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California's Lt. Governor, John Garamendi, spoke with Chris Matthews on Hardball yesterday about the devastating wildfires that continue to sweep through southern California. To date, the fires have burned roughly the equivalent of New York City twice over, destroyed 1600 buildings and has caused the evacuation of 950,000 Californians. Garamendi was clearly upset at the destruction in the state and wasn't shy about sharing how he felt Bush could be much more helpful to California than to simply make a visit:
Garamendi: I've got some doubt about the value of President Bush coming out here. That...um, how many times did he come out to New York, or to New Orleans? And still, made promises but hasn't delivered. We have the Terminator out here; Gov. Schwarzeneggar is doing a good job. We'll see.
Matthews: You think it's public relations rather than action?
Garamendi: Of course it's public relations. The actions taking place by the hardworking firefighters and men and women, police are out there on the line, and the community, that's pulling together to support each other. That's where the action's taking place. I know I'm...okay, President Bush comes out; we'll be polite. But frankly, that's not the solution. How about sending our National Guard back from Iraq? So that we have those people here to help us?
That answer obviously didn't sit well with Norah O'Donnell, who interviewed Garamendi today for an update on the fires:
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Well, Governor (sic), I've heard you express concern because of the stress the National Guard, not only in California but across the country, have suffered of the involvement in Iraq. But we heard from Lt. Gen. Steven Blum who said today that there's still 17,000 National Guardsmen in California; only 3,000 of the are in Iraq. So you're not criticizing the National Guard, are you?
Good to see that in Noron's world, she buys into that Republican framing that criticizing Bush means criticizing the troops (or California's National Guard in this case). Garamendi isn't the only one criticizing either. You know your reputation is shot when Brownie throws you under the bus...
What do you mean disaster is their business.
Funny he's defending Arnie, because one of the reasons we don't have the National Guard in Cali. is that he "terminated" a bill which would have called for it.
I hate to say it, but I think ol' Norah is right on this one. If only 15% of California's NG is in Iraq, then that shouldn't be a big deal in their ability to respond to the fires.
The bigger issue is that NO STATE'S NG should be in Iraq...
Really; people want help; they want equipment; they wan't the National Guard. They don't want bush's "prayers".
O'Donnell always says stuff like that. In other clips C&L has posted, she's propagated the whole peace protesters aren't patriotic, DFH worldview. It's painful.
Well it kinda does make sense to ask if you're critisizing the National Guard. If you can't notice that 17,000 guys from the National Guard are working in California...
Yea i'm sorry guys but this time it does look like someone has gone out of its way to make a political point based on a falsehood. It just so happens that this time he's on our side.
Well we can always argue about those 17,000 national guards. What are they doing exactly, right this instant ? I'm not reading anything in the news about national guards helping people out.
you tell em Lt. Governor, John Garamendi!
"President Bush comes out; we’ll be polite. But frankly, that’s not the solution. How about sending our National Guard back from Iraq? So that we have those people here to help us?"
our troops are dying in Iraq babysitting a civil war that Bush started on lies about WMD.
Bring Our Troops Home!
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/21/60minutes/main1527749.shtml
"Lt. Gen. Steven Blum who said today that there’s still 17,000 National Guardsmen in California; only 3,000 of the[m] are in Iraq."
Their EQUIPMENT is all blown to shit in Iraq. Their supplies, gone. Their trucks? Gone. There isn't a roll of toilet paper left in the entire country that used to belong to the states and the to the Guard.
The cry "Where are the helicopters?" (Katrina) joins the cry "Where is NORAD?" on Nine-eleven. Now the cry "Where is the National Guard?" will echo with those others, along with the cry "Why don't our soldiers AND GUARD have enough armor?" and the cry "Why don't our soldiers AND GUARD have armored vehicles?"
Bushco and Schwarzhisname? are both specialists in DISASTER CAPITALISM. Their only concern now is how to make money on the disaster, and that's the only reason why they show their ugly, mud-filled heads. Their mouths open, dollar bills and baby's arms fall out.
Frankly, I have a hard time believing that, from the most populous state in the Union, there are only 3,000 National Guard troops in Iraq. I haven't watched much of the MSM coverage on this story but I can tell you one thing I've noticed is that the White House spin machine is spinning full force. On the Today Show, Matt and Meredith almost choked when two different families reported that the Reverse 911 system didn't do shit for them. Matt almost tripped over himself to remind people that it worked well and helped a lot of people. I also noticed that NBC is making out the situation in QualCom like it's a big party. NPR reported that the elderly there are having a really hard go of it despite the best efforts of the people caring for them.
o'donnell is not an objective reporter on any subject she covers. she has a definite right wing worldview, which probably explains her employement at nbc/ge. over at cnn, they have keira phillips blabbering on about her pastor and invoking her religion on air while covering san diego. cnn needs to can that jesus freak because religion has no business in news coverage.
it appears my sis in law has been on vacation...so know one was in the house....as for the house.....doubt it....Now as for boosh and the way he's handled disasters.....maybe we should consider ourselve lucky....we haven't had anything worse happen........cause the guy is inept.
several thousand of the Ca. Guard are protecting the US/Mexican border, and like the Iraq war, not their job
After Ahnold, got his ass kicked over the referedums he's actully been a pretty good leader. We don't need shrubbery down here.
Ahnold ain't perfect but, at least he isn't an asshole. Go play a guitar in New Orleans "President" Bush.
After the Kansas tornado outbreak of May 2007-
Kansas' governor says tornado cleanup efforts are being hamstrung because the state National Guard is on a mission in Iraq.
"Every state is significantly below level for equipment across the National Guard," Brig. Gen. Stephen Koper said.The best-off state, Ohio, has 65 percent of its required gear. The national average is just 40 percent."
Susan @ 14:
If that's true, then bringing back the 3,000 CA NG troops wouldn't help much in dealing with the fires...
heaven forbid if you criticize the national guard.
Heaven forbid if there is an earthquake in California!
Seems like any catastrophe today can somehow be linked to the president's office.
The poor guy.
Yeah, Noron was sitting in for Tucker. Is that a step up in her career? I always thought that almost anybody would be better than Tucker but Noron? I think she is pretty and al but that does not make up for her right wing tool attitude that comes with the good looks. And that belly laugh of hers is … well, too much.
The Garamendi piece was pretty good. He absolutely dissed Bush. And rightfully so. What the hell is Bush going to do in California. He hates the state. He didn’t even campaign here. Shit, he is probably coming to light some more fires. His contribution will be about as good as lighting more fires. “Doing a great job Brownie”. We don’t need that nonsense here. What a dickhead.
Bush has been fucking California over since he took office. Rolling blackouts and Enron was just the beginning. Fortunately for him, San Diego, Orange County and San Bernardino county is full of wealthy white Republicans. If he visited us up here in NorCal or maybe LA, he'd have to set up "Free Speech Zones" because we don't want his sorry ass anywhere near us.
Sick excuse for a human being. Fuck him.
It was dry all of last year. No rain at all in California, not even in Nor Cal. No wonder that this is happening. Nobody deserves to have their house burn down but now it is time to deal with climate change.
"Remember, if we're not nice to mother nature, she'll kick our butts." -Rocko's Modern Life
Swashbuckler @ 3:
Also the equipment that is gone. The NG problem probably is not that big a deal but as somebody else said, they should not be in Iraq.
Swashbuckler @ 3:
I agree that the National Guard has no business being deployed overseas.
The question that wasn't asked is what % of those California NG currently in-state just get back from Iraq; 1 month ago, 6 months ago, 1 year ago? Just like Bush has broken the active duty military he has broken the National Guard. Repeated deployments have left them fatigued and with ill-prepared or depleted equipment levels. I always hate when people like O'Donnell use statistics because you can prove or disprove most anything with the same set of data. Let's just say the important thing is that California's National Guard could stand to be augmented by other states Guard but they can't provide assistance due to Bush's Folly.
All of these people in California are suffering and the Federal Government has to step up and do something. Not only just to put out the fires but for the long road in rebuilding the area. Let's hope they do as well as not forgetting the people in New Orleans at the same time.
Florida was on fire a few years ago. Was the military enlisted to help out, though there were plenty of units here, with lots of equipment?
No. The issue is a fundamental unconcern with government doing anything at all to help people. It's anti-Republican. Bad precedent. People might expect help all the time when disaster strikes, and maybe even when it doesn't.
Same reasoning for not giving poor kids health-care. They don't care about anything but being asshole Republicans. Remember this, youngsters, for the rest of your lives. It's always been this way (to a lesser degree in the far past). The thugs will not help people.
Norah is what happens when the Peter Principle meets up with journalism. For someone to think that Garamendi was criticizing the National Guard takes a certain "special" type of cognitively-challenged person.
There ARE many firemen, police officers and public workers INJURED on the job.
IS the Governator going to make sure that He continue to VETO any adjustment to his workers comp reform SB 899 that robbed injured workers of disability benefits from the already low low rate before taking another 50% to 70% cut in disability benefit.
Arnold, like BUSH seems to believe that they have done a heckavajob.
LIARS
Kudos to Lt. Governor John Garamendi for speaking truth to power. O'Reilly and co. are bending over backwords covering for the junta
We have friends staying with us who don't know if they have a house now.
Bush is the worst president ever!
"Disaster" is George's middle name!
CIU @ 30:
Absolutely spot on! Everything he touches turns to crap for the majority of us...cash for his cronies perhaps. If I lived in Southern California, I'd be worried about the prospect of Dubya paying a visit...Very worried!
CIU @ 30:
I thought it was Lisa?
JM @ 31:
It appears California's currently full of displaced, frightened, angry individuals ...
... lynch mob?
Some observations:
When Katrina hits, GW is in San Diego playing guitar to his base. When the fires hit So Cal, GW is taking the opportunity to push for more $ for Iraq, the missile defense shield in Europe and the War on Drugs.
When the previous Gov in Ca. (Davis) requested federal funds to remove tinder dry trees killed by bark beetles as well as other fire preparedness, his request was stalled by Bush et al until he was booted and replaced by the Terminator. It was never approved as requested, and federal funds for this purpose have been reduced since then.
It's not only the NG personnel that is critical right now , it's the equipment. We could have used some more. And we could have used some more County Fire support, but where is the money when the feds have left more and more for local governments to absorb?
So Cal pulled off a great support network for their people in need. Especially true in San Diego - we have people from San Diego here in Lake Forest. FEMA was nowhere to be found until there was some political hay to be made.
No one (especially the MSM) specifically linked this support network to FEMA. Especially the Republican Mayor in San Diego. The organization for this effort has not been expressly described and the term FEMA has been curiously absent. But the appearance by Chertoff and his minions has left the impression that they had a hand in it. Bogus.
To date, the fires have burned roughly the equivalent of New York City twice over, destroyed 1600 buildings and has caused the evacuation of 950,000 Californians.
That's a lot of people that have a new appreciation for what's going on in Iraq...
Just out of curiosity, why is it that the msm are not labeling those people in California as refugees as they did with those in New Orleans?
Questions that make you go hmmm....
Bush won't do anything anyhow too busy wanting to destroy Iran.
Oh Bush Administration, is there no disaster that you're gross incompetence can't fuck up more?
All I have to say is the pansy assed Dems better not try to make
Garamendi apologize for what he said!
I guess that's why skewz.com has MSNBC listed as "slight right" in bias despite my boy keith being there. Noron really screws things up for the network that tries to birth into the antidote to Fox.
Who cares what that skank Nora said.
Besides, there are NO real journalists in cable news. Plus, the cable news lose viewers more and more each day, so let Nora talk to the hand!
The Lt. Governor said what needed to be said, and that all that mattered. In this climate of ONLY 24% of Americans supporting the selected president, the American public finally "gets it." The RepubliCONs are really the ones who will be toast in the November 2008 elections!
Personally I'm not too worried about Cali, in 2003 we had a huge fire in much the same areas (in fact I'm wondering how much bigger than that fire this is). As for the NG, I'm with the 11th Sig Bgd, Bco which has been slated since around Aug as part of the Homeland security in case of disasters such as this, but we are currently planning for our deployment in Dec.
Point is, these types of fires happen every year in California, usually not this big but they still happen yearly. I used to joke with friends about how as soon as the fires were done burning down a house, the rains would start and wash away whatever was left. The fires normaly occure in the November-december time frame and our rainy season is Jan-Feb, the fires destroy the vegitation and the rain creates mud slides.
Welcome to California.
Wow! Garamendi's using his time on tv to stump for our troops home! Someone with some perspective on the suffering in the world! He's got my vote any time I ever see it on my ballot.
...his name that is....
Garamendi for California Governor 2010! You know he's running!
Michael Brown has credibility to say anything? Maybe anything to get on the air. He talks about the Bush administration like he didn't used to be a willing player, or part of the problem...
When the revolution comes, the propagandist and crime enabler Norah O'Donnell will be one of the first to be sent to prison.
Garamendi has a legitimate, real-life complaint about how the Guard is being misused. Noron is trying to play gotcha politics -- fiddling while Calif. burns. F*ck her.
Way to carry the water for the adminstration, Norah. I guess your check is in the mail from the RNC.
Shithead.
Hey, John Garamendi, let's look on the bright side.
The record of this administration on causing disasters is STUPENDOUS.
John Garamendi has been on the political scene in California for a long time. He's a progressive Democrat, and as Lt. Gov, that means there's balance in the Executive Mansion between him and Ah-nold.
The way Bush has dissed California since that Gray Davis-recall didn't net him California's 54 electoral votes like he hoped under Ah-nold, and I wouldn't be surprised if Ah-nold gave Garamendi the tacit approval to say what he said about Dear Leader.
And the irony is, no matter how well Bush responds to any other disasters in the country, he will always be measured in his response by his lack of response to victims of Hurricane Katrina, and it will never come up smelling like roses, but industrial-strength shyt.
Preacher Boob @ 49:
I believe you meant to say FABULOUS...
I like that Garamendi was short and to the point. Everyone knows that Guard (and their equipment) deployments overseas impact their ability to respond to local emergencies, no matter how Republiconn spin doctors and their media tools want to cook the numbers.
I had a roommate in CA who was in the NG when the LA (Rodney King) riots broke out. One phone call to the house from his commander and he was on the street in Long Beach, restoring order, in less than six hours. Can't do the same thing if he's got to pack up and hop a plane from Iraq...
Where the Guard will really be needed is when the victims of the fires start getting fucked over by their insurance companies. They'll be needed to protect the headquarters of Allstate, State Farm, etc when angry homeowners threaten to torch them after these criminals screw homeowners out of money needed for rebuilding.
If Texas was burning, the Moron would drop everything.
"Gotta protect the other idiots that help put me in office!"
Gee - I don't know - 3,000 people are 3,000 people. You have to imagine having them in CA would have some impact even if all they had were shovels to dig firebreaks.
Of course it's likely the shovels were left in Iraq.
Bill-O said last night that the national guard are sitting on their butts and the Iraq conflict is no impeding aid to Californians. My question is why are they using prisoners to help out?
We're only worried about how much Bush being here will screw up traffic and keep people from finally getting back to their homes or keep fire crews from getting to where they need to be.
We don't need Bush here, thanks anyway. We have enough disaster going on that the master of disaster is merely a distraction at this point.
Thanks to all the great work of our fire crews. They are the real heroes of this story. My own home was in the path of this fire, and they held it and kept it out of the main part of our city of Poway. We are extremely grateful to their hard work.
As for Bush's "hard work", I can only sneer and express my disgust for the damage done to this country, the world, and the poor people of Iraq. What an asshat he is.
Otay @ 26:
Thanks for the comment, I love it! I like how Garamendi resounded in each interview "bring the troops home". We need to end the occupation of the White House for starters.. I hate Nancy Pelosi.. What a boob job.
“The Record Of This Administration On Dealing With Disasters Is Disastrous”
Unlike algebra two negatives don't always make a positive.
My ma always said two wrongs don't make a right.
Why do algebra classes hate American Values?
JohnnyBravo @ 54:
Speaking as a Texan, why should I heed the words of someone who used a joke name Greg Brady used to use?
Bobdog @ 52:
I believe you meant to say SIMPLY FABULOUS!
Just outta curiosity, why does FAUX News want to make the California fires about Iranian Al Qaeda terrorists?
Sure it sets up the next war.
But it also makes boosh responsible for failing to prevent another massive terrorist attack on American shores during his watch.
lt gov. -- the national guard is stressed.
norah -- why do you hate america?
My email just sent to good ole Norah.
Norah O’Donnell,
In a interview with California’s Lt. Governor, John Garamendi you asked this question:
"Well, Governor (sic), I’ve heard you express concern because of the stress the National Guard, not only in California but across the country, have suffered of the involvement in Iraq. But we heard from Lt. Gen. Steven Blum who said today that there’s still 17,000 National Guardsmen in California; only 3,000 of the are in Iraq. So you’re not criticizing the National Guard, are you?"
This is the sort of stupid right wing talking point question that has no place being on the nightly news, that is, if your company is unbiased and neutral. Norah, I should not have to do your job and my job, but from your statement it looks as though I have to.
It's not just about the troops Norah, what about all the very important equipment that was shipped over to Iraq? Did you think of that? Did you think maybe you could do a story on, well, gee if there are 3,000 national guard troops over there, then what about all their equipment? What sort of equipment would normally be on hand? Gee, I think the national guard has helicopters and fire fighting equipment, don't they?
And furthermore, to actually insinuate that a Lt. Governor would criticize the National Guard at a time like this does not reflect kindly on your company or you. Why pick fights? Rush Limbaugh calls the troops phony soldiers and you guys pretend not to hear it, John Garamendi shares his opinion with you and you try to pick a fight with him.
You guys are so controlled by your parent company that I am so glad I get my news from the BBC.
Good day Norah.
Damn! I should have added Crooks and Liars to the last line.......next time.
Whether Bush makes a visit to California wild fires or to Louisiana after Katrina its just a photo op for him. Some might remember the I-35 bridge collapse here in Minneapolis (its a distant memory isn't it). Bush wasted no time flying here and pledged to rebuild the bridge. Then went back to Washington and promised to veto the very transportation bill that would make it possible, cause it wuz too spensive .
Love how easy it is to shut up the really stupid Bush ass-kissing whores!!
Garamendi was just telling it like it is. Telling the truth is not criticizing. What good is a visit from the WarPig going to accomplish? Nothing, except an opportunity for Bush to feign the compassionate President role. I understand from MSNBC some guy broke down and literally cried on the WarPigs shoulder, he was probably a plant. Look at the Gulf Coast, most of it is still sitting there exactly in the same shape it was the day after the hurricane left. It will probably fair better in California, they're a wealthy state.
Gee, ya think John?? JD
Very well said and I know that my brothers and sisters are feeling the pains of this and woundering what kind of monster this is in our white house and when the hell is he leaving so that we get a real president, that will have the best interest of all Americans .
This man brings with him, yet another stain on this country with his warped actions.
About the Norah O’Donnell video: Am I the only one who can see the analogous validity as to why our grandparents put that black electrical tape over that flashing 12:00 on those crazy VCRs? The ticker at the bottom of the screen here is sooo helpfully narrative.
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