Posted on 08/15/2004 6:17:47 PM PDT by wagglebee
After Hurricane Andrew left thousands homeless in August 1992, the first President Bush's administration was roundly criticized for moving too slowly to deliver food, water and troops.
The son apparently did not want to repeat history. Even before Hurricane Charley struck, the second Bush White House was poised to act. Hours after Hurricane Charley made landfall, federal aid was flowing.
As emergency crews and National Guard troops swooped in to help residents across the state, Floridians were showered with promises, assurances and lists of toll-free numbers they could call for help, according to a story in the LA Times.
"While this is a day of complete devastation and real tragedy, and there's a lot of sadness in people's hearts right now, I'm absolutely convinced that, in a shorter period of time than we experienced in Hurricane Andrew, people's hopes will be lifted," Gov. Bush said.
The state's lieutenant governor, Toni Jennings, a Republican and a former state senator from Orlando, addressed reporters in her hometown. "We were better prepared than we've ever been before," she said.
Although Andrew was at the time the largest natural disaster to hit the country, Hurricane Charley was in many ways more of a political challenge.
"This cut through a lot of good Republican turf, and then I-4 — that's a lot of swing voters," said David Johnson, a Florida GOP consultant and former executive director of the state party. "They have to respond properly. The only problem that can happen here is if it was said or suggested that FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] wasn't doing their job. That's not going to happen this time."
Early Saturday, as crews were still surveying damage, Gov. Bush told reporters that they might see a modern-day cavalry of sorts on nearby interstate highways.
"My guess is that if people were on I-75 right now, they would see a phalanx of trucks and military support," the governor said, promising that water, food, tents, electrical repair trucks and debris-removal teams were on the way.
Mean while hanoi john is off vacationing with his toys complaining about lack of enough wind.
Tomorrow Kerry will talk about how all the police had to be pulled from vital tasks to coordinate Bush's visit.
its more important what actually happens on the ground there - that the assistance given is done quickly and properly. if you want to help, donate to the salvation army and indicate that you want you contribution targetted to hurricane charlie relief. I did.
If politics is a factor than so be it.
Bush's response to 9/11: Too Slow (by 7 minutes)
Bush's response to Saddam Hussein: Too Fast
Bush's response to the Taliban: Too Fast, Then Too Slow, Then Too Fast, Then Too Slow.
Bush's response to Everything Else: Too Secretive, Too Black-And-White, Too Cowboyish, Too Religious, Too Bigoted, Too Out-Of Touch, Too Mean Spirited, Too American...
It totally disgusts me that the press is so willing to politicize such a horrendous natural disaster. It doesn't surprise me - just disgusts me.
Prayers continue for the people in Florida that have been so hurt.
Liberal LIE!
Please correct me if I am wrong, but a buddy at work was just discussing this issue. He said that the reason federal aid was late coming during hurricane andrew was that Lawton Chiles did not apply for it until late and Bush Sr. could not by law send aid until then. My fried saw this on a weather channel documentary recently.
Well, yeah. Chiles was governor of the state, refusing aid.
Absolutely right! It's not Bush's fault that Chiles did not follow federal procedures for disaster relief.
"No matter what he does, the leftist press is going to criticize Bush for his handling of this."
I'm surprised they didn't name this hurricane after Bush!
I remember (I think it was last year) the "storm namers" removed a scheduled storm name because it might offend the Arabs, I don't remember what the name was.
You are correct. The then gov of FLA was a Demoncrap and he deliberately waited to aks for Fed help so that the press could blame then Pres Bush 41 for the delay. Go figure, Demoncraps playing politics with people's tragedy.
he sure will..it's all GW's fault ya know that charley hit FL at all...GW should have gotten on a ship out in the ocean and held up his hand and told charley to stop.
Fatboy Moore is probably on his way to Florida with his moviecamera right now to start filming "Friday the 13th: Bush Creates Hurricane to Steal Florida Vote."
OK, sooo, why didn't Newsmax say so? They need to define the article, imho. ho-hum
Absolutely correct. We are a republic. It is inappropriate for the federal government to send in the national guard without a request from the state's governor.
Our local See-BS affiliate's story on Charlie tonight was nothing but a cheap collections of anti-Bush potshots. The people they interviews only talked about how President Bush's visit was "political" and they didn't care that he was there since he wasn't "helping them".
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