What's the REAL reason for the delay in Bush's response to Katrina?

[Plaid Adder]

Poll question: What's the REAL reason for the delay in Bush's response to Katrina?

Newsweek claims in "How Bush Blew It" that the reason he didn't get a clue about how bad things were until Thursday is that a) nobody wants to tell him bad news and b) he doesn't watch TV or read the papers.

Uh huh.

Why did it REALLY take Bush until Thursday to start doing damage control?

[DemonFighterLives]

1. I took the safe vote that he didn't care

I wasn't ready to don my :tinfoilhat:

[maine_raptor]

2. Other

He couldn't figure out which country New Orleans was in.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. New procedure for breaking bad news:

Aides must make up a song out of the news and sing it while * plays his new guitar.

[Bellamia]

4. "Other" ............

Incompetent to be sure, delusional, "out of it" indeed, the list is very long!

[eek]

5. was advised to hold on until the demo of NOLA was complete

so that, like in Afghanistan, there'd be smooth sailing for the oil refineries' construction work.

[understandinglife]

6. He didn't care. And, here's the reason why ....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4753704&mesg_id=4755842


Peace.

[peekaloo]

7. He'd spent his whole vacation dodging females....Cindy, Kathleen &

Katrina.

[kahleefornia]

8. he thought they would evacuate to Old Orleans

maybe West Orleans?

[Greyhound]

9. Other. *Co needs huge disasters to keep people's attention

away from the real work that they have been at for the last 5+ years.

[Beam Me Up]

10. OTHER: It was intentional. He would do the same for any poor,

predominantly black city that voted against him. He'd do the same to my city: Oakland, CA, if he got the chance.

[TwilightZone]

11. I think it's very possible that he was kept in the dark

It would fit in with the general theme of Bush's presidency. He's been firmly isolated from "bad news" from the beginning by everyone around him. I think that they tell him as little as possible.

And, frankly, I think the explanation in the MSNBC/Newsweek piece is actually worse than most of the alternatives. If Bush is so isolated and antagonistic that his "people" can't approach him, even in the face of a natural catastrophe, we're in even more trouble than we thought.

[Hamlette]

15. this could be it. . . the heavy hitters on his staff were on vacation

and the handlers who were left didn't have the guts to say "get off your damned bike and act like you care!"

He didn't care because he's babs son. Why can't the poor people just eat cake? If there home is flooded, why don't they just move into a 4 star hotel until it can be rebuilt into a nicer home and invite me to sit on the porch?

[in_cog_ni_to]

12. He knew, but why should he care about those poor black people?

It was RACISM and CLASSISM. No doubt about it.

[xxqqqzme]

13. have 2 go w/ 'other'.

unca dick 'n co needed the extra days 2 decide what they would do w/ all that newly liberated prime real state in Louisiana & Mississippi.

[Festivito]

14. Waited on think-tank spin-meisters to outspin Katrina.

His fav persona is ro remain disaffected, detached, cool. Media control lets him get away with that.

He might also be becoming bored. Wants to see how far he can push the spin game from which he gets a rush. The actual natural disaster being a normal occurance that people will just have to deal with anyway.

FEMA was a setup to see how much milage they could get out of the next terror attack. ..really need that Patriot Act now kinda thing... Then, along came mother nature. A good test to see if FEMA could still stop journalism even in a non-national security event.

In any case, someone else bails him out of trouble.

[Bumblebee]

16. They know they are still behind the curve on that one and are

desperately trying to catch up, so they are trying everything. The more they try, the more desperate and pathetic they look, of course -- but it's their problem, not ours! :)

[DinahMoeHum]

17. He hasn't got a freakin' clue about the ways of the world. . .

or how his policies affect other people.


:evilfrown:

[DinahMoeHum]

18. He hasn't got a freakin' clue about the ways of the world. . .

or how his policies affect other people.


:evilfrown:

[DinahMoeHum]

19. He hasn't got a freakin' clue about the ways of the world. . .

or how his policies affect other people.


:evilfrown:

[DinahMoeHum]

20. He hasn't got a freakin' clue about the ways of the world. . .

or how his policies affect other people.


:evilfrown:

[julialnyc]

21. other

it was too damn comfortable in his bubble to turn on the news (which he thought was all hype anyway....... he thought the liberal media was ganging up on him). By the time Rove had the chance to tell him that it was in fact true he needed to call a serious Public Relations meeting to come up with a strategy to make him look gad and play Pin the Blame on the Donkey!

[LSdemocrat]

22. Other: complete incompetence at the highest levels

[ModerateLee]

23. I thought...

...that Bush declared it a disaster area on Saturday?

[Karenina]

24. Implementation of the policy of

"creative destruction."