Bush Accepts Blame for Federal Snafus
It was a forthright statement made in response to a question from a reporter during the Bush/Talibani press conference.
“To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.
Is there a problem with this?
Let me state the obvious right now. Not one state official has done the same human, oddly noble, thing.
Nagin said something no-class like had he known the cavalry wasn’t going to show up on time he would have done things differently. The cavalry not showing up had nothing to do with all those buses under water.
Louisiana’s Senator Landreau, after threatening to punch the President in the nose and bloviating on TV about lack of mass transit which is also Bush’s fault, has been silent.
Governor Blanco, the Louisiana Governor who declared a day of prayer in reaction to the break in the levee, has been absent for several days now.
Let’s go over this one more time.
New Orleans had an evacuation plan on file. It required the removal of people unable to evacuate by public school bus. Those public school buses went nowhere and ended up under ten feet of water while evacuees waited for rescue at the Superdome.
Governor Blanco refused entry to the American Red Cross AND the Salvation Army, both organizations replete with supplies and ready to remove even with the flooding. This the day AFTER the levees broke. Blanco didn’t want to encourage more people to come to the Superdome or Convention Center with a delivery of desperately needed supplies.
And what about those patients at the hospital? 45 of them dead. If nothing else, why weren’t the patients in the hospital evacuated well before the storm hit?
Now we hear 34 people died at a nursing home, left to drown by a staff that, poof, just left them. Charges of involuntary manslaughter are being drawn up against the nursing home owners.
The local officials blew it.
Yes, the feds blew it. Several doctors were ready to come to Louisiana. They had supplies and provided their own shelter. They were told by FEMA that they would first have to attend a sexual harassment course.
Article comments
1 - DrPat
Thanks, Pat, for the humor (especially the pic!) and the even-handed assessment. Though I'm sure you'll get gripes for pointing out the obvious, it is much appreciated!
2 - marc
Pointing out the obvious isn't productive in the case of some. Witness Sen. Landrex (sp?) performance with Chris Wallace on Sunday. paraphrase: "Buses, what buses... they're under water because Bush doesn't care about mass transit!"
And BTW it is appropriate at this time to mention that the "good" mayor (lower case intentional) of NO spent the last week in Houston relocating his family. He only returned to NO to partake in the photo-op with Bush on Tuesday.
3 - RogerMDillion
What does Bush mean when he says, "I'll take responsibilty?" The words are hollow with no action behind them. Where's the nobility in that?
I think there's blame all around, but I don't see what's gained by state officials making similar empty statements that change nothing, but if it will help, I've been to New Orleans twice, so let me proclaim on behalf of the state that I'll take responsibilty for the failure.
You should proofread. You have the Mayor's name spelled two different ways.
4 - Eric Berlin
Nagin's taken a great deal of heat with regard to the buses, which is hard to argue with.
But I just heard over the last day or so that those very buses had actually been used to evacuate one round of victims, but didn't have the resources (bus drivers who got out of Dodge, I can only imagine) to make a second round of pick-ups.
Anyone else hear this?
5 - Hal Pawluk
Nagin made a comment about not having any drivers in a TV interview, but that doesn't excuse him - it was his job to arrange the evacuation. The evacuation plan specifically named him as the party who was supposed to arrange the evacuation for the "at least 100,000" people who they knew did not have transportation.
As for Bush's statement that he "accepts responsibility," if anyone believes that they should check their picture above.
Unless Bush resigns - like Brown did - he is not accepting responsibility for anything.
Which is, of course, no surprise (based on his prior record). The man is still a smirking frat boy who has had his brain pickled by decades of drinking.
Really.
6 - Eric Berlin
Nagin's role is certainly fishy as I've heard him handle the question of the buses in several different ways. However, it's hard to refute his defense that he tried to get people to places of last resort, where they would wait (and wait...) for the Feds to come to the rescue.
That said, the head of Emergency Management for one of the New Orleans parishes related the bit about the buses getting drowned after they had already made one run getting people out of the city.
7 - RJ
Great post, Patfish.
Of course, the moonbats will still demand Bush resign and not hold the state and local governments accountable for thier ineptitude.
But that's hardly surprising, is it? :-/
8 - red state
Of course it's not RJ.
Don't you know that the Bush family is behind everything bad that's happened anywhere in the world starting with the crucifixion of Jesus?
Silly Republican
9 - Bill B
Everything? Nah. A ton more than he's fessed up to? You bet. But that would bring that pesky accountability thing back into play.
Can't have that. =;>
10 - Georgio
Your post was fair and accurate ....I am a Democrat and and from what I have seen every official in Louisiana is stupid and just as responsible as Bush,,,But I will not forgive Bush either for appointing Brown and the slow response....and I would like an answer from you Republicans as to what does "I take responsibility for the federal governments slow response"....does it mean he gets sent to his room for a time out..does it mean he has to make amends...does it mean if I say I take responsibility ...thats the end of it..I don't think that Bush should resign but I think Blanco and Nagin should..but maybe thats as intelligent as they come in that state..
11 - Nancy
At one point early on in the flooding of N.O. I heard speculation on radio (& not by Rush Limbaugh) as to the whereabouts of Ms. Blanco the governor, & even a couple of comments in general as to whether she might have simply fled & be hiding out somewhere, as she certainly wasn't much in evidence during those crucial hours, either out & about or asking for aide, that I can see. Ditto Nagin. I don't remember either one of them putting a nose out until well into the disaster, at least publicly. What does the record of their movements show?
12 - Richard
President Bush is showing his face filled with sorrow and taking responsibility only to appear somewhat humble in an attempt to reverse his downward slide in the eyes of the nation. His words are empty and the result of advice from his public relations people..
13 - Nancy
Of course they are. Only the gullible & the GOP faithful will dispute that. This is straightforward PR: denial & trying to blame everyone else didn't work, so let's try this one. Well, at least it's something new; he hasn't done this before.
14 - Big Time Patriot
It's not time for the Blame Game. Time to assess blame will come later. You must be a liberal since you don't listen to our President.
(But speaking of local blame, it has come out that in my hometown of Seattle they don't really have an evacuation plan either, which will make for fun if Mount Rainier ever erupts or the "Seattle fault" ever triggers a massive earthquake (and of course we discovered our local FEMA chief has great knowledge in the coffee industry and was recommended by a local Republican Representative))
15 - Richard
If you listen to "our" president, you would also believe that all is going well with the invasion and occupation of Iraq..This president has done more to damage our nation than any other..He cannot be believed..
16 - with karate ill kik ur ass
heres somen to ponder:
you are a new hot photographer. you are sent ovet to new orlines, where kitrina hit and still is hiting.the storm becomes fearce. floods are coming. bits of houses and cars and ppls lives are swurling up and around you but you are safe. suddenly, there, in the flowing river made by the storm, is george bush calling out for help. this could be your big break. you could stand and take the multi-million pound/dollor picture of one of the worlds most powerful leaders or you could risk your life and save him. heres the big questions: do you use high qulity colour film or just the ordinary blak and white?
17 - Dave Nalle
>>What does the record of their movements show?<<
Their movements show that Baton Rouge is a lovely place to live during a disaster. And for Nagin Dallas is apparently even better since he moved there last week and enrolled his kids in school there.
Dave
18 - RogerMDillion
Not anymore.
"The buck stops here -- and, as your governor, I take full responsibility."
Feel free to update your post.
19 - Dave Nalle
Full responsibility from his rental house in Dallas...
Of course, Bush taking responsibility was a smart PR move. Nagin taking responsibility might be more like pleading guilty to multiple counts of negligence in advance.
Dave
20 - RogerMDillion
Nagin's the mayor, not the governor.
21 - RogerMDillion
Governor Accepts Blame, Writer Strangely Silent
How are people supposed to take you seriously when you don't make corrections to your work? The headline is no longer correct.
22 - RJ
Looks like Blanco pulled a "Truman" and will live to fight another day because of it.
Nagin, however, is done...
23 - Marc Thompson
Once again the left wing liberals who created this breauracracy is blamimg everyone but themselves. The governor and mayor backtracked when the White House released transcripts showing the local governments denying federal help. Election time could not be soon enough in La.
24 - Pat Fish
Hi Marc,
I'm thinking those hearings prompted your comment on this post made very close to Hurricane Katrina, in fact.
You know, nothing constructive comes when "investigations" are based on lies.
Say I consult with my niece over her beauty parlor. Which I do. Say I told her that she was making tons of money when she's not. She reacts to my assessment by taking a big hunk of change for her own hard-working self.
A few months later, she goes bankrupt.
You can't make decisions based on bad input. Now I've listened to snippets from those hearings and from what I've heard, it looks pretty bad for the locals. I heard that tape where the Louisiana homeland security people tell the feds that they don't need help with the nursing homes and hospitals, that everything is fine. I saw Nagin with mine own lying eyeballs fumble over why he didn't issue an evacuation order until 24 hours before the hurricane although he asserts said evacuation order had been decided 48 hours before the hurricane.
He was all over the place with this and nothing he said made any sense.
Now...silly me. I got ears and I got eyeballs. I heard the state and local people tell the feds that everything was fine, I've watched Nagin outright lying I cannot call it anything else.
What happened, the locals and state did not want to bear any financial burden for an un-needed evacuation. It's as simple as that. They took a gamble and lost.
The AP comes out with a report this morning saying the White House and FEMA blamed for Katrina disaster.
Two things, 1)that's not what I saw and heard with my lying eyeballs and 2) back to my original assertion. Nothing good can come from conclusions drawn from bad information.
I'm going out on a limb here and betting the bank that Americans are not going to buy this White House stuff no matter how much Chris Matthews repeats it. We're not stupid out here in la-la land. We know should a hurricane hit here we're not looking for the White House or FEMA to come in and save the day. Maybe later, but come on, we're just not that stupid.
Not to mention the assertion by many who were evacuated when the Feds showed up said they too blamed the local guys.
So let the LA Dems, who figure they'll get more money if they can continue to lay their initial failures on the Feds, keep up with these lies.
In this case us dummies out here in la-la land are not going to buy it.
Sorry to be so long on this but opportunity knocked. I have kept, since the week after hurricane Katrina, a continual log on EVERYTHING involving Katrina. I update it regularly. My notion being that my Granddaughter does NOT learn altered history in her school books.
You can't learn anything from conclusions based on bad input.