La. Senator Rips Bush Hurricane Response

[LTR]

Louisiana's senior senator on Sunday escalated the Democrats' rhetoric against the Bush administration's hurricane response, accusing the White House of a "full court press" to blame state and local officials for the initial sluggish rescue effort.

The government's emergency managers came under fire from the lone black senator, Democrat Barack Obama, who said they were clueless about the inner-city in New Orleans when they failed to plan for the evacuation of poor people.

(snip)

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said on `Fox News Sunday" he would give "the entire big government organized relief effort a failing grade, across the board." But, he added that state and local governments shared in the blame, too.

http://www.kfmb.com/stories/story.23021.html

[nickyt]

1. Yeah, if Nagin had been out there manning the pumps like Newt suggested,

there'd have been no problems down there

[wryter2000]

2. Yeah

Where was Nagin's initiative? :sarcasm:

[JitterbugPerfume]

3. Bad Nagin

I guess he just hates black people Ohhhhhhhhhh



wait just a minit

[WCGreen]

4. That bastard...

Just fled out as soon as he could...

Didn't care one wit for "His People" now did he....

Fuck these Right wing ass holes....

They look more stupid with each passing day...

[sabra]

5. Landrieu criticizes blame-setting by Bush administration

http://www.katc.com/global/story.asp?s=3834413&ClientType=Printable

Landrieu criticizes blame-setting by Bush administration

WASHINGTON Louisiana's senior U.S. senator is accusing the White House of a "full court press" to blame state and local officials for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina.

Democrat Mary Landrieu says officials at all levels eventually will share blame for the response. But on C-B-S' "Face the Nation," Landrieu said that only the Bush administration is pointing the finger.

On "Fox News Sunday," Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter of Louisiana said he would give "the entire big government relief effort a failing grade, across the board." Viter added that state and local governments also share in the blame.

[snippy]

6. Blaming local officials is part of the three part strategy the White House

described to Time magazine for improving Bush's image.

Living Too Much in the Bubble?
A bungled initial response to Katrina exposed the perils of a rigid, insular White House. Inside Bush's plan to show he isn't isolated

. . .

By late last week, Administration aides were describing a three-part comeback plan. The first: Spend freely, and worry about the tab and the consequences later. "Nothing can salve the wounds like money," said an official who helped develop the strategy. "You'll see a much more aggressively engaged President, traveling to the Gulf Coast a lot and sending a lot of people down there."

The second tactic could be summed up as, Don't look back. The White House has sent delegates to meetings in Washington of outside Republican groups who have plans to blame the Democrats and state and local officials. In the meantime, it has no plans to push for a full-scale inquiry like the 9/11 commission, which Bush bitterly opposed until the pressure from Congress and surviving families made resistance futile. Congressional Democrats have said they are unwilling to settle for anything less than an outside panel, but White House officials said they do not intend to give in, and will portray Democrats as politicking if they do not accept a bipartisan panel proposed by Republican congressional leaders. Ken Mehlman, the party's chairman and Bush's campaign manager last year, told TIME that viewers at home will think it's "kind of ghoulish, the extent to which you've got political leaders saying not 'Let's help the people in need' but making snide comments about vacations."

The third move: Develop a new set of goals to announce after Katrina fades. Advisers are proceeding with plans to gin up base-conservative voters for next year's congressional midterm elections with a platform that probably will be focused around tax reform. Because Bush will need a dynamic salesman to make sure that initiative goes better than his Social Security proposal, advisers tell TIME there is once again talk of replacing Treasury Secretary John Snow. There are no plans to delay tax cuts to pay for the New Orleans reconstruction or the Iraq war, and Bush is likely to follow through on his vow to veto anticipated congressional approval of increased federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1103581,00.html

[dchill]

7. The only rescue operation being run out of D.C. -

is the Rovian "Rescue Bush" Operation.

[warpheads]

8. Bush Ain't Done Screwing Louisiana Yet!

He has also repealed the prevailing wage for all work done in response to rebuilding New Orleans too.
This is pathetic. First Hallaburton/Cheny gets the 'no-bid' contract to rebuild and now this??
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/08/news/economy/katrina_wages.reut/

Again: More for the rich (in this case Hallaburton) and less for the worker.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Vitter is all over the map on this

First he was mad at the feds, then he decided they were helping, now he is mad at them again?

[DeepModem Mom]

10. CNN/AP: Senators rip White House Katrina 'spin'

Senators rip White House Katrina 'spin'
White House rejects criticism ahead of Bush's Gulf Coast visit


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Louisiana's senior senator on Sunday escalated the Democrats' rhetoric against the Bush administration's hurricane response, accusing the White House of a "full court press" to blame state and local officials for the initial sluggish rescue effort.

The government's emergency managers came under fire from the lone black senator, Democrat Barack Obama of Illinois, who said they were clueless about the inner-city in New Orleans when they failed to plan for the evacuation of poor people.

The White House sought to deflect criticism ahead of President Bush's third trip to the stricken Gulf Coast, saying blame could be assessed later. (See video on Katrina's political fallout -- 2:22)

He arrived in New Orleans Sunday evening for an overnight visit.

"It's not the time for blame. It's the time for helping the people on the ground that have been severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina," White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said. "We'll continue to provide aid and assistance to those who have been severely impacted."...


http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/11/katrina.washington.ap/index.html

[KittyWampus]

11. If Junior Attempted To "Blackmail" Blanco Into Signing Over Authority

then it's time for this to become known widely.

What happened during that meeting?

Why did FEMA withhold resources and help for so long?

What took so long for National Guard from other states to get going?

The post hurricane response required coordination with the FEDS.

Blanco was down there, where was Bush and FEMA?

[truthisfreedom]

12. now is not the time for blame, unless the administration is doling it out.

accept bushco's blame and shut up about it already!

[fasttense]

13. Don't those Senators understand it is not time to blame bush, it's ok to

blame everyone else though.

[goforit]

14. Isn't it great that people don't watch TV anymore!!

Ratings down = ineffective propaganda!!!

[FlaGranny]

15. The administration that can do no wrong.

Here is my new bumper sticker, as soon as I can get around to making it. You are welcome to it, if you want to use it.

Truman: "The buck stops here."
Bush: "What buck?"