Just talked to my mom in Florida. She's waaaaay pissed.

[RandomKoolzip]

Says she's been without power since Frances, and they don't expect it back on for three weeks. She lives near a hospital, too, so she thought that would help, but nothin' doin'. The roof of her building is sliding off, slowly. The roof of the nearby hospital also flew off during the last run of storms. Lots of people in the area have well water instead of municipal supply water, and can't use it because of the contamination.

She says EVRYONE she knows is pissed at Bush. The damn governor is Bush's brother, and they just don't seem to give a shit. Bush is too busy campaigning and sending out negative ads (which no-one in Florida can see any flippin' since THEY HAVE NO POWER) to really assess the damage and help out with emergency funding. She says this is the worst hurricane season in history down there and all the president seems to care about is his standing in the polls. Anyhow, she ranted and raved for a good hour or so about how bad things are and how Bush is acting like a deadbeat father to the country, out carousing and whooping it up on TV and in Iraq, while his children are starving and without basic necessities.

If even half of what she says is any indication, Florida is no longer a swing state.

[eyesroll]

1. Wow.

Glad she's OK, though.

[RandomKoolzip]

3. Thanks. She's as angry as I've ever heard her.

FEMA came to Florida, she says, and looked at the big "republican" counties like Orlando and West Palm Beach, but didn't even do any damage assessment in Martin county, where TWO hurricanes actually touched down. She lives in Stuart, where Frances made landfall, and says NOBODY from any govt. relief agency came to their aid.

Home Depot has been out of lumber for several weeks, she says.

It's like Iraq down there right now in the central Atlantic coast of FLA.

[The empressof all]

2. Bush- the dead beat Dad

Love that line

[atommom]

4. I love the deadbeat dad line too. He brought that on himself with his

Republican "father figure" nonsense. Someone should take that analogy a little farther and point out all the ways in which he's a sucky dad!

[teach1st]

5. On the other hand...

..people in the mildly hit areas of the state are seeing BushBro Jeb on the tube, and he's coming off very well, full of compassion and leadership. Many don't know yet about the FEMA failures.

[RandomKoolzip]

7. See, there's the disconnect.

He's NOT going to the places where the damn hurricanes made landfall. He's only going to places that are politically expedient. And since people in those areas are completely cut off from the outside world, they're not getting the fatherly, compassionate Jeb on the TV, telling them everything's okay, they're getting screwed!

[dolo amber]

6. Glad you reached her!!

I'm sure you must be relieved...even tho the news wasn't very good...:(

[RandomKoolzip]

8. Me too.

She only got phone service back a couple days ago. She says her cat is totally traumatized and won't come out of the closet.


FOUR goddamn hurricanes in as many weeks; if global climate change is a ruse, it's certainly a very convincing one.

[stellanoir]

9. * the dead beat prez

that one's got legs. Thanks to your Mom for that one and glad she's okay.

[Not Me]

10. I am still without power at home in Orlando...

At the office today...

The local utilities have released all their out of state contractors to go up to the panhandle for Ivan last week. So there are very few work crews here. They are not even giving estimates as to when the lights will be back on.

There seems to be no FEMA presence, and friends are still haggling with insurance companies to release an initial check for Charley damage 6 weeks ago.

No sure how this plays politically here.

[barb162]

11. I just can't imagine how people are dealing with the heat

and humidity without air conditioning or at least fans. Let alone little things like water, light, roofs....

[SteppingRazor]

12. Floridians are just pissed

And it tends to be on a more local level. When Florida Power and Light trucks drive to a neighborhood TO HOOK THE POWER BACK UP, their vans are getting pelted with rocks and debris. I mean, could you be more ungrateful? Sheesh.

Anyways, happily, I never lost power in either hurricane here in Fort Lauderdale. As far as the politics go, though, I doubt the hurricanes will sway Bush voters. If it takes weeks to get power, most will still say, "Boy, if Gore had been elected, it would have taken MONTHS."

[Cheswick2.0]

14. well we all know what freaking idiots bush voters are

[Cheswick2.0]

13. Tell her that this roofer is excellent

http://www.paulbangeroofing.net/ and he can be trusted. Nevermind I went back and realize she is in a building not a single home.

She could recommend Dave to the condo association but they may already have someone they use.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. There goes the I-4 Corridor.

[medeak]

16. Florida water and power bills

are going to skyrocket I heard on npr this am. Great excuse to raise costs by utility companies... You'd think the guv would put his foot down over that with people devastated and on fixed incomes.

[calico1]

17. I just hope all these people that are unhappy

vote. I am glad your mom is ok but being without power for so long must be a nightmare.

[asthmaticeog]

18. My aunt and uncle are going to FL next week

and are planning to stay for six months. I think they're positively insane, and I told them so, but apparently it takes more than harsh words to keep Jewish retirees away from their winter home. When they came back to Cleveland last spring, they told me that FL's Jews were FUMING pissed about the '00 elections and already had registration actions going on. Add this to the African-American registration drives and the horrible handling of disaster relief, and there's no way Florida can go for Bush.

Oh, wait, who's Secretary of State down there nowadays?

Glad to hear your mom's OK (relatively speaking, that is).

[wishlist]

19. JEB said that each of the hurricanes has been a learning experience

He has been really stretching lately to put a positive spin on the hurricanes with his pep talks about how they are 'learning' so much from this experience and realizing how much people are helping each other. Hopefully it will be the voters who will sweep out Bushco and teach them a lesson in November.

One of the networks had a story this week about people in Florida being terribly disappointed with the FEMA delays since so many victims of the first hurricane are still going without help. Here in N.C. I have heard complaints too about not being able to get through to FEMA and FEMA not delivering quickly enough on their promises.