So did Bush paint himself into a corner with Katrina?

[Kenroy]

He basically promised full compensation, free puppies and universal back-rubs to the victims of Katrina - at a cost of 200 billion.

Now he's facing ANOTHER storm that's likely to cause as much damage. The conservatives are already mad at the monetary costs of Katrina - now he's going to have to commit ANOTHER 200 billion for Rita (that number could change - it depends on a lot of things).

He's already in the hole regarding the Iraq war - most Americans think we should cut war funding to pay for Katrina. Now with Rita, the demand will be even stronger.

I don't see how he extricates himself from this one. He can't offer LESS to Rita victims - nobody will stand for that. But if he offers the same, he busts the budget even more and pisses off conservatives.

I apologize for thinking about this problem politically - I know it's a real human tragedy and my immediate concern is for the safety of all the people in the line of this storm.

[Joebert]

1. Interesting point.

At some point, there will have to be some taxes involved.

My (political) concern is that something will be sold off / privatized to bring in the money. The US Petroleum Reserve sold to Exxon to control? Tariffs on other countries stuff? Sales of public airwaves/channels to private companies?

[Kenroy]

2. well I think it certainly

hurts his tax-cut plans. The permanent estate tax repeal is toast, and if the Dems are smart (always a questionable proposition), they'll push for some reasonable tax increases.

The obvious target is the oil companies, who are making obscene profits nowadays - but Bush will use the "devastation of the refineries" to give them a huge government subsidy. I hope the dems fight that.

[populistdriven]

3. How much would Mt Rushmore fetch from a developer?

[liberal43110]

4. You're right

But when has Bush NOT painted himself into a corner? The frustrating this is he always gets away with walking away and fucking up the paint job. However, I think his luck may have run out on this one...