Was this anti-Bush letter ever verified?

[NewJeffCT]

A version of this was on DU last week and would make a great LTTE for those who think Nagin/Blanco should have been the first to respond. Because it was so hard to follow posts online this past week, I never found out if it was verified... and, I don't even know who the original poster was. Obviously, it would have to be updated to the current tense...

In September 1999, Hurricane Floyd -- a category 3 -- was bearing down the Carolinas and Virginia. President Clinton was in Christchurch, New Zealand - meeting with President
Jiang of China. He made the proclamation that only Presidents can make and declared the areas affected by Floyd "Federal Disaster Areas" so the National Guard and Military can begin to mobilize. Then he cut short his meetings overseas and flew home to coordinate the rescue efforts. This all one day BEFORE a Cat-3 hit the coast. That is how you do it.

President Bush (41) -- August, 1992 -- was in the midst of a brutal campaign for re-election. Yet, he cut off his campaigning the day before and went to Washington where he martialed the largest military operation on US soil in history. He sent in 7,000 National Guard and 22,000 regular military personnel, and all the gear to begin the clean up within hours after Hurricane Andrew passed through Florida. 'Cause, you know, those people and their stuff was
actually where it belonged, rather than being used for insurgent
target-practice halfway around the world in a vain effort to make Iraq safe for Iranian takeover.

In August of 1969 when Cat-5 Hurricane Camille hit roughly the same area as Katrina, President Nixon had already readied the National Guard and ordered all Gulf rescue vessels and equipment from Tampa and Houston to follow the Hurricane in. There were over 1,000 regular military with two dozen helicopters to assist the Coast Guard and National Guard within hours after the skies cleared.

Bush 43 - August 2005 - Cat-5 Hurricane Katrina bears down on New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf. Both states are down nearly 8,000 National Guard troops because they are in Iraq -- with most of the rescue gear needed. Bush is on vacation. The day before Katrina makes landfall, Bush rides his bike for two hours. The day she hits, he goes to John McCain's birthday party and speaks to seniors about the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company welfare boondoggle. People are dying, the largest port of entry in the United States (and fifth largest in the World) is under attack. Troops and
supplies are desperately needed. The levees are cracking and the emergency 1-1/2 ton sandbags are ready, but there aren't enough helicopters or pilots to set them before the levees fail. The mayor of New Orleans begs for Federal coordination, but there is none, and the sandbagging never gets done. So Bush -- naturally -- goes to San Diego to play guitar with a country singer and tells the military about how Iraq is just exactly like WWII. The levees give way, filling New Orleans with water, sewage, oil and chemicals.
Ten percent of all US exports, and 50% of all agricultural exports ordinarly go through this port. It is totally destroyed. Bush decides he'll end his vacation a couple of days early - BECAUSE HE HAS TICKETS TO A PADRES GAME! He goes back to the 'Farm' in Crawford on Wednesday, with every intention of doing something on about this disaster that happened starting last Sunday night.

[wakeme2008]

1. kick because I want to know too nt

[NewJeffCT]

3. me, too

I wish adv. search was on...

[liberal N proud]

2. I do recall Clinton cutting his vacation short for Floyd.

[AZCat]

4. Here are some reference articles...

Hurricane Floyd Entry on Wikipedia

Hurricane Floyd was a major hurricane which struck the Bahamas and the United States in 1999. The massive storm caused the largest peacetime evacuation ever in the U.S., with millions fleeing from coastal areas in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. The storm paralleled the coast of the four states, only about 60-70 miles (100-110 km) offshore, narrowly averting disaster for hundreds of miles of coastline.

Floyd made landfall on the North Carolina coast on September 16, and went on to cause torrential rains and high winds throughout the rest of the mid-atlantic as far north as New York City. By the time Floyd hit the shore, it was significantly weaker than it was at sea, which was caused by the collapsing of its concentric eyes. Nevertheless, Floyd caused large power outages and flood damage across the mid-Atlantic. Recently, Floyd has been compared to Hurricane Isabel.
</snip>


Clinton makes disaster declarations (USA Today Article)
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) - Calling Hurricane Floyd ''one of the most serious hurricanes ever to threaten the United States,'' President Clinton issued disaster declarations for Florida and Georgia in anticipation of the destruction the storm may wreak on the southeastern U.S. coast.
</snip>


Hurricane Floyd Page at the National Hurricane Center
This page has all sorts of interesting info on Floyd, although it doesn't have anything on Clinton's response.

FEMA's List of 1999 Federal Disaster Declarations
Follow the various Hurricane Floyd links for articles about specific disaster areas.



And finally, there's this wonderful little article (warning - irony may be fatal in some circumstances):

King of Chaos: The Fiasco of Floyd
by James Bovard, January 2000

Hurricane Floyd was quickly labeled "the King of Chaos" by southerners. Unfortunately, foolish evacuation orders and foul-ups disrupted the lives of far more people than were seriously hassled by the hurricane itself. Not surprisingly, the spin is on to portray "the largest peacetime evacuation in the history of the United States" as a triumph.
</snip>

What a jackass...

[NewJeffCT]

5. thanks

good stuff on Clinton, but not Bush 1 or Nixon.