Bush supporters' aftermath thread

Looks like a little bit more than zero to me.

After 911, we were told that the new DHS make us better at responding to catastrophe. Clearly, that's not the case.

I can't believe that so many Americans were buying this crap.

Bush Rules Out Raising Taxes for Gulf Relief

By DAVID E. SANGER and EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 - President Bush said Friday that rebuilding the Gulf Coast would "cost whatever it costs," that he would not raise taxes to pay for the recovery and that at least some of the expense would have to be offset by budget cuts in other programs.

His call for some sacrifices in the federal budget came just a day after he addressed the nation in prime time from an outdoor lectern in New Orleans, where he promised to rebuild the city and the surrounding Gulf Coast, heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Bush used a national day of remembrance for the storm victims on Friday to expand on the themes of racial injustice that he touched upon the night before, telling a packed service at the National Cathedral, "As we clear away the debris of a hurricane, let us also clear away the legacy of inequality."

Taken together with his speech in Jackson Square on Thursday night, Mr. Bush's comments were part of an effort to shift the focus to promises of rebuilding and recovery and away from criticism that the White House had been callous in its slowness in helping the storm victims, many of them black.

The White House on Friday also offered a few more details about the president's proposals to provide incentives for rebuilding and to assist displaced residents with homesteading land and money for job retraining. The Gulf Opportunity Zone program he outlined on Thursday would offer special tax breaks to businesses and would cost about $2 billion; school vouchers, worth up to about $7,000 for displaced students, could be used for private as well as public schools. Administration officials are also considering a suspension of the steep import tariffs now imposed on cement from Mexico, lumber from Canada and numerous forms of steel.

[Let's see them, then. Show me how the feds were on the job. If it had been a terrorist attack and they didn't show up for days, or didn't fill out the necessary paperwork to allow New Mexico's national guard to help, or didn't even know where people were taking shelter, would you still say they did a great job? Have a look at the National Response Plan on the DHS site and tell me that they followed it. The point about local and state governments being first responders is moot in cases where they have indicated that they don't have the resources to respond. In such cases, what do you suggest the rest of the country do, stand back and watch them flounder?

After 911, we were told that the new DHS make us better at responding to catastrophe. Clearly, that's not the case.

The disaster in New Orleans was not the result of an external threat or attack - elements for which the Homeland Security Department was created.

nimh wrote:

As soon as a disaster is declared an Incident of National Significance, the coordination of management operations shifts to the Department of Homeland Security.

The Department's head, Chertoff declared it such an incident on 30 August.

As FreeDuck has laid out in painstaking detail HERE, Chertoff had both the authority and the information to do so three days earlier already, when Governor Blanco wrote her State of Emergency letter to President Bush.

By August 30 the failures of the State and City Governments in New Orleans to deal properly with the execution of their disaster & evacuation plans and to order and carry out the required measures - items that are their exclusive responsibility - the problem had already been created.

The Federal Government's primary role in combatting terrorisn is the PREVENTION and deterrance of an attack. So far the Administration has been remarkably successful at that.

The NYPD's War On Terror
Frustrated by the lack of help from Washington, police commissioner Ray Kelly has created his own versions of the CIA and the FBI within the department. So how will we know if he has succeeded? If nothing happens.

So Kelly has plenty of reasons to want to make his mark this time. Even so, isn't combating terrorism primarily a federal responsibility?

When I ask Kelly this question, he looks at me long and hard. He is a man who knows his way around Washington. In addition to his time in the mid-nineties as undersecretary of the Treasury, he was head of the Customs Service. He also worked for Interpol and was a special State Department envoy in Haiti where he was sent to establish and train a police force.

"I knew we couldn't rely on the federal government," Kelly says finally. "I know it from my own experience. We're doing all the things we're doing because the federal government isn't doing them. It's not enough to say it's their job if the job isn't being done. Since 9/11, the federal government hasn't taken any additional resources and put them here."

The Department assigns itself the "primary responsibility" when it comes to "providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort". It's not a question of big-government ideology: it's its self-chosen mission statement.

Now the question is, does anybody seriously believe that the Department succesfully provided a "coordinated, comprehensive response" to Katrina, in that it "mounted a swift and effective recovery effort"?

Why shouldn't we judge their efforts by their self-chosen yardsticks?

Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking to you. Mission accomplished.

Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or space man? Now I know what you're saying: there's so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in. Please don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela. Eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.

But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised that you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes.

On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.

So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: 'Take a hint.'

Bush Urinating on Company Time

A new scandal is rocking the White House, one sure to leave a bright yellow stain on the peeResidency for years to come - and this time the digital brownshirts won't be able to spin it under the rug like they did with the Texas National Guard memos. According to newly released photographic evidence, Bush attempted to interrupt a UN Security Council meeting with a taxpayer-funded bathroom break.

It's bad enough that the Shrub vacations for 9 months out of the year, but does he have to urinate on my dime as well? Do the math, folks. Bush's salary is $400,000 a year, or 76 cents a minute. Let's say he takes six pee breaks a day at three minutes each - five minutes if he pees sitting down like Oliver Willis. Perhaps we should ask ourselves if we can really afford to continue the war in Iraq, AND pay Bush over $7,000 a year to use the loo.

Say what you will about Bill Clinton, but he never allowed his natural urges to interfere with his job. Al Gore hasn't had a bowel movement in over 17 years. Yet Bush apparently thinks he can piss away our hard earned money whenever nature calls.

Well, I say enough is enough. 3,000 American died because the Shrub was too busy reading about a pet goat to do his job. Another 10,000 have gone missing in New Orleans, most likely because Bush was taking a "bathroom break" when Mayor Nagin called begging for help. I stand with Senator Biden's call for an immediate congressional investigation into the Tinklegate scandal. Bush must be held accountable for his bodily functions, before any more innocent lives are lost.

To ABC's Surprise, Katrina Victims Praise Bush and Blame Nagin
Posted by Brent Baker on September 16, 2005 - 00:50.

ABC News producers probably didn't hear what they expected when they sent Dean Reynolds to the Houston Astrodome's parking lot to get reaction to President Bush's speech from black evacuees from New Orleans. Instead of denouncing Bush and blaming him for their plight, they praised Bush and blamed local officials. Reynolds asked Connie London: "Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response?" She rejected the premise: "No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in." She pointed out: "They had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people."

Not one of the six people interviewed on camera had a bad word for Bush -- despite Reynolds' best efforts. Reynolds goaded: "Was there anything that you found hard to believe that he said, that you thought, well, that's nice rhetoric, but, you know, the proof is in the pudding?" Brenda Marshall answered, "No, I didn't," prompting Reynolds to marvel to anchor Ted Koppel: "Very little skepticism here."

Reynolds pressed another woman: "Did you feel that the President was sincere tonight?" She affirmed: "Yes, he was." Reynolds soon wondered who they held culpable for the levee breaks. Unlike the national media, London did not blame supposed Bush-mandated budget cuts: "They've been allocated federal funds to fix the levee system, and it never got done. I fault the mayor of our city personally. I really do."

....

Immediately after Bush finished his speech from Jackson Square in New Orleans, at about 8:26pm local CDT, Ted Koppel, anchor of ABC's hour-long coverage, went to Dean Reynolds who was outside in a parking lot with a group of black people from New Orleans who are living at the Reliant Center next to the Astrodome.

(No names were provided on-screen for those interviewed, so I only have first names for two, and no name for one, of the six.)

Reynolds elicited reaction from the group sitting in chairs: "I'd like to get the reaction of Connie London who spent several horrible hours at the Superdome. You heard the President say retpeaedly that you are not alone, that the country stands beside you. Do you believe him?" Connie London: "Yeah, I believe him, because here in Texas, they have truly been good to us. I mean-" Reynolds: "Did you get a sense of hope that you could return to your home one day in New Orleans?" London: "Yes, I did. I did." Reynolds: "Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response?" London: "No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in. They should have been on their jobs." Reynolds: "And they weren't?" London: "No, no, no, no. Lord, they wasn't. I mean, they had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people." Reynolds: "Now, Mary, you were rescued from your house which was basically submerged in your neighborhood. Did you hear something in the President's words that you could glean some hope from?" Mary: "Yes. He said we're coming back, and I believe we're coming back. He's going to build the city up. I believe that." Reynolds: "You believe you'll be able to return to your home?" Mary: "Yes, I do." Reynolds: "Why?" Mary: "Because I really believe what he said. I believe. I got faith." Reynolds: "Back here in the corner, we've got Brenda Marshall, right?" Brenda Marshall: "Yes." Reynolds: "Now, Brenda, you were, spent, what, several days at the Superdome, correct?" Marshall: "Yes, I did." Reynolds: "What did you think of what the President told you tonight?" Marshall: "Well, I think -- I think the speech was wonderful, you know, him specifying that we will return back and that we will have like mobile homes, you know, rent or whatever. I was listening to that pretty good. But I think it was a well fine speech." Reynolds: "Was there any particular part of it that stood out in your mind? I mean, I saw you all nod when he said the Crescent City is going to come back one day." Marshall: "Well, I think I was more excited about what he said. That's probably why I nodded." Reynolds: "Was there anything that you found hard to believe that he said, that you thought, well, that's nice rhetoric, but, you know, the proof is in the pudding?" Marshall: "No, I didn't." Reynolds: "Good. Well, very little skepticism here. Frederick Gould, did you hear something that you could hang on to tonight from the President?" Frederick Gould: "Well, I just know, you know, he said good things to me, you know, what he said, you know. I was just trying to listen to everything they were saying, you know." Reynolds: "And Cecilia, did you feel that the President was sincere tonight?" Cecilia: "Yes, he was." Reynolds: "Do you think this is a little too late, or do you think he's got a handle on the situation?" Cecilia: "To me it was a little too late. It was too late, but he should have did something more about it." Reynolds: "Now do you all believe that you will one day return to your homes?" Voices: "Yes" and "I do." Reynolds: "I mean, do you all want to return to your homes? We're hearing some people don't even want to go back." Mary: "I want to go back." Reynolds: "You want to go back." Mary: "I want to go back. That's my home. That's all I know." Reynolds: "Is it your home for your whole life?" Mary: "Right. That's my home." Reynolds: "And do you expect to go back to the house or a brand new dwelling or what?" Mary: "I expect to go back to something. I know it ain't my house, because it's gone." Reynolds: "What is the one mistake that could have been prevented that would have made your lives much better? Is it simply getting all of you out much sooner or what was it?" Mary: "I'm going to tell you the truth. I had the opportunity to get out, but I didn't believe it. So I stayed there till it was too late." Reynolds: "Did you all have the same feeling? I mean, did you all have the opportunity to get out, but you were skeptical that this was the really bad one?" Unnamed woman: "No, I got out when they said evacuate. I got out that Sunday and I left before the storm came. But I know they could have did better than what they did because like they said, buses were just sitting there, and they could have came through there and got people out, because they were saying immediate evacuation. Some people didn't believe it. But they should have brung the force of the army through to help these people and make them understand it really was coming." London: "And really it wasn't Hurricane Katrina that really tore up the city. It was when they opened the floodgates. It was not the hurricane itself. It was the floodgates, when they opened the floodgates, that's where all the water came." Reynolds: "Do you blame anybody for this?" London: "Yes. I mean, they've been allocated federal funds to fix the levee system, and it never got done. I fault the mayor of our city personally. I really do." Reynolds: "All right. Well, thank you all very much. I wish you all the best of luck. I hope you don't have to spend too much more time here in the Reliant Center and you can get back to New Orleans as the President said. Ted, that is the word from the Houston Astrodome. And as I said, when the President said that the Crescent City will rise again, there were nods all around this parking lot."

Yea, I am sure those interviewed were randomly picked and Reynolds was really trying to get people to say something bad about Bush.

revel wrote:

Yea, I am sure those interviewed were randomly picked and Reynolds was really trying to get people to say something bad about Bush.

Its obvious you didnt watch the piece.
ABC picked the people to interview,and Reynolds was trying to lead the interviewees with his questions.

If you had watched it you would have known that.