Blame George Bush for Hurricane Katrina

What to think of this? Jürgen Trittin, Germany's Environmental Minister, has pointed a finger at the US and the Bush Administration as bearing responsibility for the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. From Der Spiegel:


Link to full Der Spiegel article

Not surprisingly, Americans are reacting to Trittin's statements with fury and disbelief, filling Der Spiegel's inbox with angry emails. Some of their responses are here.

From my point of view, criticism of US environmental policy is certainly warranted, but Trittin's timing and approach are inexcusable.

Shock Horror!
Jürgen Trittin, Germany's Environmental Minister joins TT American Bashing Thread

there is an election soon

Oh man, what stupid timing of Jürgen! There goes our chances of stopping lovely Angie..

I guess the real question is whether it is time to rename sauerkraut to freedomkraut?

@MajorBummer

From one of the American responses:

Many of the responses are out of line as well though . . . when all else fails cry NAZI!

no, the Germans will love this sort of thing. Nothing like a bit of US bashing to up the SPD vote

"Socialist"
The Greens, the SPD?

Obviously the poster in question gets his politics knowledge off the back of a Cherios packet.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of his comments (and there's a discussion to be maybe had) as mentioned above by Boomtown Rat, there's an election being fought right now.

The Greens always do a "populist" push towards the end. Having a go at Bush and mentioning the issue of global warming is designed to drag their regular voters to the polls whereas they might well have been tempted to abstain.

The Greens need to get those voters out as they are in danger of
1. Having the Linkspartei be the 3rd largest bloc in parliament
2. Being excluded from government if the SPD do a grand coalition with the CDU

If Angela Merkel becomes know as the "Americans choice" she is doomed.

Angie? 9/10 Bushbots said their President preferred it.

The comment was definitely in bad taste and the timing not exactly ideal however I did notice part of one response in the emails from the Americans by the worlds unofficial No. 1 expert on global warming:

'The German hysteria, indeed all of the hysteria concerning so-called Global Warming is just silly. Always has been.'

Like I say the comment was out of line and not necessary but that kind of response does not exactly fill me with confidence either.

But for for the German Green Party the timing IS ideal and IS nescessary.

Don't imagine either this is just Jürgen Trittin going off on an eco-bender.
He's cleared this with Foreign Minister Fischer and possibly Schröder as well.

I wouldn't blame bush for the flooding via "Global warming", I'd blame him for diverting the nessary funding (By 80%) to fix the problem to the Iraq war...

Now that the fore told problem of flooding has occured, lets see if funding gets refocused to finally getting the problem fixed... F-N Bastard Bush..

I don't mind the criticism of Bush at all - bring it on. I just think Trittin could have shown a bit more sensitivity towards the plight of the victims, who aren't responsible for the decisions made by their government.

ETA: not directly responsible, anyway - yes I know some of these same folks voted for Bush, but it still doesn't make them liable for every bad decision he makes

What do you do when you're a minister with as much charisma as a toothpick but you want to become a global celebrity in minutes? Bash the Bush Administration. Amazing.

In all fairness (and believe me, I am not a fan of Bush), I don't think Bush's time in pffice has been sufficient to result in changing weather patterns of any significant magnitude.

If global warming is to blame, it has been something that has been building long before Bush came into office.

Now if he just gave that moustache a trim...

[img]http://www.dw-world.de/dwelle/allgemein/bilder_show/0,3772,18073_7,00.jpg[/img]

Agree with you on that one, Georgiagirl, this is going to cost the Greens a lot of sympathy amongst their own. What an idiot!

@boomtown rat

Normally they would love it, but we are talking about the lives of people here. I don't think red or green voters would like this.

@JW Ever heard of Godwin's law

@Major Bummer
I agree - we are talking about potentially thousands of people dead. Trittin's ghoulishly capitalizing on a major tragedy to fulfill his own political agenda. That's just wrong.

If he trimmed the 'tache he'd look a little like Charlie Chaplin! What? What did you think I was talking about?

It's definitely a case of American bashing to get votes as was the case in the last election where Schröder used the Iraqi war as an election theme.

I think though it's going to backfire this time round since the Spiegel is left-leaning - ie. would normally support the Greens and the SPD - and is condemning the timing and insensitivity of Trittin's outburst as well.

Having said that, I'm not altogether against a CDU government coming in after all the screw-ups Rot-grün have managed - at the risk of going off-topic...

Its worth a photoshop anyway

I agree that much of the wacky weather that we've been experiencing in recent years (hurricanes and floods)can be attributed to global warming but I think his manner and timing could have been a little better. I am from the area that the hurricane hit. Fortunately my family didn't sustain any major damge but there are others that lost EVERYTHING. Why didn't he offer them any sympathy? That's what pissed a lot of people off. And rightfully so!

Do you REALLY think they don't test what they say before they say it?

This is to get harder core Greens who might have abstained becasue they feel let down by what they see as the wishy-washiness of the Greens in the federal government out to vote.

Here's an excerpt from my favorite of the American responses (and ties in nicely with our recent TT America-bashing threads, not to go off topic...)

It was definitely insensitive to say that the US had it coming..

The US does waste a lot of energy and pollute the air, that I agree with. However, hurricanes occur over and over again per year (doesn't K mean that this is the 11th one this year??) and it is true that the globe goes through warm and cool stages throughout its lifecycle.

Plus, with the efficient and ubiquitous public transportation in all German cities, I don't understand why people still drive their cars to work everyday. In most US cities, like my lovely, haze-of-pollution-blanket-over-the-valley of Las Vegas, driving is unavoidable. Their cars might be more fuel efficient here, but they are ALSO contributing to the demise of our breathing air..

Tim Schmitz for President!

well, Stoiber's speech on the lack of intelligence of anyone outside of Bavaria certainly proves that they DO NOT.

He says what I've always known!

Get this man a beer!

Stoiber thinks his demi-god status in Bavaria extends to the rest of the country allowing him to say whatever he pleases. Of course, he's slightly mistaken.

What's interesting is that in the majority of those American comments, nobody is leaping to defend Bush - they're just pissed at what they perceive as the ongoing smug superiority of the Germans/Europeans and Trittin's insensitivity.

I do have to snicker a little bit at the Americans who called the Kyoto treaty a "joke" based on "junk science." That ought to really get the Germans' blood boiling!

Ever since those radical/militant left bozos masquerading as politicians/'environmentalists' made into the Bundestag, it is indeed embarrassing to be a German citizen every now and then.

Not a big fan of Bush myself but this is just plain stupid not to mention insensitive. Sure, taking a piss on Bush has always worked for SPD. (The Hitler thing during last round: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2271137.stm)

If you are incapable of sympathy during such an appalling tragedy, let alone of being any help, the least you can do is zip up I'd hope.

I'm sure the SPD would rejoice at the opportunity to be able to urinate on Bush, however I think that they have keep to taking the piss out of him instead.

I am half tempted to write a letter to Trittin myself.

Easy tigers! No one said what Trittin said had the approval of the majority of Germans. As someone has already said, he may be trying to get the hard-core Greens out to vote for them. The electoral campaign is basically becoming very polarised with all this American and east German bashing.

Politicians will be politicians. They're all bastards who care more about what political capital they can get out of events like this. I sincerely believe that most Europeans will think this a cheap blow by Trittin and be embarrassed by the whole situation.

@JW
oh yeah..got a little worked up there : )

I'm curious to know what the average German citizen thinks about Trittin's remarks. If this is any indication, here's a direct quote from an email I just received from a German friend in regards to the situation:

Thats a quote made by Americans everyday though

Rotten timing by Trittin, but Bush should be burned at the fucking stake for backing out of the Kyoto treaty.

Stoiber's anti-Ossie speaches were VERY well planned.
Don't you beleive for a MINUTE he dodn't know EXACTLY what he was saying.

Stoiber's CSU ONLY stands in Bavaria and it was NOT going to cost him ANY votes.

Angie's CDU in the eastern states might well lose some votes over it and that it what he was after.

Stoiber still wants Angie to win, but not win by so much that his influence and the influence of the CSU in a potential conservative-liberal government is weakened.

@Rus

I think you and Jürgen should get together for a course on timing for American bashing...now is not a good time eg.

Another comment from German friend:
Germany HAS offered help, but only after Trittin's scathing indictment, to which most Americans would answer: thanks anyway, fcukers. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

I should add that I don't feel that way - we can certainly use the help - and I think the everyday German would absolutely want to send aid to the US.

I don't think it actually does.

Germany have a very strong attitude when it comes to the environment. It also is known that Buch is against the Kyoto Protocoll, for whatever reason. Germany frowns upon US America's attitude. So some one who speaks clear words and having the balls of facing the problems will be seen as a hero.

To express diagreement never has the right timing. Also I am not for the Greens and I am not Anto American, but Trittin got a point there. It is exagerated of course but it can't harm that people are made aware of the consequences of pollution. Sometimes I just wish that they go to one of those communication seminars every sales person has to go to...
The environment problems are surely not Bush's fault as it is a long-term thing but if doesn't stop it... that would be his fault.

I actually vote for Angie (bad karma expected, I know)
It is not about what Trittin said, it is just how he said it and that he critized the US government, just when germany got round to not being "enemies" again. But then again that got nothing to do with environment but with money and capitalism...

Bear in mind that the US Senate voted Kyoto down 95-0 during the Clinton administration. Bush, not being the smoothest of politicians, basically said it was crap and has been blamed ever since as being the Kyoto bogeyman who screwed everything up - not completely fair.

Well, there are several ways of looking at this. Firstly, I don't think that was any doubt about any voting irregularities, and all votes cast for Jürgen Trittin and the other candidates were independently corroborated. Nuff said

Second, yes... a bit indelicate. But I think the remark was laid squarely at the feet of the blame. Nuff said again

Lastly, I could take him a lot more seriously if he shaved off the Enoch Powell moustache.

There is a rumour going around the shoe shops here in Munich, that Stoiber has just purchased a brand new pair of tartan slippers. I guess he's off to Mississippi then.

You can indirectly vote for Angie bubbly -but you're getting Eddy.
Trittin will actually mobilise support via these comments as those disillusioned by the watering-down of Bündnis 90 policies will get back behind them.
And it could also get apathetic Bush-hating teens and twens to the ballot box.
As for Eddy, that speech was in a Bierhalle (where Eddy gives all his best speeches). He played to his audience (who'd probably rebuild the wall in the blink of an eye if they could especially as the CSU has a lot of older voters, voters whose pensions are reduced due to the fact that former DDR pensioners are alway being paid from funds to which they did not contribute due to an alternative system on an equal basis, a decision made during reunification by the CDU/CSU/FDP).