Posted on 08/14/2004 3:26:38 AM PDT by Conservative_boy_in_Bangkok
By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Once Hurricane Charley is gone from Florida, it's a safe bet President Bush (news - web sites) will sweep in. Natural calamities present political opportunity, and many crucial electoral votes are in the path of Charley's howling winds. Bush swiftly issued a disaster declaration to expedite federal aid as Charley tore into the Florida Gulf Coast on Friday. He was acting on a request that had come from his brother Jeb, the governor, even before the ferocious storm made landfall. The president was expected to visit the area in the aftermath.
Officials are loath to ascribe campaign motives to emergency response, but politics infuses everything this close to an election. No more so than in the state that handed Bush the presidency.
"This provides both opportunities and real dangers for the president," said Dario Moreno, a Florida International University political scientist who was safe from the storm in Miami.
Presidents are measured by the aid and sympathy that follow a big hit from nature, and Moreno said Bush stands to gain as long as he treats the emergency as more than a chance to roll up his sleeves and clear a bit of rubble for the cameras.
"If he looks like he's doing this for a photo opportunity, it's going to backfire on him," he said. "He has to make sure FEMA and the emergency aid responders are working around the clock and without a hitch."
The hurricane bore down not only on the scene-stealing state of the last election, but one of the most politically dynamic parts of it — the western and central counties where both parties are in heated competition for the tens of thousands of non-Cuban Hispanics who have moved there since 2000. Florida offers 27 electoral votes...
(Excerpt) Read more at presstelegram.com ...
A nuclear weapon could not have caused more initial physical damage than what I saw, yet add to that fire and radiation....geesh...not a hope in hell.
It's every man for themself.
Fox News is reporting that hundreds are missing. OMG - I had no idea it was this bad. Prayers continuing.
Me Too!
They do have spell check. Before you post look to the left. A new feature.
Sorry, not for posting articles. They should though.
Jim Robinson, can we get a spell checker for when we post articles?
see post 1
BUSH ORDERS HURRICANE CHARLEY INTO SOUTH FLORIDA TO TAKE POLITICAL ADVANTAGE OF KERRY!
Oh ... well ... There's always tomorrow
First of all, thanks for the prayers. I am in North Central Florida and we are doing OK here, but there are reports on Orlandosentinel.com that hundreds are missing, hopefully they will be accounted for. In the Orlando area, they are saying 170,000 people are without power but I haven't seen any reports of fatalities in that area.
The worst area was Punta Gorda and they still are getting reports in from that area. Orlando was under a curfew last night until 6 am today to prevent injuries from all the damage and to prevent looting of damaged homes and businesses.
Ir regards to Bush using this opportunity, I would like to ask Conservative Boy, are you saying he should not go and try to get started on help for these disaster areas?
One can always cut and paste their proposed contribution in a document that supports spell checking (Word, for instance), make those corrections on the document, then cut and paste back into the body of your message.
Bit of a pain, but if spelling REALLY bothers you...
How about it AP cough up or shut up. You like to criticize, now you can help.
I would like to see a spell check for posting. I have posted and have seen many breaking stories with gross spelling errors. It would help.
Sorry, that post was not very clear- the reports from the orlandosentinel were of hundreds of people missing statewide, not in Orlando area alone. Mainly I think they mean the West coast. Also,if you were planning to go there, they said this morning on the news that the Orlando theme parks plan to be open today as usual. They say they had 500 engineers monitoring the situation all night for the Disney parks. No reports of any major damage to the parks, mainly just clean-up according to the spokesperson on WESH-TV this morning.
The President is not going there for photos ops. He would never do something THAT cheesy. But you can be he'll open the federal treasury to help out the folks in Florida. They'll repay him with gratitude in November.
Actually, I was a lunch lady for seven years but I was not the person doing the food prep, I was a lunchroom monitor trying to make sure everyone left the lunchroom alive. You would not believe what some kids will do with food!! Our school had 970 kids and it was a real challenge to get them all in and out of the lunchroom on time. We had to get over 300 kids an hour in and out. The school was only built for 650 so we were way overcrowded.
No doubt this will help the president not becaus he's trying to be sneaky or whatever but it will help because he's doing the right thing by helping people, and ya have to respect that. His motives are pure, its the liberal media that is already trying to smear things.
And that was the downfall of GWs Fathers election. If GHW Bush had got off his high horse and personally saw to it that things got done faster down there after Andrew, he might have won that election.
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