Well, *obviously* New Orleans in Bush's fault!Follow

What did you think the Area 51 weather testing facility was for?

I wouldn't mind if Bush pressed for an independant investigation instead of one lead by Republicans.

Oh, to prevent blame...

Have you ever thought of running for president?

Edited, Wed Sep 21 16:14:12 2005 by PraetorianX

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/08/sr.thurs/index.html



While CNN hasn't gone in depth about it (yet), at least it's mentioned elsewhere then a blog or non-credited source.

I'm sure when the blame game really opens up (after these hurricanes stop taking up media time, and NOLA starts being rebuilt again), it'll be more prominent.

Nope.

Dunno, but we'll find out in a few years.



Ohh CNN said it, so it's true!
CNN has lost so much credibility in the recent years, not to mention a "tiny" biased reporting and a tendency to try to sway the public to view something their way. Isn't the news supposed to report stuff?

Hell when Katrina happened and the people were in the Astrodome (15 miles from me), CNN was interviewing em. The people were saying positive things, and saying Bush did not handle it too poorly. Then CNN starts trying to dig up some things about Bush that they had no intent on saying.
i.e.
CNN: Well, what do you think about Bush's poor response time?
What do you think about Bush's inability to react?

Fin

Edit: Just so yall know, I don't support nor dislike Bush. I just think its stupid how everything nowadays is trying to bash Bush instead of making society better or reporting things of importance. Sure lots of people dislike Bush, but if he's that bad, how come he got re-elected? Oh and also those of yall who did not vote should not be complaining, granted if you were inable to vote this does not apply to you.

Edited, Wed Sep 21 17:05:28 2005 by Kinsu

I'm running for president!!
Vote for me!

I promise *lie#1, #2, #3, .....#19942.....#4, #5, etc.*

Oh and then some!

Vote for me!

No I'm not, but from what I've seen CNN has little credibility. It's my fault for lack of understanding before posting, but in general, CNN is more bashing than reporting.

And yes it would be an interesting argument to say CNN is biased towards the conservative side. I for one will not make it though as from what I've seen, its a heavy liberal bias.

Edit:
I was not making an attack on the poster, but I was going to state the way I viewed CNN, so apologies to the poster and anyone else who interpreted that as something against someone other than CNN.

As for now, however, I must pack up as I live in Houston lol.

Edited, Wed Sep 21 17:36:19 2005 by Kinsu

Amazing, maybe you could be a little more specific, like exactly what to do?

Wow. What an amazing amount of misinformation there. You are aware that editorials don't have to be truthful, right? This one's a classic case...

All factual information is from this timeline.



First off. Only a president can declare a federal state of emergency, but they can only do that on US soil after they have been asked by the governor of the affected state. This is relevant because of this:

Saturday, August 27th:

Governor Blanco requests that President Bush declare a major disaster for the State of Louisiana in a letter through FEMA Region VI Director Gary Jones [7]. In the 4-page letter, Blanco makes specific requests under the Stafford Act for aid (housing, counseling, unemployment, and Small business funding) as well as requesting "direct Federal assistance for work and services to save lives and protect property" (by removing debris) and agrees to reduced liability but does not request federal troops to be deployed in the state until August 31. Per the constitution Federal troops are unable to be deployed to a state without this specific written request from the Governor

and Bush's response (on the same day):

In response to Governor Blanco's request, President Bush declares a Federal state of emergency in Louisiana under the authority of the Stafford Act [12]. The emergency declaration provides for federal assistance and funding [13] and assigns to FEMA, by law, the responsibility for coordinating relief efforts [14]. Blanco's request and the subsequent declaration [15] do not cover the parishes expected to receive the most damage, like Jefferson Parish and New Orleans (Orleans Parish). All other Southeast Louisiana Parishes were mentioned by name in Blanco's request.


So. Bush *did* respond more then 24 hours before the hurricane hit. The only difference in the scope and type of response was based on the specific aid requested by Governor Blanco. She *didn't* request federal troops. She *didn't* request relief for the areas that most needed it.




*cough* See above. He can't send troops until she asks for them. She didn't. We had plenty of national guard troops available. We just couldn't use them legally until Wednesday. That's not Bush's fault. That's governor Blanco's fault.




Same deal. Bush did have the national guard ready, as well as the coast guard, and several ships deployed in the Gulf (of Mexico). They were all sitting there idly waiting for Blanco to get off her butt and allow them to do their jobs.



Nice bit of retelling. Um... The president doesn't stop what he's doing when something happens. Perhaps he should have done what Mayor Nagin did and run off into the flooded streets to "be with the people", instead of staying in communication with his EM teams so he could actually do his job.

None of those things Bush did prevented the aid that was needed to help the people of NO from being available. We had *tons* of aid available. Governor Blanco refused to allow that aid in, and what aid FEMA had on the ground that was requested was hampered by the absolute lack of any local organization. FEMA arrived and had no clue what they were supposed to be doing because there was no organized plan or record of what the local guys had been doing for the last 48 hours.




This is alarmist rhectoric. Pure and simple. The levee's broke before the weather cleared enough for *any* helicopter to fly into the area. That bit is irrelevant. The port wasn't "under attack". It was hit by a hurricane. One has to wonder why "the port", and those responsible for managing it, weren't better prepared for something as likely as a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. By all accounts they pretty much threw up their hands and paniced instead of actually doing anything useful.




Lol! Nice bit of fiction. No. The mayor didn't beg for Federal coordination. He begged for undefined "help!". What he should have been doing instead of standing hip deep in water in the center of NO making noise in front of the TV cameras, was presenting evacuation details and EM plans to the FEMA guys at a command center somewhere. Communication requires two parties. He was supposed to be one of those parties. Why on earth was he not working with the FEMA folks? What exactly did he think he was doing? Whatever it was, he wasn't acting like a mayor. It was his job to coordinate with the state and federal EM groups. Yet for some odd reason he made no direct contact with them for 3 days after the hurricane hit!

But it's all Bush's fault...




Well. Considering Blanco didn't ask for federal troops to assist until Wednesday, I'm curious what you thought he was supposed to be doing? Charge in there like John Wayne, pistols blazing? Real life doesn't work like a Hollywood movie. In the real world, Bush is perfectly capable of doing every single thing he needed to do to perform his job no matter where he is. You know why? Because he's got a working communications network. He can be golfing somewhere in California and still recieve up to the minute information about a storm in NO. He can give orders that will be followed. This is a lesson that perhaps the government of NO and LA should pay attention to, because apparently neither the city or state level had *any* sort of command and communication structure in place to deal with this sort of emergency.


Nothing in that list of activities prevented Bush from doing his job. Bush literally did everything he could to assist with this disaster. But his hands are tied by the law and by a governor who apparently thought things would just blow over and she wouldn't need much federal help. That was a grave mistake. One that cost her state dearly. To try to push the blame on the federal government is ridiculous.




Bush did that because it's the politically expected thing to do. FEMA did not perform a miracle and save everyone's lives, so he has to take responsibility for that. But as to who is actually at fault? About zero of that fault lies at the federal level. FEMA was handed an impossible task given the lack of organization at the local level, the lack of communication with anyone locally who knew what was going on, and the hamstringing of federal resources as a result of the limits placed by governor Blanco. Yes. They "failed". But they weren't given much of a chance of success in the first place. And the fault for that is 100% the local government leaders.

Edited, Wed Sep 21 20:13:12 2005 by Omegavegeta[/quote]

I thought we had already established the fact that, under the Homeland Security Act, the Federal government has the power to intervene when it deems it necessary.

Ah well...

I'm aware that the state and local governments also sucked. I was illistrating how Bush COULD have done more, and illistrated that fact by providing examples of what other presidents (even the evil Clinton & Nixon) did. You're not exactly denying they did those things are you?

Bush said:


So again, please, make with the stfuing. All three levels of government sucked, but it appears that they may have some idea what to do this time.