Now This Is Funny... Laura Criticizes Myanmar's Response to Crisis?

[Larkinn]

That's right. He should have been in waders, sandbagging.

Gimme a break.

Your right...thats the only power the most powerful man in the world has to help in a domestic situation when a national disaster strikes.

Not like he controls FEMA, the national guard, or any other number of federal agencies and groups. No...really what everyone is suggesting is that he put in a pair of boots and haul sand.

 

[Abelian Sea]

Well, funny in an ironic way, anyhow, since I don't recall her being concerned for the people of NOLA.

Isn't that irony dependent on the similarity between the governments' responses?

I think we did a fair sight better than the junta, even with our delays and bureaucratic clusterfucks.

Not criticizing someone for doing a poor job doesn't make you a hypocrite when you later criticize someone for doing a worse job.


That said, I think it's pretty obvious why Mrs. Bush made these comments. The administration has been critical of the junta's xenophobia and ineffectiveness for a long time before this cyclone. Their poor response and initial reluctance to accept outside help (outstripping even our own Katrina/Rita-related shortcomings) offered a perfect opportunity to repeat those criticisms, and since they have a such a humanitarian, as opposed to politcal, flavor, the First Lady was a good choice to present them.

 

[BrianH]

She did. He fell down on what he signed up to do.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/12/ltm.06.html

"We always assumed that the troops were prepositioned and ready to roll. But they were not."

The governor's office says that hours after the hurricane made landfall on Monday, August 29th, Blanco spoke with President Bush and assumed her request would get the state federal troops.

DENISE BOTTCHER, GOVERNOR BLANCO'S PRESS SECRETARY: And she said we need your help. We need everything you've got. The governor genuinely felt at that time she had asked for help.

LIN: But she did not appeal for federal troops specifically. And her press secretary says she didn't feel she needed to."

By assuming something that was never discussed, she dropped the ball. I'm not saying the federal government (BUSH) is faultless, but the majority of catastrophe lay at the local level. The same year, the entire gulf-coast of Texas completely evacuated without incident before being hammered by a Cat. 3-4 hurricane. Our local and state officials did a great job without gov. assistance. NOLA and State refusal to enact a mandatory evacuation screwed them. IMO.

 

[AllieBaba]

Your right...thats the only power the most powerful man in the world has to help in a domestic situation when a national disaster strikes.

Not like he controls FEMA, the national guard, or any other number of federal agencies and groups. No...really what everyone is suggesting is that he put in a pair of boots and haul sand.

He controls FEMA? Do you mean he sits in on their meetings and coordinates their day-to-day fuckups?

Hardly. You know that the illogical hatred of all things Bush makes you look unstable, right?

 

[Ravi]

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/12/ltm.06.html

"We always assumed that the troops were prepositioned and ready to roll. But they were not."

The governor's office says that hours after the hurricane made landfall on Monday, August 29th, Blanco spoke with President Bush and assumed her request would get the state federal troops.

DENISE BOTTCHER, GOVERNOR BLANCO'S PRESS SECRETARY: And she said we need your help. We need everything you've got. The governor genuinely felt at that time she had asked for help.

LIN: But she did not appeal for federal troops specifically. And her press secretary says she didn't feel she needed to."

By assuming something that was never discussed, she dropped the ball. I'm not saying the federal government (BUSH) is faultless, but the majority of catastrophe lay at the local level. The same year, the entire gulf-coast of Texas completely evacuated without incident before being hammered by a Cat. 3-4 hurricane. Our local and state officials did a great job without gov. assistance. NOLA and State refusal to enact a mandatory evacuation screwed them. IMO.

Brian, when she had a letter delivered to Bush requesting he declare a Federal State of Emergency before the storm hit, she asked for help. That is SOP. Of course she didn't feel she needed to tell Bush his job. Apparently, in that, she was wrong.

 

[Ravi]

The same year, the entire gulf-coast of Texas completely evacuated without incident before being hammered by a Cat. 3-4 hurricane. Our local and state officials did a great job without gov. assistance. NOLA and State refusal to enact a mandatory evacuation screwed them. IMO.

Well, bully for you. Did the levees break and flood out one of your cities? No.

That reminds me, you lost some old people in the evacuation, didn't you. That's why the evacuation of N.O. was so impressive to me. 97% of the city evacuated without a hitch.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Well, bully for you. Did the levees break and flood out one of your cities? No.

That reminds me, you lost some old people in the evacuation, didn't you. That's why the evacuation of N.O. was so impressive to me. 97% of the city evacuated without a hitch.

And those left behind were left because the Governor and Mayor failed to act to evacuate them. Then failed to provide adequate shelter and failed to provide security, food and water at the shelters they forced these people into by not evacuating them.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Which of those are lies? They are all a matter of historical record.

As a matter of fcact they are not. The HISTORICAL record shows that the Federal Response was on par with every other disaster and that preperations were proper and correct. Given the conditions and the inability to move right after the Government was timely and effective in its response. The Governor failed to preposition Guardsmen in the City, keeping them all around her. She failed to request Army assistance in a timely manner. The Mayor failed to use his available resources to evacuate the poor , he failed to station police at evacuation shelters and he failed to stock food and water at several of them. Then he failed to inform FEMA of all the centers and to provide up to date information on the conditions at said centers.

That is the HISTORICAL record.

 

[Ravi]

And those left behind were left because the Governor and Mayor failed to act to evacuate them. Then failed to provide adequate shelter and failed to provide security, food and water at the shelters they forced these people into by not evacuating them.

You cannot physically force people to evacuate. The mayor did the next best thing for people that didn't want to leave their homes until the last minute. He opened up the football stadium.

In every hurricane there are people that refuse to evacuate. That's just the way things are. Nagin managed to get 97% of the city evacuated. That's an astounding success.

But you are wondering off topic. Bush didn't live up to what he signed up to do.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

You cannot physically force people to evacuate. The mayor did the next best thing for people that didn't want to leave their homes until the last minute. He opened up the football stadium.

In every hurricane there are people that refuse to evacuate. That's just the way things are. Nagin managed to get 97% of the city evacuated. That's an astounding success.

But you are wondering off topic. Bush didn't live up to what he signed up to do.

Bullshit we are NOT talking about people that did not want to leave, we are talking about people unable to leave because they had no vehicles to do so with.

And you are making shit up. The response time was on par with every other disaster.

 

[doeton]

"Marie Antionette is a perfect example of why it's stupid to expect the government to "fix" every disaster."

oh my bad...i thought she was an example of what happens to unresponsive governments.

LOL...thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Ravi]

As a matter of fcact they are not. The HISTORICAL record shows that the Federal Response was on par with every other disaster and that preperations were proper and correct. Given the conditions and the inability to move right after the Government was timely and effective in its response. The Governor failed to preposition Guardsmen in the City, keeping them all around her. She failed to request Army assistance in a timely manner. The Mayor failed to use his available resources to evacuate the poor , he failed to station police at evacuation shelters and he failed to stock food and water at several of them. Then he failed to inform FEMA of all the centers and to provide up to date information on the conditions at said centers.

That is the HISTORICAL record.

1. She followed SOP, she asked Bush to declare a federal state of emergency. He did so. He didn't follow through.

2. You don't put the NG inside a city that you think is about to be destroyed. You have them stand by in safety to provide rescue afterwards.

3. The Mayor evacuated 97% of the city. It isn't legal to forcefully drag people from their homes.

4. There were police at shelters and there was food and water. There just wasn't enough. Not unexpected since the city had never been through such an event before.

None of this excuses Bush failure to do what he signed on to do.

 

[Ravi]

Bullshit we are NOT talking about people that did not want to leave, we are talking about people unable to leave because they had no vehicles to do so with.

And you are making shit up. The response time was on par with every other disaster.

Nope. I am not making this up. I've been through plenty of hurricanes. The response time was on par to Poppa Bush's response to Andrew, only Katrina was a much bigger disaster.

The mayor had no vehicles to evacuate them, even if they chose to leave. No one to drive the buses.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

1. She followed SOP, she asked Bush to declare a federal state of emergency. He did so. He didn't follow through.

2. You don't put the NG inside a city that you think is about to be destroyed. You have them stand by in safety to provide rescue afterwards.

3. The Mayor evacuated 97% of the city. It isn't legal to forcefully drag people from their homes.

4. There were police at shelters and there was food and water. There just wasn't enough. Not unexpected since the city had never been through such an event before.

None of this excuses Bush failure to do what he signed on to do.

Wait? If the Guard couldn't be there then why do you think the Army SHOULD have been? Again you idiot, the response was timely and went as fast as it could given the conditions present to clear the roads and bridges to reach the city.

Be consistat or admit you are a partisan hack.

 

[Ravi]

Wait? If the Guard couldn't be there then why do you think the Army SHOULD have been? Again you idiot, the response was timely and went as fast as it could given the conditions present to clear the roads and bridges to reach the city.

Be consistat or admit you are a partisan hack.

I didn't say the army should be there. I said Bush didn't live up to his end of the bargain. He waited days before sending supplies, rescue people and relief.

You have no idea what a hurricane is like, do you? Once it passes the winds are GONE. No reason in the world they couldn't have reached the city almost immediately.

 

[Shogun]

Nagin sucked. Blanco REALLY sucked. and, yes, bush via brownie sucked.

Katrina wasn't wholly a republican failure.

 

[Ravi]

Nagin sucked. Blanco REALLY sucked. and, yes, bush via brownie sucked.

Katrina wasn't wholly a republican failure.

I don't like Nagin either but he actually did a pretty good job.

The federal government's failure to live up to their end of the bargain was the part that was a Republican failure.

 

[Dogger]

Well, funny in an ironic way, anyhow, since I don't recall her being concerned for the people of NOLA.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-05-05-laura-bush_N.htm

If Bush gave the statement himself, he'd have to face questions about NOLA, and his failure to follow through on his promise to rebuild the city. He needed to accuse Myanmar, however, so he relied on the only member of his team with credibility left (Barney probably had something else on his calendar).

On a side note, does anyone know why USA Today is refusing to call it Myanmar and is calling it Burma? Just curious.

Maybe they hadn't heard about the change. Or maybe they dumbed it down for those who only know the area as Burma.

 

[BrianH]

Well, bully for you. Did the levees break and flood out one of your cities? No.

That reminds me, you lost some old people in the evacuation, didn't you. That's why the evacuation of N.O. was so impressive to me. 97% of the city evacuated without a hitch.

As for your first response, She HAS to ask for federal troops. It's not telling Bush his job. He can't perform THAT job without being asked. She asked for assistance and he complied. However, if NOLA had been completely evacuated before hand, they would have never needed to be in the frickin mess they were in. What happened was, the frickin people of NOLA that didn't leave, started looting the crap out of the city, then when the levies broke they said, "Oh shit!"

If the levees had failed in one of our cities, no one would have been there to die. You wouldn't have seen hundreds and hundred of bodies floating around in the water. Do you remember seeing the hundreds of school buses (that could have been used to evacuate the elderly and sick) that became flooded in?? The City and State gov. failed the city of NO. It seems like local and state gov. want to do things their own way until they screw-up, then they blame the federal government.

 

[Shogun]

I don't like Nagin either but he actually did a pretty good job.

The federal government's failure to live up to their end of the bargain was the part that was a Republican failure.

Nagin did a good job?

http://www.snopes.com/katrina/photos/buses.asp



heheh.. ooooook.




Nagin was tested and failed. Not to mention, that he started becomming batshit crazy afterwards. God wants NO to be a chocolate city, Ravi. You'd think a guy who talks to god like that could have predicted Katrina better than Miss Cleo.


And, let's not forget Blanco, a Dem, who was also a complete failure. sure, Bush's "little buddy" syndrome came to bite him in the ass but blaming Katrina on republicans is extremely retarded.