Allen: Katrina was ‘best thing to happen to New Orleans.’
Writer Charlotte Allen responded to questions today about her Washington Post op-ed from last Sunday, which argued that women “are kind of dim.” In an online chat with readers, Allen restated a claim she’d made in 2005 that “Katrina was the best thing to happen to New Orleans”:
I said Katrina was the best thing to happen to New Orleans because it finally opportunity to a huge number of New Orleans residents living in passive dependency on welfare to get out of New Orleans and change their lives for the better. Thousands of them did exactly that–which is why there hasn’t exactly been a huge flood of those former residents flocking back to live in passive dependency and do just that. New Orleans itself now has a chance to change into a more self-reliant city.
Feministing is urging readers to write letters to the editor of the Washington Post. (HT: Sadly No)
UPDATE: Turns out it was Feministing’s Jessica Valenti who asked the question that elicited Allen’s answer about Katrina and New Orleans.
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Wow. So W must be the best thing to happen to Iraqis, too?
March 5th, 2008 at 4:10 pmThis woman continues to have a forum for her rantings?
Is this what the media calls fair and balanced??
No wonder we had a moron like Bush and a despot like Cheney if office for so long….
March 5th, 2008 at 4:10 pmI said Katrina was the best thing to happen to New Orleans because it finally opportunity to a huge number of New Orleans residents living in passive dependency on welfare to get out of New Orleans and change their lives for the better
———————————————————————–
Since when does death make ones life better ?
March 5th, 2008 at 4:11 pmJesus. Has anyone felt this one up to make sure she’s a REAL woman???
March 5th, 2008 at 4:11 pmAnd she has proof that they have found this magical non-dependency employment?
Not that many jobs out there right now, so my guess is that they are still dependent, just not in New Orleans.
Facts? Republicans don’t need no stinking facts.
Bush/Cheney
March 5th, 2008 at 4:12 pmHague Trials ‘09
Hmmm…women are kind of dim…Katrina was the best thing to happen to New Orleans…
Are we SURE this isn’t Ann Coulter writing under a pseudonym?
March 5th, 2008 at 4:13 pmJesus. Has anyone felt this one up to make sure she’s a REAL woman???
Comment by Leftside Annie — March 5, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
Hey, don’t look at me! How about just doing an adams apple check!
March 5th, 2008 at 4:14 pmAnd these wingnuts have been blatbhering about liberalism being a mental illness.
By the way, the next time a natural disaster hits and people need help I will ask them if they are conservative before throwing them a lifesaver.’
If the answer is yes I’ll say ‘Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps’.
-GSD
March 5th, 2008 at 4:15 pmMethinks Charlotte Allen is kind of dim.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:16 pmSO, if we put Ms Allen’s home underwater, we could “save her” from being a rabid righty b*tch?
Let’s go for it.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:17 pm“I said Katrina was the best thing to happen to New Orleans because it finally opportunity to a huge number of New Orleans residents living in passive dependency on welfare to get out of New Orleans and change their lives for the better.” — Charlotte Allen
—————————————-
Yes, and Barbara Bush said that Katrina victims housed in the Houston Astrodome were “underprivileged anyway, so this is working out for them.”
I think I DO see a couple of women who are “kind of dim” here…
March 5th, 2008 at 4:17 pmOh, I see. People “haven’t exactly been flooding” back to New Orleans because they’ve changed their lives for the better?
And here all this time I thought it was because they couldn’t afford to rebuild their homes or their neighborhoods still looked like war zones or all their copper plumbing had been ripped out of their buildings and sold for scrap.
Silly me. I guess Babs was right. It really IS working out very well for them.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:17 pmNewsAlert@letters.washingtonpost.com, letters@washpost.com, georgewill@washpost.com, jimhoagland@washpost.com, ombudsman@washpost.com, kurtzh@washpost.com, abramowitz@washpost.com, achenbachj@washpost.com, allenh@washpost.com, allenm@washpost.com, aranam@washpost.com, argetsinger@washpost.com, balzd@washpost.com, barrj@washpost.com, barrs@washpost.com, bennettp@washpost.com, benningv@washpost.com, beyersd@washpost.com, bonesteelm@washpost.com
March 5th, 2008 at 4:18 pmboustanyn@washpost.com, religion@washpost.com, brownw@washpost.com, browar57@aol.com, carlsonp@washpost.com, castanedar@washpost.com, rajiv@washpost.com, chod@washpost.com, clarkp@washpost.com, cohensh@washpost.com, coopermana@washpost.com, copelandl@washpost.com, davenportc@washpost.com, davisp@washpost.com, deaned@washpost.com, deinerj@washpost.com, deyoungk@washpost.com, dobbsm@washpost.com, drezenr@washpost.com, duttj@washpost.com, dvorakp@washpost.com, eggend@washpost.com, ahrensf@washpost.com, aizenmann@washpost.com, nightwatch@washpost.com, donovanc@washpost.com, givhanr@washpost.com
missmolly, GMTA.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:18 pmMaybe it’s just the friends she keeps that makes her think women are dim. The ones I know are pretty damn smart. but then, I hang out with libs.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:19 pmWhat’s the difference between a conservative’s wife and his dog?
March 5th, 2008 at 4:21 pmOne stays chained to the porch and the other sticks it’s head out the window when they go for a drive.
15 - Bobwurst - you said it, brother.
~Hussein Annie
March 5th, 2008 at 4:22 pmComment by Leftside Annie — March 5, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
Oh crap, I keep forgetting the new signature line. :D
~Hussein Zooey
March 5th, 2008 at 4:24 pmMs Allen enjoys spending her free time “berating the help” and popping pills and shooting chardonnay with cindy mccain while watching Falcon Crest on dvd.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:25 pm“WHO’S ’sane’, HUSSEIN?
NOT ‘Bomb Bomb Iran’ McSenileCain!!”
Sincererly,
McNRA HUSSEIN Gun Nut(es)
March 5th, 2008 at 4:26 pmCharlotte Allen seems kind of dim.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:27 pmSo right that Katrina was good for NOLA, Charlotte Allen. Unless you died there, members of your family died, or you pets died & rotted there, or all you had, your business, your home, your everything died or was ruined & is still rotting there.
So very right, Charlotte. Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Go up to Baton Rouge, or St. Francisville, both places where I have friends who lost loved ones to the horror, so you can come out of your safe little perch & try to absorb the enormity of Katrina’s toll.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:28 pmI’ve been hearing a lot of Katrina bashing lately from my Republican friends. They must be getting something of the a.m. or something. Something in the water.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:29 pmOh crap, I keep forgetting the new signature line. :D
~Hussein Zooey
Comment by Zooey — March 5, 2008 @ 4:24 pm
Yeah, me too. Forgive me.
Ralph Hussein Wonder Llama
March 5th, 2008 at 4:33 pmWhere’s scummySouthernMan, defending this crazy beeatch?
March 5th, 2008 at 4:35 pmWe now look forward to that empty apology.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:35 pmShe was just joking……again.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:36 pm23 - it’s a roundabout insult to Obama for being black. R’s are all racists - some of them just more deeply closeted than others. That’s why NOLA and the Gulf Coast lay in ruin after Katrina. R’s figure “hey, they’re all black down there, and lazy criminals to boot, so whatever - we’ll come in in a few years and put in golf courses, gated communities and convention centers on the cheap, and the place will be better off.”
The R’s, should Obama advance, will be throwing around all kinds of coded messages intended to play on the bigotry of their base, and if Hilary advances, they’ll try to say it’s because D’s are racists.
R voters are like victims of a 3-card monte dealer who just keep coming back and betting again and again and again. They should all get tootsie-pop wrappers to wear as hats as they exit polling places.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:36 pmisn’t that tom Hussien baker?
March 5th, 2008 at 4:38 pmSorry, BobHussienwurst
March 5th, 2008 at 4:38 pmI’ve been hearing a lot of Katrina bashing lately from my Republican friends. They must be getting something of the a.m. or something. Something in the water.
Comment by Guido OBGYN Lover — March 5, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
It’s what they do. They deal with failures and embarrassments the same way they deal with everything else: full-scale assaults.
They first blame the victim.
When that doesn’t work, they project their own faults onto the opposition. “Liberals are racist” for instance.
Their last line of defense is generally to take their opponents’ strength and attack them for it, try to make it sound dishonorable or a character flaw. Obama’s eloquence, for instance.
It’s mind-numbingly predictable and so far has been pretty effective. I think the public is catching on, however, even if the media isn’t, and I think the effectiveness of their tactics is almost spent.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:38 pmOh, crap. I did it again.
Ralph Hussein Wonder Llama
March 5th, 2008 at 4:39 pmactually, it’s Tom Madrassa Baker, Bob.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:40 pmIt’s mind-numbingly predictable and so far has been pretty effective. I think the public is catching on, however, even if the media isn’t, and I think the effectiveness of their tactics is almost spent.
Comment by ralph the wonder llama
God I hope so, the thought of being called mccain’s “friend” for 4, or 8 years makes me want to put an icepick in my eardrums
bobhussienwurst
March 5th, 2008 at 4:40 pmI wonder if Ms. Allen just got a good deal on one of those shiny new high-rent condos they’re building on the former sites of public housing in New Orleans. She must really love ethnic cleansing.
Øسين طوسترهاد
March 5th, 2008 at 4:43 pmSome Repubs feel they are safe in their Katrina bashing now, the fools.
Those who lost much have very long memories for what in the South would be termed “disrespect of the dying & the dead.”
March 5th, 2008 at 4:44 pmSo I take it everyones been listening to The Steph Hussein Miller Show in the AM….hehe…funny.
Buck Hussein Fush
March 5th, 2008 at 4:47 pmI guess that makes me Bilbo Hussein Baggins. Sounds kind of sophisticated. I think I like it.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:47 pmThousands of them did exactly that–which is why there hasn’t exactly been a huge flood of those former residents flocking back to live in passive dependency and do just that. New Orleans itself now has a chance to change into a more self-reliant city.
Right, right. Has nothing to do with the lack of affordable housing, public transportation, electricity, garbage service . . . not unlike the lack of a huge flood of former residents moving back to Baghdad. All those Iraqis just decided to find jobs in Syria and quit living off Saddam.
–gumhusseinmitch
March 5th, 2008 at 4:47 pmIf that’s too long you could go with “B Hussein Baggins”. That’s almost blueblood…
March 5th, 2008 at 4:49 pmThey first blame the victim.
Comment by ralph the wonder llama — March 5, 2008 @ 4:38 pm
Unless the victims happen to be upper class homeowners being wiped out by a brush fire. Then the R’s will move heaven and earth to help them.
I notice that the Dems haven’t said that these California residents were “better off” for being subjected to a disaster, or even hinted that they deserved what they got. Nobody deserves to lose their home, be they poor or rich.
~ Miss Hussein Molly
March 5th, 2008 at 4:52 pmAs long as we’re adopting a common middle name (Hillary fans, please feel free to add Rodham to your screennames) Can I start adding mc to the trolls names? mcgigi, mcfrank, mcdaryll, etc. (southernhusseinman is acceptable, no?)
March 5th, 2008 at 4:52 pmØسين طوسترهاد
Comment by toasterhead — March 5, 2008 @ 4:43 pm
Showoff!
~ Miss Hussein Molly
March 5th, 2008 at 4:53 pmYeah ~ Miss Hussein. For a bunch that likes to play the victim you’d think they’d be more sensitive about blaming them. I guess this goes to their overall lack of empathy.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:55 pmShowoff!
~ Miss Hussein Molly
Comment by missmolly — March 5, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
Totally. Sheesh…
~Hussein Zooey
March 5th, 2008 at 4:57 pmFor you missmolly, you might want to use a feminine arabic middle name:
Huma - Bird who brings joy
March 5th, 2008 at 5:10 pmHuriyyah, Hooriya - Angel
Husn - Beauty
Husniyah - Beautiful
Charlotte, honey, can I call you Char? Perhaps it would be best if you shut your big stupid piehole before you make Republican women sound even dimmer. You were talking about Republican women weren’t you? And here’s a clue, babe, your men are even dimmer. Now I’d appreciate it if you would just go Cheney yourself.
Sincerely,
March 5th, 2008 at 5:12 pmShayne Hussein
I love it.
Just wondering, do the trolls wet themselves everytime they see/hear that middle name?
-blue hussein fish
March 5th, 2008 at 5:13 pmor:
Hasna “Beautiful”
Hasina “Very beautiful”
toasterhead can let us know which one is best…
March 5th, 2008 at 5:13 pmComment by mary — March 5, 2008 @ 5:10 pm
Those are all beautiful names (what IS it about Arabic that sounds so lovely?). But the reason I would use “Hussein” (as do other female posters here such as Zooey and Leftside Annie) is to counteract the forces that suggest there is some toxicity with the name.
It’s a very common name in the Middle East. Not only was it the name of Saddam Hussein, former dictator of Iraq, it was also the name of the late Hussein bin Talal, King of Jordan — a much respected man and an ally of the U.S.
~ Miss Hussein Molly (hopefully I’m still female)
March 5th, 2008 at 5:17 pmShowoff!
~ Miss Hussein Molly
Comment by missmolly — March 5, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
:)
And, BTW, you’d be آنسة Øسين مالي
Totally. Sheesh…
~Hussein Zooey
Comment by Zooey — March 5, 2008 @ 4:57 pm
Feel free to use Øسين زوي if you like :)
Husn - Beauty
Husniyah - Beautiful
Comment by mary — March 5, 2008 @ 5:10 pm
These are also derivatives from the same H-s-n root as Hussein. Just FYI…
Also - Hussein Mary is Øسين ماري
March 5th, 2008 at 5:19 pmØسين ماري it is then!
Thanks toasterhead!
March 5th, 2008 at 5:22 pmDamn, my UPS guy might be right - elect Obama and we’ll all be speaking Muslim!
Kkkkkkkkk
March 5th, 2008 at 5:23 pmThis Charlotte Allen is full of crap. She’s trying to say that the column was all satire.
Either she can’t write satire or she’s lying.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:24 pmI guess I should have said we’ll all be speaking Arabic! Silly dim girl that I am!
March 5th, 2008 at 5:25 pmHasna “Beautifulâ€
Hasina “Very beautifulâ€
toasterhead can let us know which one is best…
Comment by mary — March 5, 2008 @ 5:13 pm
Either one works grammatically - just depends whether you want to be just plain beautiful or very beautiful.
Those are all beautiful names (what IS it about Arabic that sounds so lovely?).
Comment by missmolly — March 5, 2008 @ 5:17 pm
It’s a beautiful language, particularly if you like math. The entire language is built around three-consonant roots and patterns and prefixes and suffixes. The pure symmetry of it is fascinating.
It’s also frustratingly difficult with a really steep learning curve. :\
March 5th, 2008 at 5:27 pmWhat is this!? Some kind of sleeper cell!?
rogerroger will have to put on his helmet and fatigues, go down to the local DHS office and file a report, if you people don’t watch it!!!
don’t you know you’re emboldening the enemy!?!?!!?!!?
quick - get Darryl in here to recite some scripture, and Va Voter to talk about how taxes strangle freedom!!
we’ve gotta clean this thread up, or we’ll all end up in the gitmo, with frank m and bert convy to guard us!!
March 5th, 2008 at 5:33 pmDamn, my UPS guy might be right - elect Obama and we’ll all be speaking Muslim!
Kkkkkkkkk
Comment by mary — March 5, 2008 @ 5:23 pm
I’d rather speak Muslim than white trash. If you tell your UPS guy that you might just have delivery problems though.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:35 pmdon’t you know you’re emboldening the enemy!?!?!!?!!?
Comment by tombaker — March 5, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
I prefer to think of it as “embigguning,” actually.
Øسين طوسترهاد
March 5th, 2008 at 5:35 pmquick - get Darryl in here to recite some scripture, and Va Voter to talk about how taxes strangle freedom!!
we’ve gotta clean this thread up, or we’ll all end up in the gitmo, with frank m and bert convy to guard us!!
Comment by tombaker — March 5, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
OK if you’ve summoned all that evil here we’re going to hold you responsible. Where are all the trolls though, haven’t they been getting their paychecks?
March 5th, 2008 at 5:37 pmKatrina was ‘best thing to happen to New Orleans.?!?!!?
This woman is insane…………and to paraphrase Kanye West; probably doesn’t care about black people either.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:38 pmi think the recent flagging campaigns have kinda worked, though i did see a bert convy post yesterday, and a JT today…
shayne hussein, you’re probably right, from what i hear about the R’s big fundraising problems.
then again, they might just be getting re-fueled with hot new talking points about “4 more years” being just what the country needs right now, and stupid stuff like that.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:42 pmDixie - for once and for all which is it - New Jersey or New Orleans? You’ve never come clean on that, and from your post here re: NOLA, I’ve got to think you’re just a liar.
re: NOLA, I’ll believe what I can see for myself, before I’ll believe your spun-up p.r. version, thank you very much.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:49 pmJesus. Has anyone felt this one up to make sure she’s a REAL woman??? — Leftside Annie
****************************************************
Never mind her gender — has someone tested her DNA to make sure that she’s even human?!?
If you ask me, those are the kind of words that a Pod Person would use — because I can’t detect any trace of sympathy or compassion in them whatsoever. Katrina the best thing that ever happened to New Orleans?!? Try telling that to all the people who lost their lives, their loved ones, their homes, their property, and their livelihoods. For pity’s sake…just because someone’s poor doesn’t automatically mean that they’re on welfare. Not everyone can be a stockbroker, you know. Did Ms. Allen ever go to New Orleans prior to Katrina — say, for Mardi Gras? How much does she think the people who cooked her food, served her meals, and cleaned her room made per year? Not much, no doubt — and that’s assuming that she gave any thought to them at all, which she probably didn’t. Apparently, in Ms. Allen’s world, people who do those sorts of jobs are beneath notice and don’t matter — but that doesn’t change the fact that they do exist, that they do matter, that what they do is honest work, that somebody has to do it, and that they deserve respect for what they do even if it isn’t highly skilled or highly compensated.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:54 pmWhat Charlotte said is like saying 911 was the best thing to happen to New York.
The path of Katrina cut across many states killing nearly 2000 people who were mostly elderly.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:57 pmWell tombaker, the absence of trolls is either ignorance or apathy. I don’t know and I don’t care why they gone but HIP HIP HOORAY, only Southern Man showed up and seems almost human.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:00 pm67 - Don’t most Righties already think 9/11 was the greatest thing ever? I know the Cheerleader Prince does.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:00 pmWhat Charlotte said is like saying 911 was the best thing to happen to New York.
Comment by Xisithrus — March 5, 2008 @ 5:57 pm
And - similar to Katrina - from the perspective of greedy real-estate developers, it was.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:00 pmSomeone must find a way to make this disgusting woman homeless.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:42 pmFunny. I tried to copy the Arabic words some of you are using and automatically the blue part begins at the “end” of the word, or the “beginning of the word” at the right.
- Juan Abdul Jabbar C.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:34 pmAllen: Katrina was ‘best thing to happen to New Orleans.’
Nero, that great compassionate conservative leader!
I’m Hussein!
(Although I’m thinking of Spartacus here :D )
March 5th, 2008 at 8:46 pmSure, and forced collectivization was the best thing that ever happened to the Ukrainians.
What a scumbag b*tch!
March 5th, 2008 at 9:08 pmIf the people were too poor to leave–lacking transportation, etc, how is it they have the resources to return?
And newsflash…welfare (a program that’s primary target was women and children) has been gutted. Thanks Bill Clinton and Republican Congress back in the day. 96% of the recipients who are lucky enough to get the help are on it temporarily (less than 2 years, 94% less than one year).
Allen can go fu@k herself. I pray to God there is karma.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:52 amThe rebuttal. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/ content/ article/ 2008/ 03/ 05/ AR2008030501942.html
Who would have thought that even in the year 2008 the Washington Post would be willing to fan the flames of a “Are women smart enough to participate in society?” debate…
March 6th, 2008 at 2:30 pm