Yet another one on "compassionate conservatism"

Excellent commentary by Daniel Schorr on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" the other day. Schorr is clearly a moderate liberal, but he rarely directly attacks the Bush administration, or Republicans in general. On this occasion, however, you could hear that the guy was getting mad (in a very low-key, gentlemanly fashion, of course).

Schorr pointed out that Bush stood in an abandoned New Orleans after the Katrina hurricane, bravely saying "we will do what it takes" (a phrase reminiscent of the Iraq-related rhetoric), but that in fact neither he nor the Republicans in Congress have done much, even a month after the disaster. At the moment, there still is no legislation proposed to deal with the aftermath of Katrina, and House Republicans are actually planning to offset any expenses related to the hurricane by cutting federal programs (such as Medicaid) that are in theory "mandatory."

Moreover, Bush is considering tax cuts for local businesses, rather than direct aid to the families struck by the hurricane! That is, Republicans -- as usual -- refuse to even consider the possibility that a direct intervention of the government may be beneficial, at least under some circumstances (and these are certainly rather exceptional ones). Accordingly, the Republicans have rejected a Democratic plan to temporarily extend Medicare benefits to victims of the disaster, suspicious that (God forbid!) that would open the way to more permanent "socialist" programs to help the poor and needy.

As Daniel Schorr says at the end of his commentary, Bush says that he cares, but how much can be done on caring alone? Pretty much the same that could be done with a faith-based missile defense system, if only Bush were consistent enough with his principles to actually take that route!