First lady Laura Bush also met with hurricane survivors at the Cajundome, an evacuation center in Lafayette, La., about 130 miles west of New Orleans, and echoed the president's message. Mrs. Bush cleared up the misunderstanding in New Orleans quite well, she said “why is everyone so gloomy? You people are actually better off living in the foot ball stadium, your previous dwellings were really bad”.
The failure to smoothly evacuate New Orleans threatened to harm Bush's credibility at a time when his approval ratings are already at a record low. Just like the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in which Bush's unconcerned, laid back do as I please posture earned him the titles "Deer in the Headlights", King George II, Nuclear George, George "Bananas" Bush, from Democrats and Republicans, the administration's response to Katrina has drawn more scorn than praise.
Four days after the Category 4 hurricane triggered floods that devastated the city, many residents and city officials were still venting at federal authorities, who insisted that their response plan was working well.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin broke protocol with a blunt, expletive-laced interview with a local radio station Thursday night in which he accused G.W Bush and the federal government of "feeding the people a line of bull.'' Bush said there were 40,000 rescuerers coming to aid the people of New Orleans … guess what only 400 came.
"Put a moratorium on press conferences,'' Nagin told WWL-radio. "Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city. ... Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here George. They're not here. It's too doggone late. Too may have died. Now get off your asses, and let's do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country."
Bush toured the destruction in Mississippi and Alabama, where he earned high praise from those states' before landing in New Orleans. (Remember the Rich stick together.)
In New Orleans, Nagin stood silently at Bush's side at the airport for a news conference in which Bush pledged his usual line of Bull Crap which was written for him before hand so he won’t sound like the idiot he is.
The situation on the streets of New Orleans apparently was deemed too unstable for Bush to mingle with angry crowds of refugees. Asking Bush why has he not helped his own American people?. Umm … maybe because New Orleans is predominately black? There I said it … someone had to. Bush left and delivered his statement on the ground at the airport, 15 miles from downtown.
As he delivered his babble to a couple of people and reporters, some city leaders complained that -- despite the flow of food, medicine and water -- the government was failing in the most basic task of evacuating thousands of destitute people from the deteriorating city.
"Don't give me your money. Don't send me $10 million today. Give me buses and gas. Buses and gas. Buses and gas," said Democratic Louisiana state Rep. Karen Carter, whose district includes the French Quarter. "If you have to commandeer Greyhound, commandeer Greyhound. ... If you don't get a bus, if we don't get them out of there, they will die. However, we cannot manage the gas, the prices are too much for us to afford" “Sorry” Bush said. "Don't buy gas if you don't need it" Bush's advice on how to deal with the rising cost of fuel.
Isn’t that just dandy ?