Posted on 01/28/2008 8:47:44 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush sought on Monday to ease the embarrassment of his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina by turning the world spotlight again on New Orleans.
To a standing ovation from Congress, the U.S. president said: "Tonight I am pleased to announce that in April we will host this year's North American Summit of Canada, Mexico, and the United States in the great city of New Orleans."
Bush said he would invite the leaders of neighboring Canada and Mexico for their regular "Three Amigos Summit" in the city which has been slow to recover from the August 2005 hurricane, the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
In his annual State of the Union speech, Bush also reaffirmed his pledge to help residents rebuild their homes on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Katrina flooded 80 percent of New Orleans and killed about 1,400 people.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and then-Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco criticized Bush for omitting disaster recovery efforts during his 2007 State of the Union speech. Critics said the government was slow to act and burdened by bureaucracy.
The North American leaders' gathering last year centered on trade issues, beefing up drug enforcement and the thorny issue of immigration.
The only satisfaction I’ll ever get, is knowing that when I p!ss in a ditch here in Indiana, at some point it’ll run through the middle of that $uckhole of a town.
One of President Bush's greatest failings has been to let false accusations stand. The federal government is not a first responder. The DBM has had a field day repeating lies and half-truths so often that most people think that they are true. Internet searches will yield thousands of repetitions of these repetitions.
The never-ending propaganda right there in the first sentence. It was President Bush who had to lean on the Louisiana yokels to order an evacuation in the first place. And Reuters knows full well the response to this disaster was as timely as any disaster response. It was the drive-by media playing CYA for Nagin and Blanco that, somehow, managed to fix the blame on the President.
Since when is the President responsible for hurricane damage? I can’t find that in the Constitution.
The first responsibility is with the totally incompetent mayor, and the whole state government of Louisiana.
Mississippi, right next door, had massive damage, and handled it much more efficiently.
Dat be true. Si, Senor
Benito Juarez, an admirer of his contemporary Abraham Lincoln and the most revered President of the United Mexican States, spent some years in exile working at a cigar factory in New Orleans.
The mayor and gov didn't know they were first responders. They had an emergency plan that nobody bothered to read.
I bet Bush is welcombed to NO by the new Republican governor of LA.
Does this mean that Boosh will repopulate NOLA w illegals?
Whenever I hear “North American” whatever....I know that means Americans are gonna get skrewed
Peachy.
Glad the SPP aka North American Union is something the President felt was important to mention as a priority in his State of the Union address.
Of course "Union" seems to have a slightly different meaning to Jorge than to average patriots.
Yes.
Great. Now you got Shepard Smith’s mascara running.
“U.S. President George W. Bush sought on Monday to ease the embarrassment of his administration’s—”
just plain garbage ... and so are you, Pelofsky! Is that the best you can do!!!!!!!
Amen, I just went to Gulfport on MLK Day and guess what I saw, road crews that were actually doing work. I have yet to see any progress in NO in the 6 months that I have lived here.
One flood begets another flood Mad Tom.
The idiocy of rebuilding a town that is 14 ft below sea level and robbing taxpayers to rebuild it just simply leaves me aghast...
The only place above sea level is Uptown along the River, and the French Quarter. That’s about it.
North American Summit, huh? With 'Conservatives' like Bush, who needs Democrats? (revised from: With friends like that, who needs enemies?)
Bush said he would invite the leaders of neighboring Canada and Mexico for their regular "Three Amigos Summit"
Barf-o-rama.
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