Bush Denies Racial Component to Response

[Rose Siding]

NEW ORLEANS - President Bush on Monday denied there was any racial component to people being left behind after Hurricane Katrina, despite assertions by some that the response would have been faster if so many of the victims were not poor and black.

"The storm didn't discriminate and neither will the recovery effort," Bush said. "The rescue efforts were comprehensive. The recovery will be comprehensive."

Bush made the remarks to reporters at the end of a tour that took him through several flooded New Orleans neighborhoods. Occasionally, Bush had to duck to avoid low-hanging electrical wires and branches.
....
Bush also rejected suggestions that the nation's military was stretched too thinly with the war in Iraq to deal with the Gulf Coast devastation. "We've got plenty of troops to do both," he said. "It is preposterous to claim that the engagement in Iraq meant there weren't enough troops."

Yahoo link

[xxqqqzme]

1. Deny, deny, deny - who is

the party of 'no' again?

[Frances]

2. How stupid can Bush be?

"It is preposterous to claim that the engagement in Iraq meant there weren't enough troops."

Then why are the same troops being sent back to Iraq for second and third tours?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

46. Pretty stupid. nt

[FloridaPat]

3. * lips are moving therefore he's lying.

[rock]

11. And when they're not moving

He's thinking of a lie to tell.

[skooooo]

4. If I were Bush.....

I would NOT have touched this issue with a 10 foot pole.

backlash backlash

[Pirate Smile]

5. Isn't every day with Bush opposite day?

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. In some sense, it might be true

When the requests started coming in, whose do you think rose to the priority one level...the Governors and elected officials with (D) or (R)?

[Junkdrawer]

7. Mr. Bush, Please explain this then:

'Racist' police blocked bridge and forced evacuees back at gunpoint

[NNN0LHI]

8. Has this guy ever told the truth about ANYTHING in his life? n/t

[JVS]

18. Would anyone in the world admit to such a thing?

Did you honestly expect him to say, "You see, those people were black. For this reason we had no interest in helping them."

[NNN0LHI]

22. Because Bush's minions claim he is a man of God

I would expect the truth from someone who claims to be a man of God. Guess we can scratch that one.

Don

[freestyle]

9. Will the gov't fully support everyone who wants to return?

Unless the answer is an unqualified yes with support for New Orleanians to return to and rebuild their city and fully participate in the economy, the the initial racist response will be compounded by the further racism of removing the Black population of the area.

The ongoing test is who will benefit from the rebuilding.

[Arkansas Granny]

10. Bush can deny this all he wants. He lives in a make believe world.

We all saw the faces on TV and they were predominantly black. Whether it was racial or cultural doesn't really matter at this point. Most of the black people in my neighborhood see it as being racial and are quite angry about it and I don't blame them. I'm pretty angry about it myself.

[bluedog]

12. did you see that Coast Guard man?

he was swallowing hard and looked like he was biting his lip to not scream out.shut the hell up......his body language was quite tense.......

[Merlot]

13. It's preposterous to claim that race wasn't an issue...

But keep on defending yourself. Just keep backing yourself into that corner. It's nice and safe and cozy with two walls behind you.

[confludemocrat]

29. Right. But this is where other than Dean and Kanye West, no other Dem is

stating that racial discrimination is a reality in 2005 in relation to Exhibit A the N. O. nonresponse. They are scared. Even now when they are called upon by history and the importance of the moment. For shame.

[Lerkfish]

35. cynthia mckinney is

(don't know if I spelled her name correctly.)

[mod mom]

14. We saw it in the racist treatment of black voters in Ohio in '04, in FL in

2000, and now it raises it's ugly head again. He can deny it all he wants, but the facts are out there.

Did anyone really think he would admit to this? His whole MO is LIES, DEATH AND DESTRUCTION!

[Raster]

37. * used racial discrimination to get himself the pResidency. A leopard

does not change its spots.

[MO_Dem]

15. He DODGED that bullet! Would not

directly answer the question! Why not?? I think there is more in what he did not say than there is what he did say! Trying to have it both ways--can't admit to discrimination, but won't outright deny it.

[bunkerbuster1]

16. It isn't about race.

It's about poor Democrats, who only happen to be mostly brown-skinned.

I can believe that. The pekkah knows no bigatrah...

[Julius Civitatus]

17. Denial: the true legacy of the Bush administration

Just deny anything exists, and voilà, it's gone! If you bury your head in the sand... does it mean the troubles no longer exist? Well, that's the Republican way.

[short bus president]

19. Racism and Republicanism are

two sides of the same ugly coin. No getting around it.

[barb162]

20. No flames needed but I think he's right on this; it 's incompetence

not racism. I was listening to a black government official of Gulfport on Friday and he said they haven't even seen a FEMA person yet. And I mean Friday, 9/9/05, 11 days after the hurricane. The people in Mississippi, and I don't know the racial makeup of the coast there, but they are getting shitty to no help there too. I think it is about incomparable incompetence that has caused this; Bush loaded FEMA with his hacks who didn't and still don't know what the hell they are doing.

a quote from Senator Obama (D., IL)
"It is way too simplistic just to say this administration doesn't care about black people," Obama said in a Tribune interview. "I think it is entirely accurate to say that this administration's policies don't take into account the plight of poor people in poor communities and this is a tragic reflection of that indifference, but I also have to say that it's an indifference that is not entirely partisan"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0509120140sep12,1,5984193.story?coll=chi-news-hed

[Junkdrawer]

24. Please read the link at post #7 and then say racism wasn't involved.. n/t

[barb162]

31. Those were not FEDERAL government people under Bush

who did that. Um, that incident is 110% racist.

"They identified the police as officers from the city of Gretna."
(*from the link)

[Junkdrawer]

36. And isn't it convenient that by Thursday evening, two days after the...

World was outraged by the conditions at the Convention Center, BOTH Chertoff and Brown claimed to not know there were thousands trapped at the Convention Center.

I'm sorry, that doesn't pass the Laugher Test:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4828771

[barb162]

38. Convenient? More like those two are not in this solar system n/t

[Junkdrawer]

42. Self delete - posted wrong spot

[PurityOfEssence]

21. When it comes to ignoring po' folk, he's truly color blind

None of them gets any consideration.

[barb162]

23. It's a world that doesn't exist for him.

His silver-spoon-in-the -mouth background and his lack of any inquiry into how others live...it just doesn't occur to him that others are suffering. Plus he's a sociopath anyway and incompetent himself. To the Bush family, compassion is just a word, like soup is a word.

[weiser]

25. A Dem response to every word.....

Dems int he Senate and house must respond to absolutely everything "false" that comes out of the President of GOP's mouth...!! why do we allow them to feed the media with BS...!!!

There must be an official Dem response each and every time. And it's so bloody easy to to! We could even use DU to officially inform the Democratic Patry of the BS we hear from the GOP.....


The media would then be forced to add the Dem response when they go to publication! If they don't all hell should be let loose.


It works in the UK, why not in the US...??

[NYC]

40. Welcome, weiser.

Not all Democrats care.

[KittyWampus]

26. 2 words, "Southern Strategy"

[Junkdrawer]

27. .

[alarcojon]

28. It's great that he felt forced to respond to this

It's like "No, I don't beat my wife."

Rove's meager inroads into the black community lie in tatters.

[Akoto]

30. Heh. Yeah, like ...

He'd ever come out and say that he has no respect for the minorities in his country.

[henslee]

32. Ha, just the fact that he is forced to deny it is fucking delicious.

[baldguy]

33. Methinks the monkey doth protest too much.

The fact is the people of New Orleans - no matter what their economic status - do not give money to bush and his cronies. As long as they are not a good source of income, they will be ignored by the GOP.

[MissMarple]

34. Right, so, let's ask if he still beats his wife.

"Bush Denies He Beats His Wife". Just denying the fact makes it more visible.

However, I really don't think it was the fact that it was black people left behind, it just wasn't politically expedient, as they saw it, at the time. They left POOR people behind, and a few tourists, the random Spanish diplomat, etc. Big miscalculation, HUGE.

They were asleep at the wheel or on vacation. This is the face of incompetence colored with hubris. What we have here is a failed vision of government, a failing government.

[truthisfreedom]

39. the storm didn't discriminate? OF COURSE IT DID. it disproportinally hurt

the poor because they couldn't evacuate. what a schmuck.

[buzzsaw_23]

41. hmmm?

[Junkdrawer]

43. And now NPR is helping the Gretna authorities justify their actions...

Why, their actions kept out the "looters" and is allowing Gretna to return to normal far ahead of New Orleans. And Racist? Why, some of the Gretna police were black, so how could it be racist...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4847872

[geniph]

44. Well, good! So glad he's cleared that up.

I feel much better, don't you?

:puke:

[Megahurtz]

45. Deny, deny,

cover, cover, Bushit, Bushit, and on and on.

:sarcasm:

[SIU_Blue]

47. I'd like to add a point that Cafferty made on CNN

During the Schaivo debacle, the Repubs made sure that congress rushed in on a SUNDAY, so that they could sign their little injunctions and such.

When New Orleans was drowning, Repub leaders in Congress sauntered in 2 and 3 DAYS later!!!!

Keep yapping *, your credibility has departed with your FEMA director.

[Massacure]

48. Of course it isn't racial, its class warfare.

Bush hates poor people. Black people are poor. Therefor Bush hates blacks.

I guess Bush never studied the transitive property in math. :shrug: