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Audacity of Truth
Whiner-in-Chief:
"[W]hether the grumbling is about Republicans on Fox or bloggers in pajamas, there's a word for what the president and his aides are doing. That word is "whining." And nothing [...] does more damage to Obama's credibility or authority than the sense that a popular president is becoming the whiner-in-chief."
- John Nichols, Nation Magazine - 10/12/09
Bush personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation
…per La. Governor Blanco (emphasis added):
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In the face of a catastrophic Hurricane Katrina, a mandatory evacuation was ordered Sunday for New Orleans by Mayor Ray Nagin.
Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists, would be unable to leave, the city set up 10 places of last resort for people to go, including the Superdome.
The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave the city should. He exempted hotels from the evacuation order because airlines had already cancelled all flights.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding.
The date on the article is 8/28/05.
I’m sure the usual suspects in the "blame W" crowd [note to Bang: I'm not talking about you 
] will be lining up at the mikes in groups of 20 in order to apologize to the President for accusing him of not doing anything in advance regarding Hurricane Katrina.
Via Powerline. A hat tip to Smitty in the comments section of Matt’s prior post for the heads up.
(Cross-posted at BlogsForBush)
More: Who should the media be focusing on more? John Cole points out New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin’s negligence and predicts:
FEMA has made some mistakes, but when the post-mortem is done on this, Mayor Nagin is not going to be the Great American Hero some have deluded themselves into believing.
Bryan Preston on Mayor Nagin:
Mayor Nagin and his emergency sidekick Terry Ebbert have displayed lethal, mind boggling incompetence before, during and after Katrina.
[...]
As for Mayor Nagin, he and his profile in pathetic leadership police chief should resign as well. That city’s government is incompetent from one end to the other. The people of New Orleans deserve better than this crowd of clowns is capable of giving them.
If you’re keeping track, these boobs let 569 buses that could have carried 33,350 people out of New Orleans–in one trip–get ruined in the floods. Whatever plan these guys had, it was a dud. Or it probably would have been if they’d bothered to follow it.
Nagin is screaming for buses now, but when he had them he failed to use them. People aren’t dying in New Orleans today because of what the federal relief effort is or isn’t doing. People are dying in New Orleans today because Mayor Ray Nagin failed to get them out before Katrina hit.
People are dying – perhaps by the thousands – because of his failure.
The evidence is pretty compelling. The media isn’t digging around into Nagin’s actions (I know, hard to believe, right?) but instead focusing on the President. Thank goodness for the blogosphere, once again doing the job the hard investigating that the MSM won’t. My advice: read all the info you can about who did what before the hurricane, note who’s job it was to do so, and draw your own conclusions. Don’t rely on the media to draw those conclusions.
Update 1:30 AM ET: Blogger D.C. Thornton, in the comments section here, makes a great point worth repeating:
I’m probably going to catch hell for this, but I’m going to say it anyway.
It’s more convenient to blame a white president for what went wrong than to hold a black mayor and his administration accountable for gross negligence and failing to fully carry out an established emergency preparedness plan.
To hold Ray Nagin and his administration accountable for dropping the ball amounts to letting loose the shouts and cries of “Racism!”. It’s sad, it’s wrong, but it’s standard operating procedure for the media and left-wing black leadership.
Yep.
—
Don’t forget you can still contribute to the American Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief Fund or any one (or more!) of a number of other great organizations out there mobilizing to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. If you do contribute, please log it here at the TTLB contribution page as he is tracking the amount of money raised from each blog. Logging it is totally anonymous – in other words, you don’t have to give a name. Just an amount, the charity you donated to, and the blog that encouraged you to do so.
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I’m probably going to catch hell for this, but I’m going to say it anyway.
It’s more convenient to blame a white president for what went wrong than to hold a black mayor and his administration accountable for gross negligence and failing to fully carry out an established emergency preparedness plan.
To hold Ray Nagin and his administration accountable for dropping the ball amounts to letting loose the shouts and cries of “Racism!”. It’s sad, it’s wrong, but it’s standard operating procedure for the media and left-wing black leadership.
Hey DC! Good to see you – you touched on an angle I didn’t even think about but I think that’s a great point and you’re probably right. I’ll note your comment in my post because I think what you said bears repeating.
The black “leaders” (a la Jackson and company) are going to milk this for all it’s worth, the media will follow along obediently, and before long it’ll just be the accepted belief that this was Bush’s fault and there won’t be much, if any, of a critical dissection of what went wrong when and with who in the chain of command.
People…People…don’t you get it? This isn’t a matter of black or white…it’s an issue of rich and poor. If this catastrophe would have happened in any of the well-to-do areas of our country, the rescue would have been PRONTO!!! Not days later. And please…they are not refugees…they are american citizens. God bless America, and God bless those who think they are better than others….for they are not.
Kathleen, I don’t buy the class argument. For many people — rich or poor, Katrina was the great equalizer of Biblical proportions. Class wouldn’t have made one whit of difference in speeding aid to the region, as even preparedness took some time.
I do agree with your point that the victims are not refugees, but Americans.
I am no Jesse Jackson fan but these postings here are certainly getting to be of the white supremist variety.
They say if you are too far left then you’re a Communist. And if you are too far right then you’re a Nazi.
I think someone posted something about plenty of blame to go around. That’s probably about right. A real confederacy of dunces if you will. Of course those folks working on the ground bear no fault. The only decision they made was to help and do the best job they can do.
In business the sign of a good leader is someone who strives for excellence, develops people and takes responsibility.
Is politics really that different?
New Orleans is a tough city to get to logistically when conditions are good.
It’s surrounded by water.
It has a tremendous amount of folks living in poverty. The city is really old and is built on a swamp. It’s as old as Philly or Baltimore. The levee system is also really old.
My wife and I spent last thanksgiving there. And we talked about how the city really needs a double levee like they have in the Nederlands because the design of their levees was bound to fail sooner or later.
What really worries me is that we have heard literally no news from LaFourche county. It’s just south of NOLA and there is like only one main road that weaves back and across a narrow intercoastal all the way to Grand Isle. Those aren’t rich folks. I am scared for them.
D.C. is absolutely correct. Of mayor Nagin, I think he doth protest too much. The barrier islands and parts of Palm County Florida had a mandatory evacuation order when Katrina was only a catagoy 1 hurricane. What was Nagin doing when Katrina was a catagory 5 sitting off the coast? Now he blames the federal government and President Bush for his short comings.
GBA: “I am no Jesse Jackson fan but these postings here are certainly getting to be of the white supremist variety.
They say if you are too far left then you’re a Communist. And if you are too far right then you’re a Nazi.”
ST: What?
JR: Welcome to the ST blog
I wasn’t born colorblind, still I fail to see people based on the color of their skin. I believe in equality for ALL. This is why I have great difficulty understanding people like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton. They are not pushing people to unite, which is exactly what everyone needs to do in this time of crisis.
GBA: Did you care to clarify the following statement?
Denise: I don’t even think they want to be understood. They’re too busy making a living by fanning the flames of racism. If racism ceased to exist, these guys would have to stand in the unemployment line.
You consider calling for people to evacuate the city as doing something?! What good does that do for all of the people who did not have the means to evacuate the city? The U.S. military must have thousands of trucks and helicopters within a day’s drive to New Orleans. Why weren’t these vehicles deployed BEFORE the disaster happened? Even after the disaster happened, it took days before any significant help arrived.
President Bush personally flew all the way from Texas to Washington D.C. just to sign a bill to attempt to prolong the life of a woman who’s brain was no longer functioning. When the lives of tens of thousands of people were endangered in New Orleans by the hurricane, President Bush spent the day after the hurricane struck, at a Medicare event in Arizona and giving a speech on World War II in San Diego. President Bush knew what was happening but failed to act. Tens of thousands of people were stranded at the New Orleans convention center and Superdome without any food, drinking water, or electricity. People died there while waiting for help, including babies.
If the mayor of New Orleans and other local officials made mistakes that contributed to this tragedy, they should be held accountable, but this does not absolve President Bush from any blame. How anyone can consider President Bush blameless for what went on in New Orleans after the hurricane is beyond me.
GBA wrote, “They say if you are too far left then you’re a Communist. And if you are too far right then you’re a Nazi.”
Incorrect. On a political scale -10 is far left and +10 is far right. -10 is the most government and +10 is the LEAST government.
Communism, facism, dictatorships, National Socialists (NAZI’s), regular socialists are to the left. Anarchy is to the complete right. Libertarians want an 80% cut in government.
Brian wrote, “What good does that do for all of the people who did not have the means to evacuate the city?” I understand that bus services were available for those who couldn’t evacuate the city. And bullhorns were used to convince people to evacuate. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink I suppose. And there will always be the armchair first responders to spew misinformed statements.
Brian wrote, “How anyone can consider President Bush blameless for what went on in New Orleans after the hurricane is beyond me.”
Brian – Nobody is saying that Bush is blameless. What we are saying is that those who are heaping on blame (like yourself) are doing so with INCORRECT statements. This is a pattern with you leftists. You get more and more shrill and freaked out when people try to correct you guys and set the record straight. And then you assume we are saying that the president is perfect.
I can tell you that I only agree with the President on about 70% of issues. The president is to the left of center and not a centrist like me. On the political scale I’m about a 0. Leftists seem to have NO political perspective as they are so far to the left that they will say so many things that are provably not true.
You’ll ACTUALLY say things about what the President feels and thinks as IF you know what’s going on in someone else’s brain. That’s the scariest part about liberals. They continually refer to people’s beliefs, thoughts and feelings as if they knew what they were.
It would be akin to me stating that I believe you are for the destruction of this country (which some on the right actually say about liberals). It isn’t productive. Not one bit. If you want to continue down the road of not being productive that is up to you. Only you can change yourself. It’s up to you to look at your own actions and words.
Baklava,
A. That was a quote from Allen Ginsburg.
B. It’s far too early to blame anyone for the obviuosly botched Katrina relief effort.
C. I am also a libertarian.
D. I think you need to do some studying on how the Bush family makes it’s money.
E. Anarchy is the point in the circle where left and right meet. The point of that quote being that if you go too far one way you may end up where you don’t want to be.
F. Free speech is the American way. And the opinion of a single voice is not counter-productive it’s am American freedom..it’s a right. And last I checked the constitution does not see this right to free speech as counter-productive.
You said that you used to be “Dominant media fed. So are you now submissive media fed?
There were certainly failures at all levels of government during this disaster, and it is a waste of good blogging time to attribute the entire debacle to a particular person or party. To split hairs over who did or failed to do what, and to try to attribute that to a political ideology is at this point premature and heartless, not to mention completely idiotic and unfounded.
Yes, the Mayor’s office could have followed the evacuation scenario. However, Katrina’s point of landfall wasn’t pinpointed until 24 hours before it hit. Organizing a complete evacuation of a major city in that amount of time is nearly impossible. Moving them to the Superdome was probably a safer move then trying to round up 100,000 people in that amount of time, possibly leaving many of the stragglers without adequate shelter as the hurricane hit. Could he have done more? Definitely, but he was neither criminally negligent nor wholly at fault for the problems which beset NO.
Now, even before the hurricane hit it was apparent that the city was not going to be able to handle this crisis on their own. Now that it DID happen, why was FEMA so slow to respond? Bush is taking flak because:
A)He was on vacation at the time, which he has already been criticized for.
B)Rescue efforts have been incredibly slow.
C)Most people believe (correctly) that at this point relief efforts should be primarily in the hands of the military or federal relief agencies, which are under Bush’s authority to deploy, and as mentioned above, have bungled the rescue efforts just as effectively.
D)Bush has touted the merits of the federal relief agencies as if things were going perfectly, even as Brown and Chertoff have admitted to withholding requests for further relief until almost a day after the hurricane, as well as attempting to sugar-coat the federal response in a political maneuver shifting blame to local and state governments.
You turn this into a partisan debate, then you wonder why everyone is mad at everyone? When Bush hunkers down with his own party even as there is a humanitarian crisis going on, of course people are going to be mad. This has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with the loss of the human aspect of this tragedy as politicians commence the political wrangling even as thousands are still trapped in NO 8 days later.
“You turn this into a partisan debate, then you wonder why everyone is mad at everyone?”
*I* didn’t turn this into a partisan debate. You can thank the blame Bush crowd for that. As a result, people weren’t just going to let their charges go unanswered.
GBA wrote, “I think you need to do some studying on how the Bush family makes it’s money.”
Why? Are you accusing him of having broken the law? Who has the case against him? You?
GBA wrote, “F. Free speech is the American way. And the opinion of a single voice is not counter-productive it’s am American freedom..it’s a right”
You can say anything you want to your wife (hypothetically). But many things would be counterproductive towards a good healthy relationship. I’m not saying you CAN’T say what you want. I’m just pointing out that you aren’t adding anything with your rhetoric when you spout blame Bush rhetoric. There is plenty to criticize the president for and I do also. But to do so without perspective, common sense, logic or truth will get you return rhetoric questioning the lack of perspective and PRODUCTIVENESS especially during a disaster.
GBA wrote, “I am also a libertarian.”
And how would a libertarian government that was 80% smaller have been able to respond to this disaster any better?
PJB wrote, “Moving them to the Superdome was probably a safer move”
and should’ve been followed up with delivery of food and water. There should’ve been personnel tasked to clean the bathrooms even.
PJB wrote, “Could he have done more?”
Yes. He could’ve used buses to transport people to the SuperDome as that was what the evacuation procedure called for.
PJB wrote, “it was apparent that the city was not going to be able to handle this crisis on their own”
No. That’s where the state comes in because Gov Blanco is in charge of her state’s national guard (not Bush). They could’ve been tasked to the Superdome to feed and give water and keep the peace and keep the bathrooms clean.
PJB wrote, “why was FEMA so slow to respond?” According to the other state governors FEMA responded quickly to every one of their requests. FEMA is a response organization. Second responders. The state requests, FEMA responds. Also, FEMA does not do Law Enforcement. When the circumstances of law enforcement needs were clear it would’ve really behooved Govenor Blanco to not wait 24 hours to make a decision for the federal government to provide total coverage of the problem.
PJB incorrectly writes, “as if things were going perfectly”
Find us that quote PJB. I listened to Bush’s words everyday last week. He didn’t even intimate that was the case.
PJB and webmistress. You guys cause your own distress. All of the “setting of the record straight” that we are doing is in response to you guys and the Democrat leadership and the dominant media.
If you don’t want us to set the record straight (causing you distress over politics) then don’t make the INITIAL accusations. Cause we’ll be here.