Don't Blame Bush For Relief Debacle

theday.com ^ | 9/17/2005 | Letters To The Editor:

[bitt]

As usual, loyal George W. Bush bashers never let the dust settle and the truth come out before sticking a foot in their mouths. The truth is coming out, regardless of what the biased media has tried to do.

The mayor never mobilized the school buses or stocked the Superdome with emergency supplies. The governor needed another 24 hours before she would allow federal officials to come in and banned the Red Cross and Salvation Army from delivering supplies immediately after the winds died down. The senator from Louisiana is complaining Mr. Bush didn't help the Army Corp of Engineers build new levees, but did nothing herself to promote new levees during her terms as senator. Louisiana has received the most federal money given to the Army Corp of Engineers than any other state, more than they received during the Clinton administration, but local decisions were made not to spend it on levees. It was spent on locks for canals.

As for Federal Emergency Management Agency leadership, Hillary Rodham Clinton forgets what a miserable job her husband's administration did handling Hurricane Floyd's flood victims. The people of New Orleans have never been able to lift themselves out of poverty because the local and state entitlement programs have made them totally dependent on government support. It has obviously failed these people, rather than teach them to support themselves and become self-sufficient in determining their own lives.

Bush bashing isn't about how Mr. Bush handled the hurricane crisis; it's about using every false news item to bash Mr. Bush because Al Gore and John Kerry lost, while hiding the incompetence of the local Democrats who have failed miserably in Louisiana. Truth hurts.

William Morey Niantic

[EagleUSA]

..it's about using every false news item to bash Mr. Bush because Al Gore and John Kerry lost, while hiding the incompetence of the local Democrats who have failed miserably in Louisiana. Truth hurts.
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Something the twisted, sick libs cannot handle. REALITY.

[Aetius]

I can only imagine the way that the media and the race husksters would have reacted had the exact same sequence of events occured while Clinton was president, or during a Gore or Kerry presidency.

I imagine there would have much self-righteous indignation if anyone had dared blamed the federal govt under those circumstances.

[jonno]

NO bump

[stopem]

So getting stuck holding the bag for their mistakes we should pay and pay and pay good money after bad??? Oh yeh that sounds like a plan.

[MEG33]

BUMP!

[yoe]

Gentleman George could rail against his detractors about what they "should or could" have done; he could start blaming Governor Blanco or tell Senator Landrieu to stuff her accusations and whining or ask Jessie Jackson why he remains the biggest racist in the country or tell Democratic Bag Man Nagin how fundamentally inapt he is, or he might ask Congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana, why he commandeered a rescue truck and held up a rescue chopper for 45 precious minutes that could have been better spent saving another life while Congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana looted his own house or just blame it correctly on the Democratic Party of Louisiana – but he does not and would not. President Bush just moves resolutely ahead, finding solutions, implementing them and looks for more ways to “shore” up Louisiana leaving her corrupt politicians to bicker and blame everyone but the face they look at in the mirror.

It really is a show isn’t it, watching these sorry politicians fight among themselves and fight over the spoils.

Here is an interesting little snip: The House though went ahead and tried to pass an appropriations bill to build more sound levees, but Clinton was assuredly in fear of what this construction might do to the “endangered fish and birds.” Well, that’s one way to classify the people of New Orleans.

[tjbravo]

So the cat's out of the bag. What is our next step as CITIZENS to take hold of the situation at hand and STOP this sort of activity whole-scale? I'm not talking about one representative here or there. I'm talking about the whole lot of them sitting on that hill stealing from us.

[cwb]

I read an article earlier about 2 New York Times reporters who rode into New Orleans with FEMA on the same day as the hurricane. They appeared to be just as surprised as FEMA that there was absolutely no command and control center from were FEMA could operate.

Besides the lack of proper communication facilities, it appears these idiots put much of their power generating equipment in low-lying areas, leaving them vulnerable to the storm. With the lack of security and absence of the National Guard, FEMA had to withdraw, since their own supplies and safety became an issue.

[misterrob]

nicely written

[Waco]

The Gov. of La La Land should be impeached and tied for PREMEDITATED MURDER!!!!!

[WOSG]

Great letter ... I'm trying to write one as well... there was an egregious Leonard Pitts column (lpitts@herald.com) that not only still blames Bush, but calls his defenders "Bush jihadists" - go ahead, give him a piece of your mind.

---

Leonard Pitts cites as one 'proof' of Bush's responsibility for
failures in the Katrina recovery effort that the "Media say Bush bears
responsibility."

Pinning blame on Bush and FEMA ignores the fact that in disaster
responses the "first responders" are by definition local and state agencies;
it neglects that Bush properly set the Federal response in motion even
before Katrina hit landfall, a response that included Coast Guard
and U.S. military heroically rescuing thousands from flooded rooftops.

The blame-Bush critique also whitewashes the failures of Louisiana
state and local authorities to maintain order and execute their own
disaster recovery plans. New Orleans didn't save their own transit
and school busses for evacuation as called for in the plan. The
Lousiana Governor stopped Red Cross supplies from getting into
New Orleans. Once Federal authority under General Honore was
established in New Orleans, the situation improved dramatically.

Pitts ought not use the media as an 'authority' when they
didn't get the story right to begin with.
Pitts says that Bush backers think Bush walks on water.
Well, if Bush ever did walk on water across the Potomac River,
the New York Times headline would probably read: "Bush Can't Swim."

[jonrick46]

This is not an environmental question at all. Since the flooding problem from the levee failure was the thing that created the most havoc in New Orleans, one should ask if the flooding was caused by poor levies? One must pay attention to the fact that the levee failure was not due to the force of the storm. The main storm surge from Hurricane Katrina would have been washed into Lake Pontchartrain at about 7:00 AM on August 29th when the counterclockwise motion of Katrina was pushing water from the Gulf of Mexico into the lake. The 17th Street Canal levee that flooded New Orleans broke at 4:00 AM on August 30th, about 21 hours after the main force of the storm. The breech of the levee was caused by a loose construction barge striking the levee on the 17th Street Canal. The breach was not caused by rising flood waters as reported by FEMA and other agencies. The question should be asked why the Coast Guard or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not secure that barge. Those who witnessed the barge striking the levee also want to know why the major media is not covering this story.

the 17th street bridge was caused by a run away construction barge striking a flood wall. This barge was in place from a recently completed construction project on the bridge spanning the Industrial Canal behind the levee. This was not a levee failure at all.

On a side note, it is well known that some of the money to build up the levies was used by the levee board to build a casino. One has to ask how much money designated to levee upgrades went to other activities.