Posted on 09/03/2005 5:12:38 AM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Wexler: Bush Administration's Response to Hurricane Katrina a Disgrace
(Washington, D.C.) - Today, Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) issued the following statement from the floor of the House of Representatives in response to President George Bush's failed handling in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
Mr. Speaker:
Like all Americans, my heart goes out to the millions of people displaced and suffering from one of the largest national catastrophe in our nation's history. I hope all the victims of Hurricane Katrina know that our prayers are with them in this most difficult hour. I strongly support today's initial aid package to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
However, the Administration's response to this catastrophe is nothing short of a national disgrace. How is it possible that the Administration did not realize earlier what a catastrophe this is? There is a 90,000 square-mile footprint of disaster; and yet, last night FEMA's director Michael Brown admitted that the Administration had no idea exactly how bad the situation was. Even worse, he had previously characterized the security situation in New Orleans as "pretty darn good" and stopped just short of blaming the residents of New Orleans themselves for not evacuating.
The Bush Administration failed the American people in advance of the hurricane by cutting critical funding in spite of pleas by the Army Corps of Engineers -- money that would have been used to reinforce the very levees that broke and flooded New Orleans. We had plenty of money to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans but none to save the poorest Americans with an ounce of prevention.
And in terms of the response to the disaster itself, what we have seen there is unquestionably too little too late. While the President today said the relief efforts so far were "not acceptable," how can he possibly be surprised by this deplorable response? How can he say that the flooding wasn't anticipated? Quite to the contrary, it was expected. It was predicted. What is not acceptable is the President's response.
One year ago we had the opportunity to learn from the disasters in Florida. Floridians experienced the consequences of FEMA's failure to deliver aid to communities who needed it the most. We saw the most vulnerable in our society - the elderly and the poor - being left out or overlooked. Last year we had the opportunity to prevent this from happening again. At that time, I called for the resignation of FEMA head, Michael Brown because of his grievous mismanagement. The President did not heed that call, nor did he see fit to make any substantial changes in FEMA.
Last year, when the President's election was in question, his response to the hurricanes in the swing state of Florida was tremendously fast -- even passing out ice in the immediate aftermath. Where was he in the immediate aftermath for Gulf coast? Where were the trucks of food? Where were the water buffalo? Where were the tents of aid that are just now being established? The President and Congress dropped everything and flew back to Washington on Palm Sunday to intervene on behalf of Terri Schiavo. Why did the President delay so long for an entire American city in crisis? These are desperate people who need food, water, shelter and safety, not a photo op - which even itself comes 5 days late. Every asset of the American military in this hemisphere should have been devoted to America's humanitarian crisis starting on Monday at 5 PM.
I was in Aceh in Indonesia last month. I saw first-hand the greatness of the American aid efforts. Our response in the aftermath of the tsunami was one of America's finest hours. I was extremely proud as an American to see all the work our country had done to stave off famine and disease. Our aircraft carrier was off the Aceh coast within two days. If we can do that thousands of miles away in Indonesia, why not New Orleans? If we had even just met that same standard, help would have been in New Orleans on Wednesday. It should have been self-evident on Monday that now is the time to use our strength for the benefit of our own people.
Hurricane Katrina is another tragic wakeup call for America. After the immediate crisis has passed, we must create a national disaster fund. We must restructure FEMA. And, we must do more than talk about disaster preparedness. We must do everything possible to ensure that we are fully prepared for a national disaster and the possibility of a terrorist attack.
Congressman Wexler is a senior member of the House International Relations Committee and is a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
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Lale M. Mamaux Communications Director Office of Congressman Robert Wexler 213 Cannon House Office Building (202) 225- 3001 lale.mamaux@mail.house.gov
The nonsense and deception spewed by the media and lying Rat politicians continues to erode any credibility of said, but the damage doesn't really stop there, it does reflect on our Nation as a whole, it does undermine the honest and credible amongst us. It breeds more of the same, Can we honestly say that truth and common sense are thriving in America, or rather, has deception and nonsense become more prevalent in our everyday lives and does it affect us?
The Mayor and NO and the GOV, of LA are glaring examples of how incompetence empowered through deception and nonsense affects us all.
We have become captives of BS and more BS, because we continue to go down a road of Placating, Patronizing and PCing America into idiocy and doom, will it ever stop in time...
I like that "Black Ruckus"-- it's very apt.
Remember this. . .everything the Dums are doing is exceedingly SHORT-SIGHTED because they have no plan, no ideas and TRUTH is not on their side. This is the Dums summer of hell going from "Bush commited treason by having Valerie Plume outted" to "Bush had Mother Sheehan's son murdered" and now, "Bush has failed to stop Katrina." IT AIN'T WORKING!!!
Look, people not having their bottle water and sandwiches for a couple of days is not going to translate into a political movement that will topple Bush or his coming successor. And whereas, Jesus had the power to calm the winds and waves, when I last checked, he wasn't planning to run in 08.
The worst is behind, from now the recovery begins. . .in a couple of weeks the bad period immediately after Katrina hit will be long forgotten as people, money and machine get to work rebuilding. The Dums will move on to the next failed travesty.
Romney filled in for a talk-show host for an hour yesterday. Babbled on about how long it took for relief. Never mentioned that Bush was the one who strong-armed Nagin into calling for any evacuation at all or that Bush took the initiative by declaring a state of emergency well before the storm even hit. And like most commentators, he never pointed out that this was a one-two punch: the hurricane seemed to have spared NO the worst. It was only on Tuesday that the levee breached, and IIRC it was hours before anyone realized how serious that would be.
And people think Romney has a serious chance of the Republican nomination???
Get off your highhorse! I'm not perpetuating any LIE. I'm just saying, it doesn't matter whose fault it is, America had the resources to have prevented it! The MSM/dem will do everything in their power to blame this on Bush and those pics of ppl sufering down in NO are going to make everybody, state, local, feds, Bush look irresponsible.
The STATE and LOCAL officials down in NO were totally inept and the results are evident, but that is reality and were talking "perception" that can stick here if someone doesn't make it painfully clear what the reality truly is and that's NOT going to be the MSM/dems.
The "disgrace" applies to Wexler et al who are politicising the national disaster.
Actually his home is NO. I would say that if anyone had wanted to be ay ground zero immediately after the storm it would have been him, but then there was Da Mayor and her highness the Gov. standing in the way.
What about the prissy mayor of NO. He could have evacuated his people.
Move out to the country, hord fuel supplies and weapons, and just watch and wait for the comming meltdown of the cities.
The further away from people the better. These Moronic Democrat moonbats and MSM are destroying this country.
But on the upside, it shows that their marxist communist craddle to grave government care system JUST DOES NOT WORK, as evidenced by NO. All the self reliant people got out, all those waiting for "the Gubbermint" or "they's" to do everything for them, including spoon feeding them are standing in their own crap.
It all boils down to one thing, and that is Nagin didn't get those people out with the equipment he had at his disposal.
He didn't stock up food and water, establish distribution centres, and maintain law and order. It's too late AFTER the disaster hits.
If it wasn't for Bush declaring NO a disaster area BEFORE the storm hit, They still wouldn't be there yet.
Fox has just reported someone calling in that a Batallion of USMC from LeJeune are on their way to NO.
Well, Hoorah and kick a$$.
"What about the prissy mayor of NO. He could have evacuated his people."
He did. He put his family on a plane Fri night/Sat morning. The tourists he got out a day or so ago.
Because they have become so use to the government doing the walking for them.
1. want to ban military recruiters from public schools
2. continually vilify the man who now commands the military.
Now Wexler is making a case that those military people who somehow failed to escape the nasty recruiters are the salt of the earth and a suddenly necessary instrument for good, rather than merely the duped lackeys of an imperialist, military/indust... oh, you know the rest. It was lame then, and doubly lame now.
Adding to that hypocrisy, Wexler has come to ascribe to the aforementioned commander - a man who Wexlerites have universally described as too dumb to walk and chew gum simultaneously - incompetence (if not maliciousness) for not using what can only be described as previously-unremarked supernatural powers of prescience.
Wexler isn't just a pantload, he's two pantloads and a matching vest.
Wait a minute. The democratic governor is holding his breath on allowing help in.
Wexler is right. Bush should have realised that the Dem Governor and Dem Mayor were too incompetant to handle anything.
A few days ago.
'Rumor has it' he clicked the popup ad on Drudge for the University of Phoenix - his 'Degrees' came priority mail :-)
Ok great, I hope your right. I just see the disaster down there, in a DEMOCRAT controlled bastion, looking worse than Buriut in the 70's! I want desperately to believe that the MSM/dems are done and this definately shows me they are a complete disaster in everything they touch after this debacle in NO.
They haven't been able to touch Bush so far with perception, I just think this might have a little more bite to it than the other schemes they've perpetuated.
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