September 27, 2005

Letter to the Editor:

In a letter to the editor, on Tuesday, September 27, 2005, Ms. Judith Niewiadomski makes a broad-brush attack on the patriotism and competence on liberal Democrats, as if they were un-American. She seems to intimate that all Democrats and liberals believe that racism caused the disaster in New Orleans. I believe that is an insincere and insulting conclusion. She also includes, in her diatribe about Democrats, her evaluation of why people are poor. Her thoughts seem to reinforce the view, that conservatives and many Republicans possess, that the biggest crime in America is being poor. Ms. Niewiadomski seems to want to obfuscate the real issue that most people are starting to believe, that it is George W. Bush who is incompetent and that he reflects the insensitivity of his mother and her cavalier attitude of noblesse oblige. Whether the local officials of New Orleans and Louisiana are competent, or not, begs the issue regarding a delayed and confused response from the Bush administration. The American people seem to want to know why FEMA and other critical agencies have been compromised by the appointment of political hacks, and why George W. Bush and his cronies have been directing billions of dollars towards their wealthy supporters and friends? All the metaphors about hard work and savings do not mask the reality that there are millions and millions of disadvantaged poor people whose lives have been completely disrupted by the hurricanes and that George W. Bush’s faux attitude of concern has been promulgated by political necessity.

Richard J. Garfunkel