destroy things.
And if you think I'm kidding, consider this: What approach are the Republicans using to explain Iraq?
Welcome to the spin zone, kids, and make sure you take your dramamine- it's gonna be a wild ride.
* And I think it's really difficult to label the current Republican party with anything even vaguely approximating "fiscal responsibility."
** It's difficult to be an atheist Republican since, to put it bluntly, Republicans hate atheists.
*** I will readily admit that I don't know how to spell his last name and don't care enough to look it up.
Labels: news, politics, Republicans
posted by Drek | 10:09 AM
2 Comments:
Sorry to say that this news story will be media hype for some time until the next 'drama' unfolds.
The US really should start putting $$$ into rebuilding their infrastructure.. ironic they're re-building bridges in Iraq with the need so great at home.
I'm not going to get into partisan warfare here, as I think both parties sell out voters on a regular basis.
But, the governator does try to solve big problems and has addressed that infrastructure problem in California, which has been behind the power curve since Jerry Moonbeam Brown was gov.
Swiped from somewhere on the web:
The Legislature and the Governor did agree to place four infrastructure bonds on the November ballot, which the voters passed by a wide margin. Specifically, the measures are: Proposition 1B, $19.9 billion for transportation (passed 61%-38%); Prop. 1C, $2.9 billion for affordable housing (passed 57% -42 %); Prop. 1D, $10.4 billion for schools (56% -43%); and Prop. 1E, $4.1 billion for flood control (passed 64% - 36%).
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