Flashback 2000: Bush praises FEMA in debate with Gore

[jobycom]

BUSH: I -- you know, as governor, one of the things you have to deal with is catastrophe. I can remember the fires that swept Parker County, Texas. I remember the floods that swept our state. I remember going down to Del Rio, Texas.

And I've got to pay the administration a compliment. James Lee Witt of FEMA has done a really good job of working with governors during times of crisis.

But that's the time when you're tested not only -- it's a time to test your mettle. It's the time to test your heart, when you see people whose lives have been turned upside down. It broke my heart to go to the flood scene in Del Rio where a fellow and his family just got completely uprooted.

BUSH: The only thing I knew to do was to get aid as quickly as possible, which we did with state and federal help, and to put my arms around the man and his family and cry with them.

snip

LEHRER: Vice President Gore?

GORE: Yes, first, I want to compliment the governor on his response to those fires and floods in Texas. I accompanied James Lee Witt down to Texas when those fires broke out.

GORE: And FEMA has been a major flagship project of our reinventing government efforts. And I agree, it works extremely well now.

[opihimoimoi]

1. If only the brainwashed sheep could see this.....