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Newt on New Orleans 9th Ward Residents: A "Failure of Citizenship"

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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 06:31 PM
Original message
Newt on New Orleans 9th Ward Residents: A "Failure of Citizenship"
http://blog.ourfuture.org/newt_on_new_orleans_9th_ward_residents_a_failure_of_citizenship

Newt on New Orleans 9th Ward Residents: A "Failure of Citizenship"

There's more to say about Newt Gingrich (who looks more like a presidential candidate after today) but let me call attention to this from his grand finale address to CPAC:

He blamed the residents of New Orleans' 9th Ward for a "failure of citizenship," by being "so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane."

And he called for a "deep investigation" into this "failure of citizenship."

Here's the full quote:

How can you have the mess we have in New Orleans, and not have had deep investigations of the federal government, the state government, the city government, and the failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane. (emphasis original)
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Venus Dog Donating Member (419 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 06:38 PM
Response to Original message
1. It wasn't the hurricane that got them
it was the breaking of the levees. Gingrich is a bloated, ignorant, hate-monger.
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LiberalFighter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 11:11 PM
Response to Reply #1
9. The failure of the Army Corp Engineers to provide adequate structure
The citizens expect the levees to hold as they had held for many years. And Gingrich thinks it is their fault for not leaving the city?
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Raven Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 06:39 PM
Response to Original message
2. failure of citizenship alright, his!
Isn't it depressing when someone actually thinks they can say something like that and that it will resonate with some portion of the population...this is the man who left his wife and told her when she was hospitalized with cancer. I'm beginning to think that we should start making fun of these people like Newt and Coulter, they are not worth taking seriously. I don't mean we should ignore them because they are truly dangerous, but we should belittle and marginalize them. On second thought, maybe we should take them seriously...now I'm really depressed!
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 06:42 PM
Response to Original message
3. Blame the victim the Republican modern way
OTOH after the blood of 1927 that old GOP also blamed the lccals
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ninkasi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 06:58 PM
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4. Just when I thought I couldn't hold the Republics in more contempt
Newt opens his mouth, and garbage spews forth. It is second nature for him, as for so many other conservatives, to blame the impoverished segment of society for their own poverty. Right. Tell me, Newt, about the courageous fight you waged to raise the minimum wage, so that people could try to climb out of poverty. Tell me how hard you fought to increase funds for affordable housing for the hard working, yet poor members of society.

Tell me, too, about the glorious battles you fought to increase social services for the elderly, and the children, in a valiant attempt to make sure that they would not be forgotten, or left behind. Tell me, too, how since the hurricane was predicted well in advance, you rallied to coordinate efforts to provide transportation out of harm's way to the large numbers of our citizens who had neither the money, nor the means of transportation, to evacuate the city, in the face of the largest natural disaster in living memory.

Instead, what I see is a man who has fought tireless battles to keep the poor, the elderly, the children, ground under the heel of corporate greed, and Republic cruelty to everything which does not increase their power, or earn a penny or two for them. I'd like to know just exactly HOW the victims of Katrina were supposed to become successful citizens, when every government institution under the control of the greedy, corrupt party he belongs to is dedicated to making the lives of the less fortunate not just bleak, but unbearable.

Do you, Newt, not feel the shadow of a divine wrath, as you spew forth words of hatred, and contempt, for those who will not be sending you money, or the Republic party money? Is it a Christian trait, in your eyes (overlooking, of course, you many love affairs, and wife swapping, where you trade in the older model, recovering from cancer while still in the hospital for a newer version} but really, is it a Christian trait to blame the less fortunate for a disaster they had not the means nor money to escape?

How fortunate for the religion you profess to honor, that Jesus did not have you write his Sermon on the Mount. He would have surely had you to put him straight when he said that "As ye do unto the least of them, ye do unto me", because surely you would have given a really good right-wing, fundamentalist, corporate lecture, telling him that feeding the poor, clothing the naked, and helping the downtrodden would just be giving in to their "lack of citizenship".

Newt, I've known for many years that you and I belong to different political parties. After Coulter's venom, and your lack of compassion, I now fear that we don't even belong to the same race. For that, I am deeply grateful.

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kestrel91316 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 07:28 PM
Response to Original message
5. IMHO the failure of citizenship lies with whoever decided to allow
development in the 9th ward in the first place, and whoever profited from that development. I bet they knew damned well what would eventually happen. It's a friggin' SWAMP.
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Morgana LaFey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 09:49 PM
Response to Original message
6. OMG. The blatant racism and classism masquerading as
citizen-like "concern" is enough to make one vomit.

I'll bet the Republicans LOVED him, though. Wonderful, clever way to blame the victims.

Unblievable. Just unfriggin'believable.

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IndianaGreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 10:00 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. A good observation there, Morgana LaFey
Never mind that the poor cannot readily escape like the rich. I am sure Newt touched that nerve of greed for which conservatives are so well known for.
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LiberalFighter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 11:12 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. I wonder what position he would accept in a Republicon Administration?
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talkinghead Donating Member (122 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 10:07 PM
Response to Original message
8. I think he means...
that the citizens were "uneducated" and "unprepared" due to a failure of government and the citizenship. He is saying that the citizens are not solely to blame for so many of them being trapped there in the weeks that followed Katrina - although each individual, depending on their means, made the choice to stay - and that government too should bear some of the responsibility. We all remember the pictures of flooded school buses sitting in the lots...
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ddeclue Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-04-07 11:38 PM
Response to Original message
11. Just when you think you couldn't find a bigger ass than Ann Coulter
along comes Newt Gingrich and puts in his "two cents worth"...

Oh God...spare me from "conservatives"...

It's Tiny Tim's fault that he couldn't afford doctors too I guess.

Hey look "Newt"...most of these people didn't have TV's and even if they did they couldn't get out of town if they wanted to because guess what? They were too poor to own cars and had no money for gas.

For those who tried to walk out of New Orleans, they were stopped at the bridge to Gretna by cops with guns who wouldn't let them leave.

What a pompous ass....

I wonder what would happen to the universe if Newt and Ann were to pro-create?

What a nightmare pair...

Doug D.
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