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.

*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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

[...]these postings here are certainly getting to be of the white supremist variety.

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.

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

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.

I do agree with your point that the victims are not refugees, but Americans.

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.