On Tuesday, JABBS was surprised and modestly pleased that President Bush took on responsibility for the ineffective federal response to Hurricane Katrina. The president offered similar words in his nationally televised speech last night.
Yes, the line may have scripted by Karl Rove, who it was learned yesterday is "in charge of the reconstruction effort." But it was an improvement over the spin-and-deny style of the Bush Administration.
Still, the press conference on Tuesday wasn't a "no-spin zone."
President Bush, like Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff before him, tried to spin the odd reaction he gave to ABC's Diane Sawyer on Sept. 1, when he said: "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."
Chertoff told Tim Russert he "opened newspapers (Aug. 30) and saw headlines that said 'New Orleans Dodged The Bullet.'" The statement was ridiculous — we'd have to assume Chertoff woke up to the morning papers on Tuesday not realizing a two-block breach had occurred the night before, and had been reported as of 1:30 a.m. Aug. 30. And the statement was almost certainly a lie: Newseum has 477 archived front pages from Aug. 30 — and none of them have anything close to "New Orleans Dodged The Bullet." The best JABBS could find were three on-line headlines, two from Aug. 29 (before the levee broke) and a factually inaccurate headline from 11:37 a.m. Central time Aug. 30.
But that didn't stop others in the administration, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, from repeating the lie.
And now comes President Bush, with a variation of the story on Tuesday.
Q Did [briefers] misinform you when you said no one anticipated the breach of the levees?
BUSH: No. What I was referring to is this: When that storm came by, a lot of people said we dodged a bullet. When that storm came through at first, people said, "Whew." There was a sense of relaxation. And that's what I was referring to.
And I myself thought we had dodged a bullet. You know why? Because I was listening to people probably over the airwaves say, "The bullet has been dodged." And that was what I was referring to.
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
David, I realize that facts don't intrude on your crusade, but are you aware that one of the two main levees that broke was one which had recently been completely repaired and restored and was operating at the optimal level recommended by the ACE? Also, are you aware that most of the flooding of New Orleans was not because of breaks in the levees, but because the governor ordered the floodgates opened and water released into the city?
As for Bush's explanation, it makes perfect sense. I heard the same statements or ones like them from evacuees on our local news, who thought that because the storm itself had missed them they were going to be okay and were then shocked when the water came into the city.
But don't let me interrupt, spin on, oh spinmeister.
Dave
2 - David R. Mark
Dave, you think it's just coincidental that Bush's answer is a more plausible version of Chertoff's ridiculous answer (which you ignored)?
Chertoff, after all, was responding to Russert's question about Bush's comment to Sawyer.
Sorry, Dave, I have a hard time buying it.
3 - David R. Mark
Also, Dave, you may be arguing that it's the mayor's fault the city flooded. But neither Chertoff nor Bush has used this reasoning in their answers regarding Bush's comment to Sawyer.