How Bush Blew It

[Tgace]

So If I were to just post the articles from the blog directly from the source, then you would believe it?

Sheesh
Ugh
Blech

 

[heretic888]

So If I were to just post the articles from the blog directly from the source, then you would believe it?

Tgace, dude, buddy, bro, snoogans...

At no point did I ever say I believed anything about the blog one way or another. I merely suggested, yet again, that a skeptical attitude of such sources might be prudent.

I mean, seriously, this really isn't that big of a deal. :lookie:

Laterz.

 

[7starmantis]

The President is living the life of an untreated alcoholic. Blame everything on someone else. It's never his fault. Senior Advisors can't tell him what is going on, because of his reactions.

I think there are very few former Presidents that have been so isolated from reality.

Wow, this blame game is complicated...let me try.

The president, "W" is living the life of an untreated alcoholic by blaming everything on someone else, yet his advisors blame him for their own withholding of information?

Truly, this blame game is dizzying.

7sm

 

[BlueDragon1981]

He was elected that is where the American Public blew it.

We have to find better leaders and people that actually care about the country than their own status. The disaster could have been better handled. People were not ready when they knew it was coming. I agree that people should have moved out of the way and left but pride for ones belongings can be very hard to move away from. People should not complain that it happened because it was an act of nature and they were warned but the slow response and handling or lack of handling of the situation I can see a reason for people to be upset.

The reason we are in Iraq is to finish Bush Sr problem. Now don't lie about it just tell the truth. Don't give a reason that you know is bogus. Did they learn from that. NO. They are now passing blame and trying to wiggle their way out of the very poor response to a hurricane they knew was coming. FEMA and the state governments should be able to get out of this either. New Orleans is below sea level you had to have known something was going to happen to it. I know measure could have been taken before the hurricane that were not taken.

 

[michaeledward]

Wow, this blame game is complicated...let me try.

The president, "W" is living the life of an untreated alcoholic by blaming everything on someone else, yet his advisors blame him for their own withholding of information?

Truly, this blame game is dizzying.

7sm

Spoken like someone with no understanding of alcoholism.

The President is living the life of an untreated alcoholic.
Because of this, he blames everything on someone, or something else.
I don't believe his advisors blame him (the President) for anything. They are reluctant to be candid with him.

Please be assured, I do not 'blame' the President for being an untreated alcoholic. As an alcoholic myself, I understand the nature of the condition. I know that he is not to blame for this illness. If, however, he wants to get treatment, instead of just sober, I can certainly point him to a few facilities.

 

[7starmantis]

Your response is candid for sure, but leaves things to be desired in a response. Your shifting the focus. You just said his advisors can't tell him whats going on because of his reactions. Um...its ok for them to pass blame for their falures I guess.

7sm

 

[michaeledward]

Your response is candid for sure, but leaves things to be desired in a response. Your shifting the focus. You just said his advisors can't tell him whats going on because of his reactions. Um...its ok for them to pass blame for their falures I guess.

7sm

The advisors are not passing blame to anyone.

The advisors are not taking responsibility. It is their job to inform the President of what is going on around the adminstration, and around the country.

Of course, this just belies the Presidents repeated statements that he gets 'Good Information'; related to Karl Rove/Valerie Plame, related to weapons of mass destruction, related to global climate change, related to No Child Left Behind, related to opening ANWAR, related to tax policies.

If the people serving the President can not be candid with him (as widely reported this past week) (exception granted to Mr. Rove and Ms. Hughes), our Administrative leadership is beginning to look an awful lot like Lady Justice. You know, blindfolded. And isn't that just what we need to lead the country, eh?

 

[7starmantis]

It just amazes me the length of the efforts to blame stuff on the President. People are blaming him for local response not being fast enough in New Orleans and now he is to blame for not receiving information like and when he should. I dont try to keep blame off of Bush, but I'm not going to try and place it all one him either...thats asinine. If you think one person can hold the blame for everything that went on during and after Katrina your wrong.

It seems the more I hear about Bush "blowing it" the thinner and less asociated with New Orleans the attacks become.

7sm

 

[Tgace]

Im all for assigning responsibility where its due. IMO the thing the president should have done was show up personally much sooner. 99% of leadership is just showing up and being seen. On the other hand, when the president does show up at places it sucks up a lot of resources, security, transportation etc. I have worked presidential security details on the local LE level so I know that. So I can see perhaps using that as a rationale. However he should of at least had a national address televised. I would have thought that the presidents handlers would have had a better look out for his image at this point in time.

However like 7SM, I think the whole "How Bush Blew it" thing is just a partisan bash fest rather than any real attempt to lay blame where it really belongs.

 

[kelly keltner]

No, really, it wouldn't.

None of the Presidents senior advisors wanted to bring 'bad news' to the President because, he reportedly behaves badly. So, in order to properly prepare the President for what he was going to see when he arrived in New Orleans, a senior aide made a DVD copy of the Nightly Newcasts so the President could review them while he was enroute to New Orleans on Airforce 1.

The President is living the life of an untreated alcoholic. Blame everything on someone else. It's never his fault. Senior Advisors can't tell him what is going on, because of his reactions.

I think there are very few former Presidents that have been so isolated from reality.

Sure it would bottom line is there allways be something that can be done better. Sometimes people drop the ball so to speak and it is a huge improvement that needs to be strived for. Sometimes things go relatively smooth and minor tweaks to the system are called for.
As far as the MSNBC article goes, come on the spin is in.

kell

 

[michaeledward]

Sure it would bottom line is there allways be something that can be done better. Sometimes people drop the ball so to speak and it is a huge improvement that needs to be strived for. Sometimes things go relatively smooth and minor tweaks to the system are called for.
As far as the MSNBC article goes, come on the spin is in.

kell

For the record, it is an article from 'Newsweek', the Magazine, not MSNBC.

Now, I realize someone who holds a bias against MSNBC is likely to hold the same bias against Newsweek Magazine. Quite possibly, a person who has such a bias is unlikely to view the news report objectively.

 

[kelly keltner]

Objectivity has nothing to do with it. I would treat the story with the same mentality if it came from FOX news. It has to do with the way that the story is written, not the news service it comes from. The spin is still in.
NEXT

Kelly

 

[michaeledward]

So, then, unspin it.

Give us an example of the President listening to and evaluating something that goes against the policies he has chosen. Demonstrate where the article is wrong or incorrect. Show us senior advisors boldly bringing bad news to the White House and the President acting in a thoughtful way on that bad news.

You know, something like Karl Rove telling the President, 'I leaked the name of a CIA operative'. From which the President says something like, 'I told the citizens I would get rid of anyone who leaked information. Karl, you have to go'.

Go ahead. Should be simple.

 

[kelly keltner]

So, then, unspin it.

Give us an example of the President listening to and evaluating something that goes against the policies he has chosen. Demonstrate where the article is wrong or incorrect. Show us senior advisors boldly bringing bad news to the White House and the President acting in a thoughtful way on that bad news.

You know, something like Karl Rove telling the President, 'I leaked the name of a CIA operative'. From which the President says something like, 'I told the citizens I would get rid of anyone who leaked information. Karl, you have to go'.

Go ahead. Should be simple.

My, My, My
Aren't we in a mood this evening. Why don't you give the name of the white house staff who is making these claims. I don't think the article mentions many names. Making mountains out of molehills ain't that grand.
One other thing don't give me a load of garbage because I don't like the way the article's written. A little more substance and a lot less of the anonymous would go a long way in my opinion of this article. Don't give me this where I have to show you senior advisors boldly bringing garbage. That fact is that the article is poorly written at best and constantly defending it is a futile effort. More substance less fluff.
Next

Kelly

 

[JAMJTX]

The stories of a "lag" in response time are just that, manufactured by the left-wing press and the DNC.

The response to Katrina was actually quicker than to Hugo and Andrew.

People are under the mistaken impression that the Preisdent alone is responsible for this kind of disaster relief. That is dead wrong.

The city of New Orleans had the responsibility of evacuating it's residence before the storm. They Democrat Mayor refused to do that.

The state had the responsibility to mobilize an evacuation effort when the city refused to do so. They failed to act. The state had the responsibility to activate the National Guard and start the first stage of rescue and recovery. They failed.

The President can declare the area a "disaster area" only after assessing the damage - not before. Which is what he did. It is then up to congress to come up with money, as only Congress can spend money. Congress was slow to return from thier vacations to vote on the appropriations. I don't know why the Republicans were slow to get back, but the Democrats were too slow in getting the relief efforts on the way because they were too busy taking photo ops, blaming the disaster on Bush and compiling hurricane footage for thier campaign fund raising commercials which were on the air before they even voted on the appropriations.

Mike Brown of FEMA was clearly in over his head, but just about everyone else would have been to. There is no one around that had the experience in this kind of recovery as it never happened any where before. but clearly Brown was the wrong man for the job.

Brown and his people were making some headway and they were no where near as slow as the media is telling. They lie to create more interesting stories and pursue thier political agenda. It is a known fact that CNN was looking only for the saddest stories, working to ensure that only the worst case scenarios were shown and the producers were coaching "victims" on how to express more anger.

The media wants you to believe that the response was slow because President Bush was "on vacation". That is just stupid. The Preisident of the United States is NEVER on vacation. The Presidency is a 24/7 job. No matter where he goes he has staff, computers, communication equipment and always ready to take off on a moments notice. There was absolutely nothing he could do unitil after the storm passed and it was safe to fly over the area - which he did on his way back to the White House. It would have been stupid to fly Air Force 1 from TX to D.C. then back to NOLA which he would have flown over any way on his way back to D.C from TX. So they did the smart thing - they waited until the storm passed then flew over on the way back to D.C.

I know some people who are down in NOLA now working security details. The biggest hamper to the rescue effort was the lawlessness and the shooting at recovery workers. As the water was pouring in through the levee, the workers trying to repair the levee were shot at. How can you expect anyone to work under those conditions?

The democrats were screaming about 25,000 dead bodies. There's about 400 so far and will be no where near 25,000. Another exxageration.

Not to mention that there were other areas affected besides NOLA.

What we have now is just the monday moring quarterbacks telling us what they would have done to win the big game if they were in charge. But (thankfully) these kind of idiots do not often get to be in charge. If Ted Kennedy were President he would be too drunk to know what to do. If John Kerry were President he'd be asking his wife what she thinks he should do.
If Al Gore were President his first call would have been to Occidental Petroleum to see if they had any refineries in the area and if they needed any help.

Here's another fine example of democrat pitching in to help.
This is rich, black man who commandeered NG troops from the rescue effort, under false pretenses, leaving poor blacks to drown in the flood, while the troops took him to make sure his house was secured: http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1123495&page=1

Then you hollywood leftists like Geralso Rivera shoving resue workers out of the way so he can get his picture taken as he pretends to rescue someone.
Then there's Sean Penn and his personal photographer showing up for phot ops as he pretends to rescue people because "Bush wouldn't". unfortunately his boat sank before he could get the photo. The story in the left-wing media was that Penn spent 9 hours resuing people and only saw 3 government boats. What jackbutt! Penn later showed up wondering the streets of NO with a shotgun trying to pretend to be restoring law and order. These are the types of bozos and chowderheads that are no criticing the President and NG troops who have done a tremendous amount of extremely diificult work in an astonshishingly short amount of time.

If yu want to talk about "blowing it". Start talking about the democrats at the state and local level who had the opportunity to avoid most of the catastrphe but refused to act.

 

[michaeledward]

My, My, My
Aren't we in a mood this evening. Why don't you give the name of the white house staff who is making these claims. I don't think the article mentions many names. Making mountains out of molehills ain't that grand.
One other thing don't give me a load of garbage because I don't like the way the article's written. A little more substance and a lot less of the anonymous would go a long way in my opinion of this article. Don't give me this where I have to show you senior advisors boldly bringing garbage. That fact is that the article is poorly written at best and constantly defending it is a futile effort. More substance less fluff.
Next

Kelly

Well, Let's see ... President's Top Aides as named in the article:

• Chief of Staff - Andrew Card
• Deputy Chief of Staff - Joe Hagin
• Counselor - Dan Bartlett
• Spokesman - Scott McClellan

That seems pretty substantial to me.

You are making bold claims about Evan Thomas as if you don't even know who he is. Turn off your radio.

The only thing full of 'fluff' around here are your posts.

 

[MisterMike]

If yu want to talk about "blowing it". Start talking about the democrats at the state and local level who had the opportunity to avoid most of the catastrphe but refused to act.

Good luck. That would mean they would have to point the finger at themselves.

 

[michaeledward]

Good luck. That would mean they would have to point the finger at themselves.

And when power, telephone and wireless failed ... how exactly do you propose Mayor Nagin reach the next level of assistance? Smoke Signals?

Also, look to the latest reports that show Governor Blanco took all appropriate steps in requesting Federal aid ... and when that was completed.

 

[7starmantis]

And when power, telephone and wireless failed ... how exactly do you propose Mayor Nagin reach the next level of assistance? Smoke Signals?

Also, look to the latest reports that show Governor Blanco took all appropriate steps in requesting Federal aid ... and when that was completed.

You dont seriously think that city, state, and federal communication is reliant on public electric companies and public phone service, do you?

What latest reports would that be?

7sm

 

[michaeledward]

You dont seriously think that city, state, and federal communication is reliant on public electric companies and public phone service, do you?

What I seriously think is not at issue. Reports have been issued that indicate no contingency for complete failure of the telecommunications networks were in place. If you have any factual information to demonstrate otherwise, I'm listening ....

What latest reports would that be?

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/news/releases.html

Please review the release data 9/13/2005 from the Congressional Research Service.

"...it would appear that the Governor did take the steps necessary to request emergency and major disaster declarations for the State of Louisiana in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina. (p.11)" The report found that:


All necessary conditions for federal relief were met on August 28. Pursuant to Section 502 of the Stafford Act, "[t]he declaration of an emergency by the President makes Federal emergency assistance available," and the President made such a declaration on August 28. The public record indicates that several additional days passed before such assistance was actually made available to the State;



The Governor must make a timely request for such assistance, which meets the requirements of federal law. The report states that "[e]xcept to the extent that an emergency involves primarily Federal interests, both declarations of major disaster and declarations of emergency must be triggered by a request to the President from the Governor of the affected state";



The Governor did indeed make such a request, which was both timely and in compliance with federal law. The report finds that "Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco requested by letter dated August 27, 2005...that the President declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period from August 26, 2005 and continuing pursuant to [applicable Federal statute]" and "Governor Blanco's August 27, 2005 request for an emergency declaration also included her determination...that `the incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of disaster."