The president was flanked by his high military and emergency command: Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
As Mr. Bush spoke, Vice President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser, listened on the sidelines, as did Dan Bartlett, the counselor to the president and Mr. Bush's overseer of communications strategy. Their presence underscored how seriously the White House is reacting to the political crisis it faces.
"Where our response is not working, we'll make it right," Mr. Bush said, as Mr. Bartlett, with a script in his hand, followed closely.
His speech came as analysts and some Republicans warned that the White House's response to the crisis in New Orleans, which has been widely seen as slow and ineffectual, could further undermine Mr. Bush's authority at a time when he was already under fire, endangering his Congressional agenda.
posted on September 5, 2005 12:28:29 PM new
Thanks Helen! Now did anyone notice if he was breathing or was he just stuffed like Trigger and standing there
I also should add that I noticed out of the following paragraph....
""As Mr. Bush spoke, Vice President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser, listened on the sidelines, as did Dan Bartlett, the counselor to the president and Mr. Bush's overseer of communications strategy. Their presence underscored how seriously the White House is reacting to the political crisis it faces. ""
....how it's a "political crisis" NOT a national crisis, not a human crisis.....a political crisis....so they're finally taking action because they're worried about votes....well, anything to get them off their vacationing assez.
[ edited by mingotree on Sep 5, 2005 12:51 PM ]
[ edited by mingotree on Sep 5, 2005 12:57 PM ]
posted on September 5, 2005 04:31:11 PM new
Mingotree, in the other thread you are complaining the politcians are using this as a photo op or self-serving publicity stunt. Then in this one, you are saying Dick Cheney the VP, should be present and visible?
posted on September 5, 2005 06:57:04 PM new
Their failure, helen. NOT!!!
Special Report
Get Off His Back (Updated)
By Ben Stein
Published 9/2/2005 11:59:59 PM
***UPDATED: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.***
A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:
1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.
2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.
3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.
4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.
5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.
6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.
7.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.
8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.
9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.
10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.
11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.
12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care.
God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.
****
UPDATE: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.:
More Mysteries of Katrina:
Why is it that the snipers who shot at emergency rescuers trying to save people in hospitals and shelters are never mentioned except in passing, and Mr. Bush, who is turning over heaven and earth to rescue the victims of the storm, is endlessly vilified?
What church does Rev. Al Sharpton belong to that believes in passing blame and singling out people by race for opprobrium and hate?
What special abilities does the media have for deciding how much blame goes to the federal government as opposed to the city government of New Orleans for the aftereffects of Katrina?
If able-bodied people refuse to obey a mandatory evacuation order for a city, have they not assumed the risk that ill effects will happen to them?
When the city government simply ignores its own sick and hospitalized and elderly people in its evacuation order, is Mr. Bush to blame for that?
Is there any problem in the world that is not Mr. Bush's fault, or have we reverted to a belief in a sort of witchcraft where we credit a mortal man with the ability to create terrifying storms and every other kind of ill wind?
Where did the idea come from that salvation comes from hatred and criticism and mockery instead of love and co-operation?
-----
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He also writes "Ben Stein's Diary" in every issue of The American Spectator.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
[ edited by Linda_K on Sep 5, 2005 06:59 PM ]
The Bush administration is doing its best to blame state and local officials for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, but state emergency officials and others tell Knight Ridder that there's another explanation: "The chaotic government response to Hurricane Katrina, which even President Bush said was 'not acceptable,' was the inevitable result of federal policies emphasizing protection from terrorist attacks at the expense of preparing for far more common natural disasters."
After 9/11, the Bush administration moved the Federal Emergency Management Agency inside the newly created Department of Homeland Security, where the focus isn't exactly on natural disaster preparedness or response. "There are no emergency managers at any level in the Department of Homeland Security," George Haddow, a former FEMA deputy chief of staff, told Knight Ridder. "It doesn't look like anyone's in charge to me because the system has been deconstructed."
So the good news is that we're covered if terrorists attack in the United States? Not exactly. "I am not at all confident, based on what we've seen, that we'd have the ability to handle that," says Jon Kyl, the Republican senator from Arizona who heads the Senate Judiciary committee that oversees homeland security.
posted on September 5, 2005 07:46:47 PM new
Bush and Cheney look like Ducks,walk like a Ducks,and sure do QUACK,QUACK,QUACK,like LAME DUCKS.
The majority of the American people are now tired of hearing their QUACK,QUACK,QUACK!!!!
The right wing CON-seratives have been exposed. America is seeing the Class War the right wing CON-seratives are waging.
Linda_K and just a few others are still waisting their time trying to defend the failed leadership the right wing CON-seratives have brought us all.
First it was and still is Iraq,then it was and still is the cost of fuel,now its New Orleans. What's next maybe a further out of control Hugh National Debt,a weaker dollar that will contribute to a Hugh trade deficit? We will all be watching.
posted on September 6, 2005 03:07:04 AM new
August 12, 2005
Goods and Services Deficit Increases in June 2005
The Nation’s international deficit in goods and services increased to $58.8 billion in June from $55.4 billion (revised) in May, as imports increased and exports were virtually unchanged.
Goods and Services
Exports of goods and services were virtually unchanged in June at $106.8 billion. Goods were virtually unchanged at $74.5 billion in June. Services were $32.4 billion in June, up from $32.3 billion in May.
Imports of goods and services increased to $165.6 billion in June from $162.2 billion in May. Goods were $138.5 billion in June, up from $135.3 billion in May, and services were $27.1 billion in June, up from $27.0 billion in May.
For goods, the deficit was $64.0 billion in June, up from $60.8 billion in May. For services, the surplus was $5.2 billion in June, down $0.1 billion from May.
There is more here
http://www.census.gov/indicator/www/ustrade.html
