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09/09/2005: The Party of Performance...?!?
This would be a great skit for any comedian, and almost laughable…if it weren’t so Incredible and F**cking SAD. From David Ignatius (WaPo):“…Now listen to what Gingrich has to say about "changing the playbook" after Katrina. His comments are drawn from two memos he has circulated to Republican leaders since the storm hit and from a conversation we had this week exploring some of his ideas.
Gingrich argues that the values debate that has divided America so sharply during the past decade is over. There's a broad consensus about most issues, and anyway people realize that the country's big problems aren't about morality but performance. "We're not in a values fight now but over whether the system is working," Gingrich told me. "The issue is delivery." And that's true at every level -- city, state and federal.
Gingrich's critique of the federal response is as devastating as that of any Democrat. "For the last week the federal government and its state and local counterparts have consistently been behind the curve," he wrote fellow Republicans this week. "The American people overwhelmingly know that the current situation is totally unacceptable," and for that reason, "it is a mistake to get trapped into defending the systems and processes which clearly failed." He observes in another memo, "While the destruction was unprecedented, it was entirely predictable.
What's needed is a creative government response as big as the disaster itself.
...
This is the moment for the Party of Performance to take center stage."
And this is WHAT that means:
"Party of Performance":“…Gingrich urges in one of his memos that Bush appoint a super-manager who can oversee the rebuilding and suggests Rudy Giuliani for the job.
[Emphasis mine]
So what 'ole Newt is proposing, in effect, is a “Super-Manager-Alter-Ego-President.” A More Capable President. A Real Action President. A President who can REALLY Run things -- while the President we Have does…?!?!? What Exactly?
IF the Current President IS not Himself capable of being this “Super-manager” and Newt's suggestion is that we need to create a NEW Side-ways Hierarchy of Alternate Leadership to cover for the Failure of the existing Leadership. How is this a GOOD Thing?
Phuleease!!!
Someone wake me from this nightmare of Idiocy and Unaccountability.
This really takes the Cake, the Icing, the Baking Pan, the whole OVEN of Nerve.
Oh, and Newt has these further ideas of what this "New Performance Party"Could do for us“…The former speaker has some classic Gingrich zingers for how to rev up the rebuilding effort. He wants to turn the Gulf Coast into a "Zone of Recovery, Reconstruction and Prosperity," by offering a 25 percent tax credit for all job-creating investment in the region over the next three years. And he wants to create a cadre of "entrepreneurial public managers" who can replace the leaden public bureaucracy and get things done on Internet time, with the reliability of FedEx or UPS."
And THIS is from the GOP folks that lauded this Currently Not-Super-Manager President. This Lack of Performance President. This Unrecoverable Zone, Devastating in Reconstruction and Prosperity President we have in office. This Fearless Leader they gave us this as their BEST-offer Candidate from their party ranks. This Less-than Super-Manager Guy, Running him for office to oversee our government, while pretending he was some CEO-President in Charge?!?
But -- as David Igantius asks, “Who's ready to sign up for the Party of Performance?
Karen on 09.09.05 @ 10:35 AM CST
