Good old, Rockey Vaccarella ... earnest American ... Katrina survivor ... enthusiastic supporter of the president ... trailer-side cook ... and GOP candidate for office??? Huh???
Doug Krile has the ill wind blowing from the White House P.R. shop... courtesy of Taegan Goddard...
"As next week's anniversary of Hurricane Katrina triggers recollections of rooftop refugees and massive devastation along the Gulf Coast, the White House has begun a public relations blitz to counteract Democrats' plans to use the government's tardy response and the region's slow recovery in the coming congressional elections," the Los Angeles Times reports. "President Bush will visit the area Monday and Tuesday, including an overnight stay in New Orleans... The trip will force Bush to revisit sensitive racial issues that arose with the flooding of New Orleans ... All the better to counter that Spike Lee documentary. ...
So, will the news media run wild with the propaganda? Will Rockey Vaccarella replace Mark Karr as a mainstream media darling? Will Bunch reminds us that "if it sounds too good to be true..."
It was exactly one year ago that the headlines were all about Bush, on another lengthy vacation in Crawford, refusing to meet with an average American who was devastated by a tragedy -- Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq. It was a publicity bloodbath, and it rolled right into the horrors of Katrina and a seemingly indifferent White House, beginning the long slide in Bush's approval rating.
Now comes Rockey, a plain-talking character who lost it all in Katrina, who nearly died in the hurricane, forced to hang onto a rope for four hours (some of that was captured on film), and now wants to government to do more for Katrina victims. And what a difference a year makes -- not only did Bush, not in Crawford but hard at work in the White House, meet with this "average American," but check out the glowing praise our president received in return. ...[insert embarassing Rick Sanchez story here...]
...This guy is a symbol of the misery that so many people in Louisiana and Mississippi? If we didn't know any better, this couldn't have been more of home run for Bush if the whole thing had been set up by Karl Rove.
Hmmmmm...
In fact, we had a hunch -- that maybe, just maybe, Rockey Vaccarella had a background himself in GOP politics.
And, whaddya know? Turns out that the earthy Vaccarella -- a highly successful businessman in the fast-food industry -- is indeed a Republican pol, having run unsuccessfully under the GOP banner for a seat on the St. Bernard Parish commission back in 1999. We don't have a good link, but here (via Nexis) is part of his bio that ran in the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Oct. 15, 1999... Oh... the naked propaganda now has a name, and that name ... is Rockeygate.
Meanwhile, real Katrina victims continue to languish and suffer. And the disaster profiteers are laughing all the way to the bank:
When President George W. Bush addressed America from floodlit Jackson Square in New Orleans on September 15 last year, he said: "Our goal is to get the work done quickly. And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely ... And in the work of rebuilding, as many jobs as possible should go to the men and women who live in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama."
Yet the report details how the overwhelming majority of initial contracts for construction went to companies - "usually large, politically connected corporations - based outside these three states".
Among the biggest winners of contracts were Florida-based Ashbritt, which received a US$500 million ($782 million) contract; Bechtel of San Francisco, which has received US$575 million worth, and Texas-based Fluor Corp US$1.4 billion. One Louisiana company, the Shaw Group, won a a US$950 million contract.
There is no suggestion that any of the companies acted illegally or stepped outside acceptable commercial practice.
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Tags: Katrina, New Orleans, Hurricane,government, Rockey, Bush, Monica Lewinsky, politics, impeachment, civil war |
