The LA Times muses about Bush’s unprecedented level of incompetence:
Questions about whether anyone is in charge of the nation’s affairs are never a good thing for a president. But the post-hurricane crisis arrived at an especially perilous moment for Bush, whose popularity has been battered by rising gasoline prices and public unease over the war in Iraq.
Bottom line? Americans can’t stand their President. But will the Republicans pay any price?
“It’s too far out to extrapolate,” said Charlie Cook, an independent political analyst. “But for now, House and Senate Republicans are pretty much joined at the hip with the president…. When he falls in the polls, it’s not good for them.”
Never one to worry, Bush reflected on happier times:
And at the end of the day, standing on the tarmac at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, the president struck an upbeat note. He called for a national recovery effort and joked that its goal would be to rebuild a hard-partying city “where I used to come … to enjoy myself, occasionally too much.”
I can’t wait for the media effort to rehabilitate Bush’s image:
[Political hack, David] Gergen, who now teaches at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, said he believed Bush had made a strong if belated effort at correcting his administration’s slow start.
“He made a pivot today that was important: He acknowledged that the results have been unacceptable,” Gergen said. “That was an important embrace of reality that was missing from their early statements. It gives him a chance to rally.
“If food pours in, if the National Guard pours in, he’s pivoted out of a period of fumbling into a period of ‘We’re taking charge.'”
“I think he still has time to recover politically, and I think it’s likely he will,” Gergen said. “He’s good at this. You’ll see a better Bush during the next few days, in charge and compassionate. But if he doesn’t, there’s going to be a serious political price to pay.”
With friends like David Gergen, Bush can hope there will never be a political price to pay. But if I were a Republican, I wouldn’t be so sure.
I have no doubt that the whitewash will be in abundance in the coming weeks, but what I have seen in the field of workers surrounding me is….they are tired of the what’s going on, and these people are hard core right wingers….and they are questioning heavily….
could be a good sign, if we make the sign big enough for the blind to read ; )
I was talking with my mother about this today, and her read on it is that they can try to whitewash this, but most people aren’t going to forget the neglect and utter disregard shown for the people of NO and the Gulf Coast, or the ineptitude and lack of response from the federal government.
“In charge and compassionate”?
Exactly which George Bush is he talking about? Some guy with the same name in Oklahoma? Because the George Bush that is president of the USA has never been and will never be that man. That’s for damn sure.
His handlers might have given W a better script!
He actually used the same language he has been flogging us with over Iraq:
“It’s hard work, but we are making progress.”
I fear for NOLA. I fear for the next hurricane.
I fear for Bush’s safety if he ever goes out in public alone again. Kanye’s rant is on TV ever 5 minutes and should stir up some serious and old hatreds. If this was 1969, we would be in civil war.
They recycle his Iraq speeches and just substitute “New Orleans” or “Gulf Coast” where he’d be referencing Iraq. There really is no difference between Iraq and the Gulf Coast in terms of what a clusterfuck it is.
He may ride this out yet. Gergen’s right about one thing: this is the first time in five years we’ve heard him admit to a mistake. And the “huggable president”, with visible pain and anger? Promo dream shot. As people get fed, clothed, and sheltered, and as the aid continues to flow in, “this too shall pass”.
I try to never misunderestimate this guy and his machine.
Did you notice something?
When he was hugging the 2 girls in Mississippi, he purposely moved the girls into the correct position for a photo op. It disgusted me. In the meantime the one girl was sobbing and trying to get his attention but he was too worried about the photo.
I noticed, hence the comment. He was fully aware of the position of every person and camera within 100 yards.
But there are too many witnesses to totally whitewash Bush clean. Regardless of race or class, there are people escaping the Gulf Coast who have horror stories to tell and I hope they keep telling them to anyone and everyone that will listen. That’s undercut whatever lies Bushco decide to put out there.
If I ever get the chance to punch David Gergen in the mouth, will you bail me out?
I’ve SO wanted to do that for years.
Namby-pamby blowhard money-taking PBS-experience-exploiting sell-out.
I’d bail you out. I remember Gergen – at both conventions – sitting in the expert’s chair, pontificating and predicting wondrous things for GW. He LOVES him. What is his investment in this?
Is there such a word as gurgitation? To know him is to ….
Thanks for the news.
Are they loving us even more over there in Yurp and the Middle East? Just when you think this president has done all he can to shame us in the eyes of the world, he ups and outdoes his own self! Go George! Hail Dave!
Want to know how Bush is going to slip out of this one?
Read my diary on the subject, which I posted yesterday:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/9/2/13390/21121
It’s titled “It’s all the LIBERALS’ fault (how Rove plans to help Bush escape responsibility)”