My email to WaPo on Bush lies and dereliction of duty.

[FormerRepublican]

"I read the article in today's edition regarding the Bush Administration attempts to lay blame elsewhere in the half-hearted response to the Katrina disaster, and another lie by this Administration was clear in the text of the story. It was:

“As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.”

This is patently untrue. A link to the letter written by Governor Blanco to President Bush is here:

http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf

I've been watching news coverage on various TV stations and in newspapers, and I'm just TIRED of lies by the Administration in their attempt to blame anyone or anything other than themselves. They lied about the Plame leak, they lied about their association with Chalabi, they lied about Iraq, and now they're lying about what happened in the run up to the Katrina disaster. Watching Chertoff spout these same lies while glorifying himself and making excuses for Brown turned my stomach. An echo of what Bush himself did. These are the people we trust to keep us safe from Terrorists? What have we received from the billions of dollars in tax money that was spent to supposedly make Americans safe?

Given the gravity of the disaster and the number of Americans who have died, I find their gross political manipulation of the press to be abhorent, and merely reinforces the fact that they simply do not care about the victims. (And by extension, I suspect they don't care about ANY American - what a sad commentary about today's political environment.)

I find it appalling that Bush could secretly make appointments to the Justice Department in the midst of this crisis, but he had no time to respond to Katrina. Bush had time to ensure Blackwater and Halliburton got lucrative contracts to rebuild in the wake of Katrina, but he couldn't be bothered to order an air drop of water to babies who were dying in New Orleans. Bush immediately made a statement regarding Rehnquist's death, but he felt nothing and made no comment about Katrina for DAYS after she struck. Were the flags lowered to half staff? Did the President rush to the US Gulf? Did he call Congress back into session to reassure the public that he was very concerned, and we should be confident that our government would respond with all possible speed to save lives? Did he call everyone back to Washington to deal with the crisis - Cheney from vacation, Rice from celebrating on broadway and buying expensive shoes, Hastert from fund raising with his cronies? No. The horrifying truth is that our Commander in Chief himself could not be stirred from his vacation to save American lives or handle the biggest national disaster crisis that America has ever seen. He was so totally derilict in the duty we have entrusted to him that I question his ability to continue to do the job.

Please, please, do NOT allow this Administration to continue lying to the American public to avoid blame for their own incompetence. Too many people have died, too many people have suffered, and too many Americans like me are SICK at what the Administration is doing in our name.

The Secret Service protects the President from the public. Well, who protects the public from the President?

Thank you."

Please add your voices. The victims cry out for justice, not lies from this disgusting Administration.

Washington Post Editor
Michael Abramowitz: [e-mail]
National editor

[KeepItReal]

1. Thank you.

Thank you
Thank you

[DesEtoiles]

2. Also send it to [e-mail]

[kerrygoddess]

3. Great letter - thanks!

Emails for the reporters:
[e-mail] - Spencer Hsu
[e-mail] - Manuel Roig-Franzia