BUSH:I Didn't Know Victims Suffering-Until I Saw Them Screaming on TV!

[kpete]

Bush: I Didn't Realize Katrina Victims Were Suffering Until I Saw Them Screaming On TV...
ABC News | February 28, 2006 at 03:16 PM

READ MORE: George W. Bush, Hurricane, Iraq, Hurricane Katrina
In an exclusive interview with ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas, President Bush offered his views on a range of topics, including the response to Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, U.S. port security and the future of his presidency. What follows is an excerpt of the full interview.

For more of the interview, watch World News Tonight at 6:30 P.M. ET and the daily Webcast, World News Now, at 3 P.M. ET.

ELIZABETH VARGAS: A congressional report assessed the U.S. reaction as "woefully unprepared" not only for a natural disaster now, but for a terrorist attack, the state of readiness right now of the United States. Setting aside future improvements that you plan, today do you agree with that assessment, that the United States is "woefully unprepared" for another natural disaster or attack?

VARGAS: When you look back on those days immediately following when Katrina struck, what moment do you think was the moment that you realized that the government was failing, especially the people of New Orleans?


BUSH: When I saw TV reporters interviewing people who were screaming for help. It looked — the scenes looked chaotic and desperate. And I realized that our government was — could have done a better job of comforting people. A lot went right, by the way. But the chaotic scenes were very troubling. It just — it was very unsettling for me to realize our fellow citizens were in near-panic wondering where the help was.

more of interview:
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1671087&page=2
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/02/28/bush-i-didnt-realize-ka_n_16519.html

[SeattleGirl]

1. The incompetence of this man is beyond comprehension

Hey, dude, you hold the highest office in the land and you didn't know what was going on?????

[RazzleDazzle]

68. You believe this lie? Which other lies of his /theirs do you believe?

[Norquist Nemesis]

84. He's probably telling the truth!

That's how he manages to get away with so much SHIT! Remember, they made him a CD of 'news' to watch and see the coverage. He's not saying, "when I turned on the TV in the den at the ranch".

Another one: It's the same with the NSA spying. He always says 'we ARE, this IS,' and everything else in the PRESENT tense. You'll not hear him say 'we've never or we didn't'.

:grr:

[liveoaktx]

74. VIDEO clip of that bit

Boohoo, it unsettled him

[bullimiami]

2. let them eat cake? you elitist hearless bastard. you DID nothing

but go play the guitar.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. How pitiful

he is the most out-of-touch president ever. And he admits it! Personally, I would have put a better spin on this if I were him.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. He sure as hell didn't see them from his airplane seat. At some point

he must have switched on the tube to catch a rodeo or something and was interrupted by the news.

[fiveleafclover]

49. And no matter how many times

he tried to switch the channel, it wouldn't go away!

[babylonsister]

5. I still can't get over the fact that he wasn't apprised of what was going

on by his staff, but had to see it on TV. :banghead:

[sabra]

6. "A lot went right, by the way. "

I'll have what he's smoking...

[MadMaddie]

7. The billions they have spent on Homeland security....

and he can't get a message delivered that Americans are dying in the Gulf states? 1 Weeks warning that a big storm is coming...not just a storm but a Hurricane....

same reaction different story...

Hey * the planes have flown in the towers...

.....cricket....cricket......cricket.....7 minutes later after continuing MY Pet Goat.....

Always too stupid...to little....too late....:boring:

[fiveleafclover]

51. Couldn't the White House shell out the extra

cost per month and get some cable? Because I learned from the Weather Channel several days in advance that a hurricane was coming.

That Weather Channel sure is something. The president should look into it.

[MadMaddie]

57. He...he...actually I hear they are currently trying...to

destroy the National Weather Service and privatize it... So if they are not stopped the weather will be politicized.....


He doesn't have the attention span for the weather channnel even with the purty pictures!!!

[Pirate Smile]

8. That must have been the DVD they had to burn for him on THURSDAY!

We all had a better situational awareness of what was happening on the ground after Katrina then Bush did. That is so truly pathetic.

[leftchick]

17. yes on THURSDAY

I don't suppose Liz asked him about the delay?

[Amonester]

36. His "aides" didn't want to make him feel "upset" before thursday.

They've experienced how evil ** is when they do their job... :grr:

[Stephanie]

45. They were afraid to tell him his vacation had to end two days early

After FIVE WEEKS of vacation they were afraid to tell him he had to go back to work on Weds instead of Friday. Asshat.

[Pirate Smile]

71. In case anybody missed it (not you, of course) here is the Newsweek

article.

How Bush Blew It
Bureaucratic timidity. Bad phone lines. And a failure of imagination. Why the government was so slow to respond to catastrophe.


A woman walks in the flooded streets of the 9th Ward of New Orleans

Sept. 19, 2005 issue - It's a standing joke among the president's top aides: who gets to deliver the bad news? Warm and hearty in public, Bush can be cold and snappish in private, and aides sometimes cringe before the displeasure of the president of the United States, or, as he is known in West Wing jargon, POTUS. The bad news on this early morning, Tuesday, Aug. 30, some 24 hours after Hurricane Katrina had ripped through New Orleans, was that the president would have to cut short his five-week vacation by a couple of days and return to Washington. The president's chief of staff, Andrew Card; his deputy chief of staff, Joe Hagin; his counselor, Dan Bartlett, and his spokesman, Scott McClellan, held a conference call to discuss the question of the president's early return and the delicate task of telling him. Hagin, it was decided, as senior aide on the ground, would do the deed.

The president did not growl this time. He had already decided to return to Washington and hold a meeting of his top advisers on the following day, Wednesday. This would give them a day to get back from their vacations and their staffs to work up some ideas about what to do in the aftermath of the storm. President Bush knew the storm and its consequences had been bad; but he didn't quite realize how bad.

The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.

How this could be—how the president of the United States could have even less "situational awareness," as they say in the military, than the average American about the worst natural disaster in a century—is one of the more perplexing and troubling chapters in a story that, despite moments of heroism and acts of great generosity, ranks as a national disgrace.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9287434/site/newsweek/

[momster]

81. That's Not All

We had a better grasp on what would happen in Iraq, what would happen with the Medicare debacle, etc., etc. It is frightening to think that I, sitting here with only my newspaper, my internet and my native wit, have a better grasp of the world situation than Mr. Chimpypants. All because I can ask questions and develop answers. Mr. C certainly can't come up with answers because he never asks any questions that God doesn't answer for him.

[izzie]

9. Is this The Onion?

--

[fiveleafclover]

53. Don't we wish

[pinto]

10. He heard about it on TV..... That's just plain pathetic.

[Arkansas Granny]

39. Apparently no one on his staff wants to give him any bad news,

so it's a miracle that he learned about Katrina at all. Helen Thomas wrote:

"I don't know of many brave White House staffers willing to risk the president's anger by dishing him the bad news.

Instead, Bush is spoon-fed the relevant news from his staff. Top aides usually know the buttons not to push when it comes to bad news. More often they will tell the president what he wants to hear -- the good news if there is any. Or they may just sugar coat the news that is tougher to swallow."

The rest of the column is here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/143851_thomas15.html

She nails it.

[Marie26]

52. She does

He truly didn't have a clue, apparantly he's created such a bubble that no one tells him what he doesn't want to hear. I do think this sort of neutralizes the argument that Bush somehow knew or intended to abandon the Gulf Coast. He just didn't know, didn't care to know, long after the rest of the US had seen the images. The President of the US is the most isolated man in the country & that's plain scary.

[Warpy]

11. Comforting people?

shit man, your own policies were treating them like they were a contagion! Your own policies sealed the city off and prevented help from reaching them!

Comforting people? Do you mean going in and holding their hands and telling them to pray to Jebus but not spending a dime on them?

Sheesh. Just how stupid does this sack of shit think we are?

[mom cat]

43. Comforting? What a hypocrite. He is doing all he can to block any

comfort or aid.

[ieoeja]

50. Glad I'm not the only one who caught that.

It is like his worry over whether the US airmen captured by China would have access to bibles. He really doesn't get it, does he? That people may have other needs like water, food and medical attention. The only deprivation he ever felt in his life was in his soul. And he thinks he solved that by accepting Jesus as HIS personal savior while ignoring everything Jesus said about helping your fellow man.

I swear, he's more hippie than I am with his notion that all anyone needs is "love".

[madokie]

76. sorry, but I don't want to know that. I'll be mad for days

yea, my pRisedent, don't talk shit to me, if i'm uninformed, informed me, but stupid I ain't.:mad:
somebody needs to slap that bastard silly, in his case sober

[Tsiyu]

12. That man lies better than a two-dollar watch n/t

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

25. Ain't that the truth. He is truly pond scum and totally despicable.

I really do believe he's a psychopath. What an unfeeling bastard...

[gratuitous]

13. "Our government could have done a better job"

A better job, Chimpy? Why, yes, your inept, corrupt administration could have done a much better job. Now, what do you think that job was? Evacuating people? Shoring up levees? Bringing food and water? Providing medical assistance? No, no, no, and no.

According to Bush, the government's job in the wake of Katrina was "comforting people." Hold their hands, pat their wrists and say, "There, there." Inadvertently revealing, once again, why Republicans are the go-to party when it comes to telling tales of government inefficiencies, and then perpetrating those inefficiencies when they're in power.

Bush is such a buttmunch. And I'm guessing Vargas is too much of a lady to have smacked the clueless little fuck upside the head.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

27. Right, now it's "our" government.

So often he says "my" government.

[fiveleafclover]

54. When it comes to taking blame for something, yes

He would like to share the blame with all of us. So it's "our" government. Something like the port deal, in his mind, is somethng to be proud of and he doesn't want to share that with anybody.

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Could he be any more shallow, display any more callousness?

He should just STFU! He'd be better off if he did.

[myrna minx]

15. Yeah--he has his finger on the pulse of the USA.

:eyes: How out of touch can you be? Come on. Even their damage control needs damage control. :crazy:

[jean]

16. Is it 'our' government or 'my' government, Mr. *? The other day it was

his when he was yapping about the UAE port deal ... 'my government...'

Oh, and does anyone else recall his father being dumb to the reality of bar codes, when he went shopping during his re-election campaign? That little display of ignorance smacked a lot of people in the face, at how out of touch he was.

[Gregorian]

18. Has anyone told Bush about Iraq, yet?

Maybe he has been out of the loop on this one as well. Lots of people are screaming in Iraq.

Hey George, I think you are a liar. And a murderer. No, I know you are. You giggled when that Carla Tucker pleaded for her life, back in Texas.

[Dr. Jones]

19. Bullshit!

What an asshole! He only sat up and paid attention when an opportunity arose several days after the fact for a nice little photo op whereby he "conveniently" appeared on TV side by side with the pictures of military vehicles and personnel FINALLY rolling into the affected areas. Bush our savior! Bush to the rescue! Rather, Bush the asshole who saw an opportunity for a staged photo-op AND an opportunity to create a new white, wealthy, Republican New Orleans.

[Generator]

20. Shame shame shame

And you want to trust THIS or anyone in "his" government to sell our ports out? Stupid is as stupid does. This country is going bye bye. And I'm sickened to see supporters of that stupidity on DU.

[napi21]

21. Ya know, this excuse is really pretty stupid. There's a well used legal

statement that's inserted into every corporate lawsuit I've been associated with, and there have been....several!!!

"Knew or should have known!"

There are certain things that are a given in every executive's job, and it rarely matters that they say "Hey, I didn't know what was going on!" I've seen many convicted!

Since most Dems in the House & Senate are lawyers, THAT is the phrase they should insert into EVERY statement they make!!!! Any executive who "didn't know" in EVERY bad situation is guilty of incompetence, at the very least, and should be replaced!

[Webster Green]

22. "Could have done a better job of comforting people"???

That's chimpy's critical assessment of the gov't response to Katrina?

That statement alone shoud be sufficient to remove the idiot from office on the grounds that he is completely insane.

[rodeodance]

23. guess he has not caught onto the lessons in "Lessons Learned"

.BUSH: When I saw TV reporters interviewing people who were screaming for help. It looked — the scenes looked chaotic and desperate. And I realized that our government was — could have done a better job of comforting people. A lot went right, by the way. But the chaotic scenes were very troubling. It just — it was very unsettling for me to realize our fellow citizens were in near-panic wondering where the help was.

[Bluebear]

24. "And I STILL ignored them." nt

[shain from kane]

26. He claimed that he saw that first plane on 09/11/2001

before he began reading "My Pet Goat".
Did he start choking on a pretzel when he saw the Katrina victims?
Maybe he should tune in and see those servicemen's coffins from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Oh, that's right. No one gets to see them.
This guy is lost in a fantasy world.

[Disturbed]

37. The "Know Nothing" Prez.

Where is that quote about the American people electing a moron for Prez. when I need it?

It is obvious that this jerk should be Impeached forthwith.

[kpete]

28. better than woefull - another snippet...

VARGAS: So you don't agree with that report that calls the U.S. "woefully unprepared"?

BUSH: I think the U.S. is better prepared than woefully unprepared. There's no question we've got more work to do, and our report on Katrina outlined the work that needs to be done.

[CottonBear]

29. Nothing went right.

I really hate this evil being more and more each day. :grr:

[Janice325]

73. Ditto

[ProfessorGAC]

30. So He Didn't Know Drowning In A Flood Was A Bad Thing?

What a complete moron! He and his entire staff should have known people were GOING to be suffering when that hurricane was still 100 miles from landfall. And, 34% still buy his nonsense. An idiot leading imbeciles.
The Professor

[TahitiNut]

44. It has no reality unless it happens to him. Complete absence of empathy.

"Self-centered" doesn't even begin to cover the pathology of this malignant narcissist - people as merely a means to an end instead of an end in themselves. The breadth and depth of corruption in this regime is almost immeasurable.

[ProfessorGAC]

47. That Is, Undoubtedly, The Root Of This Behavior

Abject and total narcissism. Probably off the scale as psychologists would measure it.
The Proefssor

[Stephanie]

31. HE DIDN'T SEE TV COVERAGE UNTIL THURSDAY NIGHT

His STAFF had to BURN HIM A DVD of the coverage so he would know what was happening. That was on THURSDAY NIGHT after Katrina struck on MONDAY. Fuck him.

[Ecumenist]

65. H_E_L_L_O.......

TEll it Stephanie!:applause: You go Girl!! That's EXACTLY what was revealed when none of the toadies that find themselves ensconced in this regime wwere "brave" enough to confront the idiot deluxe directly. They probably burned the DVD and hid it in his private stash of Barney, Maya the Bee, Winnie the Pooh and his favourite biographical documentary, The Grinch. He probably only recognised it as a news broacast because it wasn't mostly primary colours, Damn slobbering, moronic imbecile.

[HeeBGBz]

32. That stupid fuck

A most devastating Cat 5 hurricane seethes in the Gulf and prepares to slam a majorly populated area. A worst case scenario for the US. Dickweed is the quasi-commander-in-thief. He is supposed to be in charge. He admits to being fucking clueless until he sees the "troubling chaotic scenes" as his first inkling that something might need his attention? George Wmd Bush is a useless, vile waste of space.

Happy Mardi Gras.

[datadiva]

33. Lying sack of shit! n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

34. This is worse then his father and the Supermarket scanners

Remember that one? It was so obvious that Poppy was so detached from the real world that he didn't have a clue.

Obviously, Georgie is even worse. Millions of people directly impacted by one of the worst storms in US History and he felt a little unsettled. Arrest the bastard, right NOW!

[savemefromdumbya]

35. Who is running this country?

Bush was too busy doing his 'Nero' tricks playing his guitar

[Infomaniac]

38. So out of touch with real life.

People didn't need "comforting" you giant rectum. They needed rescue. Life saving medicines. Food. Water. A-wipe.

And what went right? We have another three hurricane seasons with these idiots.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

42. Exactly.

Save the "comforting" bullshit, you wanker!

People still don't have anywhere to live. Six months!

[CrazyOrangeCat]

40. The entire world knew more about what was happening . . .

. . . than the Chimp.

Meaning, he really wasn't watching TV or reading the paper. And that he had become so shitty to deal with (drunk? coked?) that no one had the nerve to explain what was happening for four days. The fucking preznit did not know what every third grader understood.

It just blows me away that he's gotten away with this. Fuck you, Chimp! :nuke:

[Catchawave]

41. Did nobody in this administration turn on a t.v. ?

:banghead:

[Stephanie]

48. NO!!! They were all on VACATION!

That's the disgusting truth.

[Catchawave]

59. Even I check in at home frequently when I'm on

vacation ! You'd think Bush would have had some "clue" to be concerned...heh!

Maybe it's time we pull out the Bill Clinton New Year's Eve 2000 "concern" when terrorists "planned" to blow up the world ? Not a natural disaster, mind you, but he stayed up for 36 (or so?) hours to make sure every American around the world was safe that night.

Not many people knew about that, because nothing bad happened. The Bushies knew there was a potential devastation from Katrina, and just partied/vacay'd on :( And Bush was nowhere near a command center, or a t.v.?

[Stephanie]

62. Well yes, of course he was near a command center and tv

He just didn't care. Did. Not. Care. Still on vacation.

[Catchawave]

64. That's my take on it......

HE just didn't care. Clinton did in 2000.

[VaYallaDawg]

46. Wasn't that just about the same time the Queen Mother

visited the area and asserted that "those people" were living better than they ever had?

[Stephanie]

56. No, that was weeks later, after they'd been evacuated

George is talking about watching the news finally on Thursday night, with thousands still trapped in the Convention Center and screaming from their rooftops. Babs was talking about the people who were evacuated to the Astrodome in Houston.

[VaYallaDawg]

58. OK, thanks for clarification, Steph.

I have to admit I out of the US when all that happened, so everything I've learned about it has been after the fact.

[Initech]

55. Bush is now officially the "50 first dates" president

I mean really - is Bush just a guy with an office and a title so they can appease the board while Rove and Cheney are really the guys in charge? What the hell? First he doesnt know about the UAE port deal until after it was done and now he's saying he didnt know about Katrina until after it happened.

I mean first off - how the hell do you not know about a deal where you pocket $7 billion from and how do you not know that your right-hand man shot a guy in the face? How do you not know about a disaster that has destroyed a major US port!

What the hell?!?!?!?! This makes my head explode at the mere thought! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!

*clicks off DU*

[riona]

60. oh no!

i just hate it when the prez is troubled.

[Lisa]

61. "unsettling"? That's it? Okay -- "very unsettling" ....

I suppose that the dictionary Laura gave him for Christmas completely skips over "horror", "anguish", and "shame"?

[uppityperson]

63. Gvts job is NOT "Comforting people" you POS

It is providing them with what they need to live when they can't in situations like this. It is

oh hell, never mind, preaching to the choir here on DU. fuck mrbush

[sakabatou]

66. HFPOFC!

THAT F'ING RAT BASTARD!

[tblue37]

67. Look at this passage from the interview:

Listen, here's the problem that happened in Katrina. There was no situational awareness, and that means that we weren't getting good, solid information from people who were on the ground, and we need to do a better job. One reason we weren't is because communications systems got wiped out, and in many cases we were relying upon the media, who happened to have better situational awareness than the government. And when you have the media better situational awareness than the government, the American people are saying, "Wait a minute. What is happening? How come the federal Government and state government and local governments couldn't do a better job of providing information necessarily so that people could react better?"

Someone needs to tell that idiot that if the communications channels were destroyed so that no one could get good information, then the media would have been in the same blind situation. If the media were getting information, then the government should have been able to get at least as much information! And if it's true that the media were the only ones with information, then the fools running the government should have been glued to their radios and TV sets!

[Lisa]

75. "happened to have better situational awareness than the government"

He makes it sound so casual, doesn't he! As if he were out shopping, and Store A just happened to have a sale on his favorite brand of sneakers! Oooh, what a coincidence!

I guess he doesn't want to admit that Congress recently compiled a big heavy report detailing HOW the government, under the control of his administration, "happened" to have less information than CNN, Oprah, etc. -- and proceeded to make a complete mess of responding.

[Sydnie]

87. Situational awareness ... catastrophic success

they LOVE their buzz words, don't they?

Here's one for them - fucking embarrassment!

[WinkyDink]

69. And he watched 9/11 unfold on TV. Good thing it was invented!

How DID FDR cope??

[ComerPerro]

70. and even after he knew, he didn't seem to give a shit

[Janice325]

72. Thanks for the article.

I saw the video on another thread and I thought my brain would explode at his ...insensitivity (I can't find the appropriate word right now. I'm insensed.)..
C'mon George. Keep opening your mouth. You just keep making things worse for yourself. Digging yourself into a deeper hole.
Jeezus...I think I'm gonna go now, before I go into full rant mode.
Just when you think things can't get worse.
What a total idiotic moran.

[EC]

77. He's highlighting the PANIC not the Sorrow,

So I have to question that...is that what the new "barracks" are for? To control the PANIC?

[Kablooie]

78. I just checked the Katrina timeline ... Wow!!!

The storm hit Monday morning.
The Levees were breached later that morning.
That evening Gov. Blanco requested help from Bush. "We need everything you've got."
.
Tuesday
.
.
.
Wednesday
.
.
.
Thursday
.
.
.
Friday
Bush was show video tapes of news reports by his aides and realized that something was wrong.


Whew!

I recommend you all go back and review the timeline.
It's more horrifying than I remembered!

[Disturbed]

79. Most of the scandals have been to complicated for...

many Americans. This one seems simple enough to understand. This pathetic, man is not qualified to be Pres. Not hard to understand is it?

[Raine]

80. I believe him

he's totally clueless, what a morAn! :silly: :mad:

[katinmn]

82. We ALL knew but Bush. How fucking pitiful!

[Rocknrule]

83. "I didn't know 9/11 was a bad thing until 7 minutes into "My Pet Goat"

:banghead:

[rucky]

85. He's a clinical psychopath.

no affect.

[Penndems]

86. He's so full of crap his eyes should be brown

The President of the United States sees corpses floating in murky, putrid water, suffering and misery at the Morial Convention Center, people dying of heat exhaustion, and masses of New Orleanians stranded on their rooftops and DOES NOTHING, when he has the resources of the entire United States Government at his disposal?

Who are you bullshitting, Bush?