Posted on 09/01/2005 9:33:54 PM PDT by PhilipFreneau
Tonight on Nightline, during an inteview with the FEMA director, Ted Koppel demanded to know why the Bush Administration did not send fleets of buses into New Orleans to evacuate those too poor to evacuate themselves -- PRIOR TO KATRINA HITTING NEW ORLEANS.
For previous hurricanes the Federal Government did not participate in evacuations, only in clean up and recovery. That did not seem to matter much to Koppel since he obviously knew that Mike Brown was too much of a gentleman to smack him for attempting to deceived the American people.
However, Koppel does have a point, in a way. The Bush Administration should have known the Louisiana and New Orleans governments would be too incompetent to do anything right, and should have planned for it.
It is obscene.
O'Reilly was talking to an officer in the LA National Guard and asked him how many of the guard were initially called up, the answer was 2000, for millions of people..the governor calls up the National Guard, Blanco screwed up royally
Yeah, those bastards, stealing food and diapers! They should just do us all a favor and drown. I'm sure most of them could swim or float to safety - hell, if they'd have started wading/walking when the storm ended, they'd have made it to Baton Rouge by now.
Oh, there's no question, the people who were stealing non-necessities are thugs and fools and should be charged if caught. But stealing food to survive? Knock yourselves out, I say - gonna go bad anyway.
and expect "the government" to do everything for them.
I think you'll find that the overwhelming majority of the poor souls stranded in NOLA right now are decent, law-abiding people who haven't stolen a single pair of shoes or television. and cannot - literally cannot - do anything to help themselves right now. They're in a city that is broken, where the infrastructure is GONE. Do you understand that, man? There IS no corner grocery. The Walgreens is GONE. No job to go to, no banks open, no nothing.
My Charity will go to those who truly deserve it. And since you don't know me, or what I have contributed over my lifetime, you are in no position to pass judgement.
Let me be crystal clear. I don't give a damn who you are, or what you've contributed over your lifetime. Your attitude as displayed here sucks. I AM passing judgment on what you've written here, which strikes me as callous. You could be a saint in real life, but you're saying some pretty heartless stuff here.
SW
Well, what we know is that Clinton, in the same position, wouldn't be scapegoated by the media, Troll.
They should have sent for Cindy Sheehan!!!
What a joke. Has the country gone insane??
Stealing food and diapers, yea right. I never saw ONE piece of footage showing anyone stealing food and diapers.
NOBODY is starving there yet. Save the liberal drama for a few weeks.
Once again, the media has it all wrong.
Clearly, the reason that Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and caused this massive devastation was that Bush was on a working vacation in August in Texas, just as clearly as that is why 9/11 happened.
Even more clearly, the American people can no longer tolerate its president taking vacations.
However, Koppel does have a point, in a way. The Bush Administration should have known the Louisiana and New Orleans governments would be too incompetent to do anything right, and should have planned for it."
You call Koppel a weasel and then do the same thing.
Come to think of it, Ted, how many other hurricanes can you recall where the President of the United States interrupted his vacation to tell people to flee?
Any?
And how many other hurricanes can you recall where the President of the United States declared disaster areas *before the disaster happened* in order to expidite relief supplies?
Any?
But, no, those are good enough actions. Bush should have stolen the nearest bus (probably full of protesters) and drove it into the French Quarter and demanded all the homeless get out now. And then the liberals would have criticized Bush for incting a panic.
Hey Ted! How many busses does the Federal Government own that are anywhere NEAR NOLA so that they could have assisted in the evac (please don't forget about the coastal regions of Mississippi and Alabama).
I guess the president should have nationaliszed all buses in those sates (and all surrounding ones) and had the NG drive them down and FORCIBLY remove these people from those areas - yeah Ted - you would have LOVED covering THAT wouldn't you!!
Try watching some more. I've seen dozens of people hauling off food, diapers, water, juice, soda - whatever foodstuffs they could get their hands on. Lots of news reports of people doing same. People interviewed who stole food because they hadn't eaten in days.
Last I knew, Safeway, Walgreens and Publix don't do a lot of business in Nikes and Louis Vuitton. Now, I'm just guessing, but most of what's gone from those stores is - wait for it - FOOD.
SW
Arm chair quarterback. Say no more.
Hide your heads in the sand. This Bush/FEMA support was a complete disaster. Complete non response. Worthless.
Read the reports. See it for yourself. Forget obnoxious Koppel, forget all this Rush Limbaugh nauseauting bashing of liberals / environwhackjobs. Forget all that. The FEMA director is a worthless nazel gazing Washington insider bureaucratic goof. Just look at the mess.
The facts are BUSH/FEMA are the go to people when the major fails, the governor fails and all else has failed. They have done way too little, way too late.
The hurricane's devastation will haunt officials for years. Wait for the analysis.
IMHO, it hasn't been handled accordingly. Soon enough. Because Homeland Security and FEMA aren't connected enough.
Kneejerk perhaps. We'll see. I think we need more emphasis on the domestic front because the U.S. is vulnerable in multiple ways.
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