Is it racist to let white people freeze to death in Kentucky while Obama parties and FEMA doesn't help?

We may want to remind ourselves of media and political coverage of past natural disasters because the media remains besotted with Team Obama, and... by the way it's day 7 of dozens of people freezing to death in the Midwest and where's the Obama government?



Let’s see… what’s the media’s reaction to the catastrophe in Kentucky where more than 45 people have died during a “global warming” ice storm.

The Virginian Pilot (the state’s largest newspaper) has the Sunday headline: Struggling Hall of Fame may feel pinch of Portsmouth's tight budget.

I kid you not, it’s a story about the (lousy) sports Hall of Fame in Portsmouth, VA and it’s financial troubles. The only people who go there are the friends and relatives of the high school and college players who are the featured attraction there. An entire museum dedicated to local ball players, and the Virginian Pilot considers that the top story of the day while people are freezing to death in Kentucky.

Moving to Pilot's national and world news, the natural disaster in Kentucky is number 7 on the list of important things going on, just behind Strike by 24,000 refinery workers averted for now and ahead of New Ill. governor plans Washington lobbying trip .

And how was the storm handled? Ky. struggles with outages in ice storm aftermath.
State and local officials and power crews are going it alone. Not a word in this story about FEMA and the reaction – or lack thereof – of the Obama administration.

How about the old grey whore, the NY Times? Well, check it out for yourself. Not a word on the front page of the NY Times Online about people dying in Kentucky.

Ed Driscoll has a fair headline: Obama Dozed, People Froze!

Headline via the The Sundries Shack, which asks, "Has anyone seen FEMA lately?"

It seems we have people dying by the dozens in the midwest, where they've been freezing to death for a few days. Local officials are calling out the Federal government for its notable lack of response.

But Bill Quick (found via Instapundit) believes that "'Where's FEMA?' is not the appropriate question":

The appropriate question is, "Where is the mainstream media, screaming in one united voice, that the absence of FEMA demonstrates the utter fecklessness and failure of the current President and all his policies?"

Plus his barely concealed racism, of course.

This might be a good time for those who have pledged "to be a servant to my president" to head out there, rather than bitching about the contractors working next door. On the plus side though, to the best of my knowledge, no one on the left has actually been rooting for the snow and ice, unlike previous meteorological disasters.

Jammie Wearing Fool says Obama and FEMA Leave Americans to Die in Kentucky

I guess what with Kentucky being a red state the heartless Barack Obama and FEMA can't be bothered helping the suffering Americans trying to cope with a massive ice storm that has left them powerless.

In some parts of rural Kentucky, they're getting water the old-fashioned way — with pails from a creek. There's not room for one more sleeping bag on the shelter floor. The creative are flushing their toilets with melted snow.

At least 42 people have died, including 11 in Kentucky, and conditions are worsening in many places days after an ice storm knocked out power to 1.3 million customers from the Plains to the East Coast. About a million people were still without electric Friday, and with no hope that the lights will come back on soon, small communities are frantically struggling to help their residents.

Prairie Pundit asks Where is Obama Administration and FEMA

Democrats are just so much better at mad dogging and issue and generating a media feeding frenzy.

The Anchoress has an excellent roundup Kentucky: No Power, No FEMA - UPDATED

When a million people in flyover country are suffering, and 42 people have died, we don’t hear much about it. If this was New York, Washington, Boston, (or if the president had an R after his name) you’d see non-stop reports, and the press would be roundly criticizing FEMA’s absence, and the White House’s disregard. Right?
...
Heck of a job, Barry. While you’re staying warm over there, why don’t you send some help to those folks so they can get their heat and their lights back on, their water running and their lives back on track?

FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak said some agency workers had begun working Friday in Kentucky and more help was on the way. Hudak said FEMA also has shipped 50 to 100 generators to the state to supply electricity to such facilities as hospitals, nursing homes and water treatment plants.

“We have plenty of folks ready to go, but there are some limitations with roads closed and icy conditions,” she noted.

What? Is she saying that natural disasters impede reaction time? Who would have thought it? At least the state governments are not holding back help! FEMA began working on Friday? But the storm hit on Tuesday! How can that be?

But still, why isn’t the president down there, hugging people? Why was he schmoozing congress with steak dinners* while people were suffering? Why is this going on for almost a week without the president going in there and fixing everything? It’s been way more than 100 hours! Where is Obama? Why does the government not show us what is really going on? Where are the pictures of stranded people? We want to see the pictures! People have died! Show us the bodies!

Hey, I’ve watched the professionals in the mainstream media - I know these are the questions we’re supposed to be asking. They’ll get to them any day, now…any day.

This proves once again that the mainstream media is selective in its coverage, which is driven by its own agenda. What it wants to cover and hype for good or ill gets covered and hyped ad nauseam. And what it does not want to address, gets lost. This is an inconvenient story, with inconvenient victims, so you won’t see the high drama, the probing questions and harsh criticism we’ve seen before.

The press completely controls the conversation of the country, and the direction of each narrative. At least until the “Fairness Doctrine” puts that control more completely into the government’s hands.

The problem is, when the press ignores a story like this, not only are they betraying a credibility-destroying double standard, they’re also keeping other Americans from learning about the situation and offering help - as Americans always do. Booooo, press. Boooooo!

Are we being a little unfair?

In fairness to President Obama, it is not really the job of the president to personally go in and rescue people after a natural disaster. The province in emergencies is still - as it was with Katrina - local, then state government, then federal intervention with funding and FEMA, etc. But the press and the Democrats didn’t want to hear it with Katrina, where the staggering failures of the local and state governments were ignored so that the Bush-beating could commence. But it seems to me if Bush was crucified for “eating cake” with John McCain and not sending FEMA “fast enough” and not running down to NOLA to get in the way of rescuers for the photo-op, then there is certainly some room to criticize President Obama, who supposedly is having a black-tie dinner tonight with members of the press in the warm, cozy White House while hundreds of thousands have evacuated or are still not even being checked on.

There. Am I not fair? I’d say that’s fairer than anyone treated President Bush. Again, boooo, press!

Bloggers who linked to the Anchoress:

GraniteGrok tracked back with Obama dozed....people froze......
Michelle Malkin pinged back with Super Bowl bet: What will the thermostat temp be at the White House party?
Kentucky Freezes, Does Obama care? BitsBlog pinged back with Kentucky Freezes, Does Obama care? BitsBlog
Obama Dozed, People Froze? : The Sundries Shack pinged back with Obama Dozed, People Froze? : The Sundries Shack
The American Freedom Network pinged back with Obama Kills White People
The Colossus of Rhodey tracked back with Maybe Kanye West will get on stage ......
Brutally Honest tracked back with "Looks like it's business as usual in Washington"...
Millions Without Power [...] pinged back with Millions Without Power [...]
Random Thoughts pinged back with Why I joined the NRA
Doesn’t He Care???? : Left, Right and Centered pinged back with Doesn’t He Care???? : Left, Right and Centered

From The American Freedom Network Obama Kills White People

At least 42 people have died in Kentucky from a deep freeze in the region. Yet, Obama turns up the thermostat and has steak dinners with supporters....

To be honest, I really don’t believe Obama is targeting white people. I think the man is just naturally incompetent. However, I don’t think President Bush was targeting blacks in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, either. What I do find appalling is the lack of fair-minded and reasoned coverage from the members of the elite media.

One more point: The media’s complete silence on this subject means that fellow Americans don’t know to send voluntary donations for aid and relief, as Americans are apt to do in such situations.

A suggestion: write and e-mail your local paper.