I don't think anyone could have anticipated that this video would come out.

Clever use of the "yada yada" to avoid the quote about "breaching of the levees" since, once again, the president was warned about "topping" the levees, which is a completely different thing. Do you like deceiving your readers?

LMAO! Is that the best you can come up with. That is more pathetic than the other appologies. EH... The result was the same, Levees gave out, people DIED, get over it. You want to make excuses for Bush, go ahead, its your American right, but deceiving... PLEASE!

Hmm- If you are warned that your full bathtub in your main level bathroom might splash over the top and the full bathtub in your other bathroom has the entire side break out and flood the floor of your house, is that different than the warning you received?

I know how badly you want to blame the President and he alone for everything "Katrina", David, but think.

And by the way-

"...If not for all the people who died and the homes and businesses destroyed."

Who are you blaming for that? Army Corp of Engineers? Louisiana politicians who diverted levy funds? President Bush? FEMA? The Coast Guard? Blanco/Nagin?

Tell us in hindsight what should have been done better top to bottom, bottom to top, however you want to set it up. Seriously.

Wrong Marty, and you have just about lost all credibility with me Bro. Why, becuase I never said it was all Bush's fault. In fact, if you go back to my original post on Katrina, I said it was everyone in Governments fault. And this POST, despite EVERY possible effort on the part of you and your buddies to change the subject, is about Bush saying he had no idea the levees would not hold. This is the problem that I find most frustrating about Bush Appologist. Call anyone who dares to question Bush a Bush Hater, but what are you... The POLAR opposite... Someone who NO MATTER what evidence is presented, can find NO culpability AT ALL. Both positions are ridiculous.
No one held a gun to Bush's head and put that guitar in his hand in San Diego while people were drowning. But I guess that is not his fault either (His judgement in that case was perfect right?)
You guys go on and on about how unreasonable the Left is, when in reality, the lack or REASON is on the Right. And I have a feeling I know why... It's hard as hell to admit that the Emperor has no clothes, and you were one of the ones fawning over the beauty of the non existent robes.
Like I have always said. I am confortable that HISTORY will bear out most of my arguments. I would say it is a pretty safe bet that you aren't.
Still love ya Bro. But your arguments hold about as much water as your fabled bathtubs, and the sad thing is, I think you KNOW IT!

Did you listen to the tape or just read the headlines? Seriously. You don't even get the bathtub analogy. But whatever. The whole damn thing was a fiasco and everybody involved had their issues. It's just too bad that the demagogues can't treat it for what it was- an unprecendented natural disaster. The "all clear" came much too soon and the preparation wasn't enough.

Well Marty, there you go. There is enough blame to go around. But Bush not even having any questions after that pretty scary briefing, and then playing "Geetar" in San Diego, while people were drowning, does not exactly make him look all that good does it.

As I wrote to your soulmate Oliver:

"Here is the bottom line.

The City of New Orleans had a population of 1.5 million people. The President of the United States knew of the danger in advance and acted on it, ordering the evacuation of the city in advance of any state or local official. He then engaged in multiple daily briefings from the team in place including the directors of FEMA, Homeland Security, the National Weather Service, and State and local officials

1.2 million people were evacuated before the storm hit.

Of those who weren’t evacuated (because the city’s emergency plans were not executed as they were supposed to be) 70,000 had to be rescued after the storm passed (36,000 of those by the Coast Guard, within the first 24 hours.) 1077 died in the state of Louisiana.

There is no way of telling how many of those who died were people who heard the evacuation order and decided to ride out the storm. We do know that local officials failed to evacuate nursing homes, hospitals, prisons, etc. and moved people to the Superdome (part of the plan) and the Convention Center (not part of the plan.) But even the local officials were doing the best they could with such a chaotic situation. Could they have done better? Of course. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Despite all of the false news reports, a vast majority of those people in the Superdome and the Convention Center, though enduring severe discomfort for way too long while they waited for the bureaucracies hash it out, were among the 70,000 evacuated. (In fact, I can only recall two confirmed deaths in either of those places- a heart attack and a suicide. If anyone here can give me more information on the supposed thousands that were dying in either the Superdome or the Convention Center please let me know.)

We know that there were warnings that the levees at the Lake in north New Orleans might spillover because of rising waters and agitation, but no predictions that the levees to the south would break open.

If you have something that shows the contrary, feel free to supply it. Nothing in the “smoking gun” tape indicates otherwise, although the AP’s story seems to confuse the term breach (i.e. break) with overtopping (i.e. spillover). There is a big difference between your bathtub spilling over and the side breaking out.

We also know that the President was assured by the Governor of the State that the levees were not breached (almost three hours after they already had been) and that the Director of FEMA told the President that they had everything that they needed.

Considering that FEMA handled the aftermath of 9/11 and the California wildfires just fine it isn’t too hard to understand why the President might have confidence in the people on the ground who are telling him what is happening. The news reports were really of little help, considering how wrong many of them were.

Was it all perfect? Hell no. It proved that a lot more planning needs to be done in cities like New Orleans and other areas of the Gulf Coast.

But was it a miracle that more people didn’t die? No to that either.

It was because action was taken that more people didn’t die in one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in U.S. history.

So your little BS talking point about Bush letting a major US city drown is taken for the heaping pile of steamy crap that it is Oliver. A talking point. If you think it will get Democrats elected in 2006 and 2008, feel free to dwell on it all you want.

But just be sure Democrats have an actual platform this time, and not just “We’re Anti-Bush.” That platform doesn’t seem to work so well. (Especially since Bush isn’t running.)"

Obviously the last part was for Oliver, but it applies to everyone who is still running against Bush.

Marty,

What you and the last of the Bush Apologists don't get, is that the Federal in FEMA means that when natural disasters strike, our gov't is our safety net, our readied backup.

One of the crucial factors the PBS Frontline special on Katrina reveals, is that a disaster drill involving the Gulf Coast states the previous year was not completed (nor guidelines established) because funds were diverted by the Bush administration.

Florida weathers hurricane season with efficiency because they have a preparedness plan in place, that was created and is deployed in coordination with the federal government. In the documentary, FEMA employees tell how the agency has been hobbled by staff cuts and bad management.

Want an '06/'08 Dem platform issue? How this: we can better management natural disasters because we did it with James Lee Witt.

Lastly, the nuance of your defense is lost on the American people. They see Bush on the tape saying 'we're prepared', and now they know he wasn't.

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