Re-pub'-li-can - n, adj.; person without empathy

First Gallup Poll on Hurricane Response Finds Americans Extremely at Odds

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released this morning shows that the country very divided over who is primarily to blame for the poor emergency response to the hurricane castastrophe on the Gulf Coast.

Despite much criticism directed at the White House and federal government in the past week, President Bush seems to be maintaining much of his core support.

While 42% of respondents characterized Bush's response to the disaster as bad or terrible, 35% said it was good or great. Federal agencies got exactly the same marks. State and local officials fared only a little better--their response was described as bad or terrible by 35% and good or great by 37%.

Again, the views were strongly based on partisan leanings, with Republicans giving the president good grades on this issue by a 69% to 10% margin, while Democrats' views were precisely the opposite. But independents gave Bush a thumbs down by 47% to 29%.

Empathy is defined as "a sense of shared experience, including emotional and physical feelings, with someone or something other than oneself." Which must mean that Republican is defined as "person whose belief in the objectively false overwhelms all other human attributes, leading to a complete lack of empathy."

You know that old saying about how a Republican is a Democrat who has never been arrested? It will be really interesting to see what polls of the directly affected in Louisiana and Mississippi show in a few weeks time.