Already calculating the political ramifications...

[insein]

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ce729a38-eef0-11d8-848a-00000e2511c8.html

This is wh politics is a dirty business. Analysts don't understand that Bush is actually doing this because he genuinely as a Human Being cares about the damage and lives lost in Florida. Instead this article focuses on what the writer perceives to be a political move to goto Florida in order to save votes.

Truly sickening.

Bush visits Florida hurricane devastation
By Henry Hamman in Miami andJames Harding in Washington
Published: August 15 2004 20:25 | Last updated: August 15 2004 20:25

President George W. Bush on Sunday toured parts of Florida devastated by hurricane Charley, a natural disaster loaded with unforeseen costs for the state government of Jeb Bush, his brother, and for his re-election.


Opinion polls suggest Mr Bush is losing ground in Florida to John Kerry, the Democratic challenger, and the White House has been eager to ensure the president does not repeat the mistakes of his father when hurricane Andrew struck in 1992.

Hurricane Charley has cost an estimated $14.5bn in damage, which could have a costly aftermath for the insurance industry, individual homeowners and Florida's own state finances. The $22bn losses suffered by underwriters after hurricane Andrew prompted a restructuring of the state's insurance industry that decreased private underwriters' exposure, injected state government into the residential insurance market and increased homeowners' liability. Battered homeowners will now find much less of their loss is covered. Tens of thousands of people seeking to rebuild their homes will be looking to the federal government for assistance.

When Andrew struck during the 1992 election campaign, George H.W. Bush was criticised for moving slowly with aid. He was then faulted for over-compensating by pledging to rebuild Homestead air force base even though military officials questioned its value. Mr Bush sent in federal assistance over the weekend and went for an aerial tour of the worst hit parts of Florida, a central stretch of the state that includes some of the most fiercely contested electoral constituencies.

The area attracts retirees, many of whom live in modest manufactured homes or trailers - the two types of housing most susceptible to wind damage. Their losses are becoming a focus of media coverage and the elderly are a powerful voting bloc.

After months of polls showing Mr Kerry and Mr Bush neck-and-neck, the challenger has begun to show a discernible lead.

A Quinnipiac University poll last week showed Mr Kerry had the backing of 47 per cent of the state's registered votes, while Mr Bush has 41 per cent. An American Research Group poll a week earlier put Mr Kerry in the lead.

For the casualty underwriters, hurricane Charley will be the first serious test of how the restructured industry withstands catastrophic loss. By shifting many of its high risk policies to the quasi-governmental Citizens Property Insurance Corp, the industry cut its exposure. The industry-wide introduction of a 2 per cent deductible $4,000 out of the pocket of the owner of a $200,000 house is much higher than the $500 deductibles common in 1992.

 

[clumzgirl]

Liberal media? What liberal media?

 

[krisy]

Ya know,no matter what he did,it wouldn't have been good enough for some people. Too early,too late,who knows what the right answer was. Maybe the President should consult this asshole next time he has a decision to make.

 

[Hobbit]

The motto of the liberal media is, "Bush can do no right." I even saw a political cartoon this week (I love conservative Georgia, where the Democrats are spoken for by Zell Miller, who's speaking at the RNC) where a news commentator says, "32,000 jobs were added this month and the jobless rate dropped to 5.5%. What's the bad news, you say? Um, that is the bad news."

 

[nakedemperor]

Anyone who attacks the president for visiting a natural disaster site in his own country is seriously damaged.

And to Hobbit's last post, no one can deny that the economy is recovering and jobs are being created. But why should Bush be credited for regaining some of the 2.5 million lost jobs during his tenure, or for slowing down the rate at which the deficit he created will grow next year? It doesn't really make sense to me... That being said, neither does the political cartoon you mentioned.

 

[Hobbit]

Anyone who attacks the president for visiting a natural disaster site in his own country is seriously damaged.

And to Hobbit's last post, no one can deny that the economy is recovering and jobs are being created. But why should Bush be credited for regaining some of the 2.5 million lost jobs during his tenure, or for slowing down the rate at which the deficit he created will grow next year? It doesn't really make sense to me... That being said, neither does the political cartoon you mentioned.

First off, the president has quite a bit to do with the economy, though he doesn't deserve the credit he gets, and if Clinton got praised so much for his economic stuff, Bush should take credit for his, especially considering he introducted most of the beneficial economic bills.

As for the political cartoon, it's making fun of how commentators are trying their hardest to make Bush look bad, but sometimes, they just can't do it.

 

[krisy]

emperor,weren't a lot of these jobs lost after 9-11? They had to have been because he wasn't in office very long at that time. No one can deny the effect that had on jobs and the economy. In other words,it doesn't appear that the job loss was Bush's fault. He has been able through tax cuts to get economy going again.

 

[Avatar4321]

Anyone who attacks the president for visiting a natural disaster site in his own country is seriously damaged.

And to Hobbit's last post, no one can deny that the economy is recovering and jobs are being created. But why should Bush be credited for regaining some of the 2.5 million lost jobs during his tenure, or for slowing down the rate at which the deficit he created will grow next year? It doesn't really make sense to me... That being said, neither does the political cartoon you mentioned.

Well why shouldnt Bush be credited for the economy? He inherited a recession, multiplied by corporate scandals from the 90s that finally broke and then the unthought of 911 attacks, yet despite this we have one of the fastest growing economies in 20 years and unemployment is under what it was when Clinton was re elected for his "economic boom" in the 90s. The economy is in pretty dang good shape and considering the tax cuts are a huge reason for that why the heck shouldnt Bush take credit for it?

As for the deficit, we went through a recession and the spending wasnt capped to counter it. multiply the fact that we have to rebuild military and intelligence infrostructure because Senator Kerry and his friends gutted it, nearly trippled the education budget, among other things and republicans havent been able to impliment their measures to control spending yet, we are doing pretty darn good.

I still think we need a constitutional ammendment to require the government be audited require that the government itself run on the standards it makes corporations run on.