Bush still not to blame (Andrew Bolt)

Herald Sun ^ | 9th September 2005 | Andrew Bolt

[naturalman1975]

HOW silly of me to have given Bush-haters facts proving the American President wasn't to blame for the suffering after Hurricane Katrina.

Facts? Who wants them when there's this chance to vilify George W. Bush?

Take Jill Singer on this page yesterday. While she admits "there is merit in some of (my) arguments", that just shows I'm guilty of "callous rhetoric".

It seems that telling the truth is now bad manners.

Bugger, because I've since found further facts that show the isolated chaos of New Orleans was the fault of local officials, and not Bush at all. Jill will be cross.

As I noted this week, New Orleans is a poor and violent city that has been badly run by a largely black administration for years. Its mayor, Ray Nagin, delayed calling a mandatory evacuation of his flood-prone city until just 24 hours before Katrina hit, and only after Bush rang to urge him to get cracking.

Nor did Nagin use the city's buses to get out around 90,000 of the poorest or sickest residents. And the 50,000 who crammed into the city's Superdome and convention centre found little food and water there, and no chemical toilets -- all Nagin's responsibility.

Meanwhile the state's Democrat Governor refused at first to crack down on looters who were shooting at rescuers, and asked for a day to decide whether to accept Bush's offers of help.

Bad enough? Now we learn a third of Nagin's police have deserted, and he's sending the rest to Las Vegas and Atlanta for a five-day break, with expenses.

And remember all those victims in the Superdome, screaming for food and water? That suffering that proved Bush had failed?

The American Red Cross says it tried to bring in supplies to them soon after the hurricane hit, but was blocked by state officials.

It explained: "The (Louisiana) state Homeland Security Department had requested -- and continues to request -- that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane.

"Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."

Yes, that suffering you saw was deliberately caused by the Democrat state administration to starve the poor out of New Orleans. So explain to me again why Bush is to blame, Jill. And why it's mean to show the facts that say you're wrong.

[naturalman1975]

Bolt's piece from the other day:

Hurricane of Lies

[CO Gal]

Wow, I like this guy! Denver has about a dozen libs writing for our two local rags that I wouldn't mind trading for this guy. Thanks for posting!

[2banana]

It is Bush's fault because he could have done away with the tax cuts, signed Koyoto, personally driven the buses to the super-dome and gave out food to the homeless within 15 minutes of the hurricane being over...

[syriacus]

Very nice column. Thanks for posting it.

[msnimje]

He's sending the rest to Las Vegas and Atlanta for a five-day break, with expenses.

The more I think about this the more I think this is corruption in action. Why do they get to benefit from their failure to care for the people in their city? What's next, a raise for Nagin?

Did a single NYPD or NYFD officer get such a trip 9 days after 9/11? And even if it were offered, would any of them have accepted??

[Republican Red]

Australia can report on the Red Cross/State Homeland Security but not one US media outlet will report it.

I was hoping Drudge might have been waiting for a newspaper writeup to link to. So far it's only been blogs and transcripts to link to.

[cricket]

These Liberals will not be daunted by the presentation of facts; nor will the truth deter them from their goal to destroy President Bush.

But it is so good to see the truth coming their way. . .nonetheless.

[sharkhawk]

Of course Troll. I could just hear all you DUmmies getting your panties into a twist about BUSHCO sending in the military to kill blacks. In fact, even now some people are saying federal troops are there to wipe out the poor.

[Soul Seeker]

Good for him!

Hey Reps in Congress? Why is it an Aussie can defend Bush and you stand in your closets fearing the intruder? Stand up and Fight back!

[cricket]

"The more I think about this the more I think this is corruption in action"

It is surely the product of 'corrupt mind' . . .these people are their own worst nightmare and they are not even close to 'getting it'. . .

[Ma3lst0rm]

I think it is clear where the blame lies. The Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana failed the people they claimed to care about the most, the poor and sick. Its ironic that those in charge happened to be an African American man and a liberal white woman. Not that it matters but since it seems to matter so much to the race baiters on the left I'll cut that bait for them because I'm certain that had President Bush taken over from the get go they would have been the first screaming that a whitey chauvinist was stealing all the glory.
Now they are trying to cover their butts and I think they should resign because they failed horribly and showed ineptitude over and beyond the call of duty. How can anyone not see how this morally decrepit pair should be held responsible for failure to lead in a crisis when even today they perform like recalcitrant children unable to make the necessary decisions to evacuate let alone rebuild New Orleans? I think its time that Democrats and Republicans put this pair out of their misery creation business and call for their resignation, it would be and excellent time to set differences aside and agree on something and that something is that the Governor of Lousiana and the Mayor of New Orleans are not fit for the offices they hold and will likely be more of a hinderence rather than a help to the efforts to bring New Orleans back from the brink of no return.
I think it would be fitting if both were sent out of town on a yellow school bus to honor those who died because the Mayor couldn't get greyhound buses and then let them ride cross country together for 24 hours so the Governor has time to decide whether or not to get off or not. These sick individuals are not leaders, they are an embarassment and an example of the worst bureaucracy has to offer.

[McGavin999]

The foreign press picks this up before our own does. Does that prove my tagline or what?

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Get the NO LEO away from the MSM, out of sight, out of mind.

[Polybius]

In case any liberal news media reporters are lurking and one week behind in their home work now that Bus-Gate is begining to get noticed,........... Here are the facts spoon-fed to you.

**************************

NOBODY was supposed to be left trapped in the New Orleans flood bowl death trap as 200,000 low-income residents were as a result of the gross and possibly criminal negligence on the part of the Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, and the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, who failed to follow their own evacuation plan prior to the landfall of Katrina.

New Orleans is in a Storm Surge Zone, below sea level, and surrounded by levies that were only designed to withstand storms lass than a slow-moving Category 3 hurricane. That means that any person staying in New Orleans during a Category 3 or higher hurricane is facing a very high risk of death. Katrina was forecast as a Category 5 and hit as a Category 4.

What Is "Storm Surge" and Why It Matters.

The 2004 Hurricane Pam Exercise was modeled on a catastrophic destruction of New Orleans after only a slow-moving Category 3 hurricane. It was based on the assumption that there had been a complete evacuation of New Orleans. Shelters outside of the New Orleans flood bowl had already been identified:

The interagency shelter group identified the need for about 1,000 shelters for a catastrophic disaster. The shelter team identified 784 shelters and has developed plans for locating the remaining shelters.

Hurricane Pam Exercise Concludes.(2004 New Orleans Disaster Prediction)

President Bush requested that Governor Blanco allow the Federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, and Governor Blanco, for political reasons, refused:

Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday..........The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they had been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals", said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

The Southeast Louisiana Evacuation plan supplement, revised in 2000, page 13, read paragraph 5, stated:

5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating.

In spite of that, over four hundred New Orleans publicly owned buses, as counted by members of FreeRepublic on post-Katrina satellite images, remained parked in neat rows and 200,000 low-income New Orleans residents were left trapped in the ¡§New Orleans flood bowl¡¨ (as scientists call it) in the face of the incoming storm surge.

Those 400+ buses, at 70 passengers per bus, could have taken 28,000 of those low-income citizens per trip out of New Orleans on the inbound lanes that the Governor and Mayor inexplicably left unused during the evacuation.

As a result, 200,000 of the poorest residents of New Orleans were left trapped din a disaster waiting to happen with no where to go but the Superdome.

While 800,000 of New Orleans' residents with private transportation were being saved, 200,000 of New Orleans', low-income residents were left abandoned by the Governor and the Mayor in the New Orleans flood bowl to face a Category 4 Hurricane Storm Surge.

If the levies had failed catastrophically instead of at a few certain point as they did, the death toll would have reached Hiroshima proportions.

[Chena]

Excellent post, naturalman1975. Passin' it on with a big, ole BUMP!!!

[lepton]

It is Bush's fault because he could have done away with the tax cuts,

Which are generating enough additional revenue that over the last year they have paid for the war in Iraq...

[Dharmic]

Show me the money!!!!

If there is any way that it could be researched, it would be interesting to see just how much time, money, and effort the City of New Orleans, the Parrish, and the State of Louisiana have spent each year on preparation and support for Mardi Gras activities - as opposed to what they have spent on disaster preparedness.

It wouldn't be much of a surprise to find out that they have had their priorities upside-down for a long time. They gambled, ... and they lost. Nagin and Blanco are typical Dem charlatans, and their "it's my turf" attitude jeopardized many lives, ... but then again, they are products of an infamous political culture.

[jdhljc169]

Bump