I firmly believe that Bush and Brown are capable of handling Katrina

[Poiuyt]

After all, they did it for the Florida hurricanes in 2004. They had food and water and support all lined up and ready when the hurricanes hit. So, while those hurricanes were devastating, the impact wasn't nearly as severe as Katrina.

Do you think that the fact that Bush was coming up for re-election in three months had any influence on the action that he took? Hmmm, I wonder?

So if Bush is capable of handling a natural disaster, why did he chose to ignore Katrina? Did he think that a category 5 hurricane hitting a major American city wouldn't have any impact? Does he only care about America when he has the motivation of being re-elected? Does he only like the power and prestige of being president, but not the obligations and duties? It would seem so.

[electropop]

1. Not laziness.

Genocide.

[me b zola]

7. Yes. Genocide.

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Ya think the fact that the previous hurricanes

were in his brother's state had something to do with the better response time?

[wtmusic]

4. bingo nt

[karlrschneider]

3. Election year.

.

[JuniperLea]

5. Posts #1, #2 & #3

Genocide, bro's state, and election year.

Genocide... in the words of Scrooge... "decrease the surplus population"... they weren't his voters anyway.

Election year and Bro's state... nuff said.

[Imagevision]

6. It was Bush's brother Jebs' state - what do you expect?!?!?!

http://downingstreetmemo.com/

[KitchenWitch]

8. That and the fact that Florida was a battleground state

and that his brother happened to be the Governor...

Nothing like a little Quid Pro Quo between friends.

Oh and rich people live there.

[Nederland]

9. No comparision

This hurricane caused devestation far worse than those of 2004. That's no excuse for the ineptitude of the administration, I just think your analysis is based on a flawed premise.

[Poiuyt]

10. Oh come on, Nederland!

I know the scope of the two disasters was different. The point I was trying to make was that Bush had plenty of supplies ready in Florida BEFORE the hurricanes hit. This time, he showed absolutely no sense of urgency at all. The Emergency Director of Jefferson Parrish was on CNN the day before Katrina hit practically crying because he knew what was going to happen. But LA, MS and AL are not battleground states with an election coming up.

It seems like Bush doesn't do anything unless Karl Rove tells him that it's important.

[Nederland]

11. Yes they did

They had plenty of supplies. They had plenty of troops. What I don't think they had was the talent necessary to coordinate a massive evacuation and delivery of those things to the people that needed it. I just don't see the people in this administration as being smart enough and talented enough to pull it off. Jesus Christ, look at Brown's resume. The guy was a horse judge!