WTF!?

September 15, 2005 9:45 PM

Karl Rove. Karl Rove Will be in charge of the Gulf Coast reconstruction after Katrina.
posted by delmoi (46 comments total)

more info. I guess he said this in his speech? I don't watch too much tv, but damn.
posted by delmoi at 9:47 PM on September 15, 2005

Apparently This will be the Neo-con Domestic Dreamland, much like Iraq has become the Neo-con Foriegn Dreamland.

I have a feeling that Louisiana is going to sink their plans for good.

But you know.. Let's just watch it unfold, and er- disintegrate before their eyes.

The President just gave a speech, on location, without an audience, even reporters. They were ordered to stay in their news vans. This is just a glimpse of the future.
posted by Balisong at 9:50 PM on September 15, 2005

appalling--will he continue to run it from jail too?
posted by amberglow at 9:51 PM on September 15, 2005

I have a feeling that Louisiana is going to sink their plans for good.

Louisiana is a red state, and most of the voters in liberal New Orleans are, uh, not there anymore... We'll see I guess.
posted by delmoi at 9:52 PM on September 15, 2005

No, he didn't say that in the speech, I don't think.

I can certainly think of lots worse things Karl Rove could be concentrating on, though. Let's hope this keeps him busy for a half-decade or so.
posted by hackly_fracture at 9:53 PM on September 15, 2005

What this does do is force the GOP Senators and Reps to actually fund billions of things they normally wouldn't--or get caught voting against helping Katrina victims in the runup to the 06 Elections. (G.O.P. Split Over Big Plans for Storm Spending--NYT)
posted by amberglow at 9:53 PM on September 15, 2005

Yep, actually I think Bush just announced the New Orleans Deal. Funny, that.
posted by hackly_fracture at 9:54 PM on September 15, 2005

Karl Rove has the ethics of a pimp or a mafia boss. But he does actually seem to have something sorely lacking in the Bush administration, though: competence.

If he were to actually focus on doing the right things for LA, MS, and NOLA, Rove is probably one of the few people in the administration that has some chance of succeeding, as he is one of the very few that is not a complete fucking idiot.

But unfortunately, what this really means is we'll get typical Rove: priority number one in rebuilding in the wake of Katrina will be politics. And Rove only knows one kind of politics: nasty.

It will also be interesting to see of the boss if Katrina reconstruction gets indicted in the near future, and has to step aside.

What a sick, sad joke of a White House. Worst. President. Ever.
posted by teece at 10:08 PM on September 15, 2005

This just can't be true. I will continue to be in denial until 2008.
posted by rdr at 10:15 PM on September 15, 2005

Well, this will certainly impede prosecuting him for his part in outing a covert CIA operative.

Excuse me, his *alleged* part.
posted by ilsa at 10:27 PM on September 15, 2005

I watched the speach, I don't remember anything about Rove. (I didn't rtfa)
posted by tomplus2 at 10:30 PM on September 15, 2005

Oh ffs, we can't even trust this guy not to out undercover CIA operatives. And I honestly don't give a damn if they were working at a desk in Toledo or embedded in a muhjadeen outfit in Syria, they're undercover goddammit!

Frankly, I think Rove's being sent in to totally botch the whole thing all the while ensuring that the Rangers more than their "fair share" of the rebuilding contracts.

Turdblossom indeed.
posted by Talanvor at 10:33 PM on September 15, 2005

This can't be fucking happening.

Can I propose a national MeFi meet-up at which we will all arrive heavily armed and angry? The details, of course, will be discussed when we all get there.
posted by Jon-o at 10:37 PM on September 15, 2005

(speach? wtf, sorry).
posted by tomplus2 at 10:38 PM on September 15, 2005

Uh, New Orleans is the last place I'd want someone with a propensity for causing leaks to supervise.

Just sayin', is all.
posted by trigonometry at 10:39 PM on September 15, 2005

I knew I shouldn't have bridged that particular pair of wormholes together. I'm obviously at least three or four timelines away from from where I was aiming for.

Searches Googol.com. What the...? Google.com? Fucking hell, Titor's been here! No wonder!
posted by loquacious at 10:48 PM on September 15, 2005

Alternate: Great, Turd Blossom has a garden now.
posted by loquacious at 10:48 PM on September 15, 2005

*begins stockpiling bicycle tires fervishly*
posted by loquacious at 10:49 PM on September 15, 2005

NYT:

"Mr. Bush did not name a lead rebuilding official in the speech, as some White House officials are urging, and Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, did not rule out the naming of such an official at a later date."

FYI, FWIW.

I actually listened to much of the speech and the stuff that stood out was the "urban homesteading" stuff: Federally-owned land in hurricane areas to be doled out via lottery to indigent anbd needy for rebuilding with gurantees, cue Habitat for Humanity namecheck.

Then as I got out of the car I thought I heard him proposing to simplify the domestic militarization of disaster and emergency events. I quite strongly hope I misheard or misinterpreted, for all that it's clear a unified command structure on the Gulf would have benefitted everyone. Militarization is not the same thing as solving bureaucratic turf wars - it just means that some of the turf warriors carry guns.
posted by mwhybark at 10:51 PM on September 15, 2005

one hopes no undercover CIA agents drowned in NO -- he'd blow their covers posthumously
posted by matteo at 11:05 PM on September 15, 2005

Wow. I was expecting a medal for Rove but this is even better.
posted by sacrilicious at 11:14 PM on September 15, 2005

Militarization is not the same thing as solving bureaucratic turf wars - it just means that some of the turf warriors carry guns.

Hrm, so we can look forward to FEMA shooting at volunteers, instead of just turning them back? Oh that's just perfect.
posted by Talanvor at 11:29 PM on September 15, 2005

The speech looked so hollywood.
posted by cell divide at 11:38 PM on September 15, 2005

A unified command structure wouldn't have helped if mike brown had been in charge, it would have been worse.

The government needs to hire competent people to run things.
posted by delmoi at 12:19 AM on September 16, 2005

teece >>> "Karl Rove has the ethics of a pimp or a mafia boss. But he does actually seem to have something sorely lacking in the Bush administration, though: competence."

You know, that's a truly excellent point. He really is the only one out of the whole damn bunch who ever actually 1) knows what needs to be done, and 2) actually makes sure it gets done, right, the first time.

If only his powers could be used for good.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 12:55 AM on September 16, 2005

Sorry... I inadvertently slammed Colin Powell there, unintentionally. I think he's amazingly competent, but was hamstrung by loyalty and poor direction.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 1:07 AM on September 16, 2005

But what are Rove's powers? He's a whiz at smears, guiding public perception, spin. But he's going to have to do unsexy stuff here, administative stuff, as far as I can tell. And what exactly will his position entail? I don't really trust him to make certain that contractors are properly cleaning up contamination before he starts auctioning off the real estate, for instance.
posted by maryh at 1:08 AM on September 16, 2005

Well since the country will be watching the rebuilding efforts under a microscope, who better to mold the perception of 'the competence and success' of the federal government than Karl Rove? He won't be doing any rebuilding, he'll be marketing the rebuilding.
posted by blastrid at 1:18 AM on September 16, 2005

"cue Habitat for Humanity namecheck"

So, GW's solution is to have Jimmy Carter fix it?

Shockingly sensible. I'm sure they'll fix that by dawn...
posted by dglynn at 2:20 AM on September 16, 2005

President Bush: "It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces - the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice."

Found on the TPM site just above delmoi's link. I know it's probably "out of context", but holy shit. That line? That line scares the muthahfucking shit out of me. Josh Marshall at TPM has more eloquent take-down of that utterly insane phrase.

... repressive governments mix adminsitrative clumsiness and inefficiency with authoritarian tendencies. That's almost always the pattern. The direction the president wants to go in is one in which, in emergencies, the federal government will have trouble moving water into or enabling transportation out of the disaster zone but will be well-equipped to declare martial law on a moment's notice.

posted by hincandenza at 4:35 AM on September 16, 2005

Rove is a liar and is the one that manages the payouts to the party faithful. He has no demonstrated competency in the real world and this problem is *very* real, no? Spin will not get this job done and I'm sorry to say that the idea that he would have the appropriate abilities is a result of getting snowed by him.
posted by n9 at 5:28 AM on September 16, 2005

The government needs to hire competent people to run things.
posted by delmoi at 12:19 AM PST on September 16 [!]

There lies the rub.

If you have, say, 1/2 of the pols running about claiming The Government can't do anything right and working to place non-bureaucrats in charge, exactly WHY would you pick a career path of bureaucrat?

Thus, many competent people choose a different lifestyle to feed their kids and pay the mortgage. A few of the good bureaucrats also choose to leave when they figure out their bosses are working with the base assumption that the job they do will be rife with bungling.
posted by rough ashlar at 6:33 AM on September 16, 2005

Karl Rove? Disaster .... mitigation? You don't have to be a (revealed) secret agent to know how this one will play out.
posted by afroblanca at 6:52 AM on September 16, 2005

Karl Rove has one talent: pandering to the basest, darkest, dumbest instincts of humanity.
posted by solistrato at 7:01 AM on September 16, 2005

So, GW's solution is to have Jimmy Carter fix it?

He's already having former presidents Bush (AKA "my dad") and Clinton help out, so why not add another ex-president?
posted by kirkaracha at 7:02 AM on September 16, 2005

Do you remember that episode of South Park where Cartman sees The Passion of the Christ, which turns him into an anti-semitic, fascist devotée of Mel Gibson? And then there's that moment at the end, where he finally meets a crazed Mel Gibson, who proceeds to shit all over him?

This is that moment.
posted by mkultra at 7:03 AM on September 16, 2005

Josh Marshall has the goods on the next skirmish in the blame game. This has the stink of Rove all over it. As DiIulio discovered, there is no policy apparatus in the White House, there is only politics.
posted by George_Spiggott at 8:08 AM on September 16, 2005

I don't think the fact that he's not one of the idiots helps Rove too much in this endeavor. Whatever talent he possesses he uses for evil, not good. He's the kind of guy that the Devil would hire to recruit new minions - oops I think he already did. Cheney and Rumsfeld are quite bright and capable too, but look what a mess they have made of things. Rove's hand is a bad thing for NO not a good thing.
posted by caddis at 8:44 AM on September 16, 2005

My husband's immediate reaction was "Well at least Karl Rove is competent." Which got me thinking.

Rove has speant his entire adult life getting politicians elected and making sure they stay popular enough to get reelected. So he is competant at:

a) Figuring out what voters want and posturing the pol to appear to deliver the goods.
b) Making sure the opposition appears as bad as possible through out-and-out lying if necessary.

This makes me queasy.

Everything is sacrificed, EVERYTHING: morality, reality, past, future. I shudder to think what will rise out of such building blocks.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 9:21 AM on September 16, 2005

Well, this will certainly impede prosecuting him for his part in outing a covert CIA operative.

Don't you see? We can't possibly prosecute this traitorous lying fuck, because he's too busy doing the important work of rebuilding New Orleans! These people are nothing if not devious.

I want to outlive Rove just so I can piss on his grave.
posted by realcountrymusic at 9:40 AM on September 16, 2005

Perhaps the poor response to Katrina was the fault of Karl Rove's kidney stones.
posted by caddis at 9:46 AM on September 16, 2005

Recover step 1: blame the environmentalists:

Federal officials appear to be seeking proof to blame the flood of New Orleans on environmental groups, documents show.

The Clarion-Ledger has obtained a copy of an internal e-mail the U.S. Department of Justice sent out this week to various U.S. attorneys' offices: "Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation."

posted by kirkaracha at 10:02 AM on September 16, 2005

Karl Rove?! It's like something the Onion would come up with.
posted by russilwvong at 10:48 AM on September 16, 2005

ha! I dreamt I shot him in my dream last night! Then he asked me to help him fix the "Plame Letter" and tried to feed me to mutant, boneless cannibals.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:04 PM on September 16, 2005

Karl Rove has the ethics of a pimp or a mafia boss. - hm, an insult to pimps and mafia bosses everywhere. frankly, i'd take some/one of them over him any day because apart from being sleazy and liking to terrorize people - ok, i see now why he might be compared to such on one level - they actually know how to get people motivated to work quickly and successfully in a cost-effective results-producing manner. and those who decline to cooperate get severely and swiftly punished. yeah, pimps and mafia bosses are looking better and better.
posted by TrinityB5 at 1:46 PM on September 16, 2005

LA Times article on how Bush is refusing to use the Government agencies best suited to help displaced people (HUD and Medicaid and existing social programs, etc), and instead relying on FEMA and one-shot fixes, instead of permanent help for them.

and even Gingrich is against their policy: ..."The idea that — in a community where we could place people in the private housing market to reintegrate them into society — we would put them in [trailer] ghettos with no jobs, no community, no future, strikes me as extraordinarily bad public policy, and violates every conservative principle that I'm aware of," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican.

"If they do it," Gingrich said of administration officials, "they will look back on it six months from now as the greatest disaster of this administration." ...
posted by amberglow at 10:40 AM on September 25, 2005