Bush Knew Wrath Of Katrina

I was going to write about how the DP World was "kindly" giving us a 45-day review of the deal, but this sounds a little more important.

But first, the Patriot Act just passed the Senate by a vote of 81-18*. Now on to the story...

September, 2005 --
President Bush: "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." It turns out President Bush really did know how bad Hurricane Katrina really was going to be.

On August 28, 2005, the day before Katrina made landfall on the gulf coast, Bush and Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Secretary, joined in a video tele-conference with top FEMA officials and the Louisiana and Mississippi governors. During the tele-conference, hurricane expert Max Mayfield warned that massive devastation was going to come with Katrina.

Mayfield said that "no one with any certainty" could say whether or not the levees would fail. He called the possible breaching of the levees a "very, very big concern." He also stated that Katrina would be in the top 10 or 15 worst natural disasters.

Michael Brown, former director of FEMA, feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help those who were held up in the Superdome (Of course, we now know that they didn't even try to find out if people were seeking shelter in the Convention Center!). He also feared that the roof wouldn't be able to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. Brown later said that he warned the President that the situation in LA would be "dire."

However, during the tele-conference, where President Bush and DHS Sec. Chertoff were broadcasting from Bush's ranch, the President assures the governors that the federal government is "fully prepared" (my emphasis), and they were ready to help during the storm and move in immediately after the storm (Again, emphasis mine).

I don't know, I watched a LOT of the coverage, and it seemed that CNN's Anderson Cooper help people more than the government did. They BOTCHED this one, folks.

NOLA Mayor Ray Nagin said "you know, from the looks of this tape, it looks like everybody was fully aware." I agree.

NBC News attained a transcript of a tele-conference that occurred on the 29th, the day of the storm, which quoted Brown as saying that The President is "...very engaged and is asking a lot of really good questions." Brown went on to say that the Bush asked about hospitals, the Superdome, and the levees possibly breaching.

Asked a "lot of good questions", huh? I'd like to note that on the taped tele-conference (August 28th), the President did NOT ask a single question.

And finally, the White House said that the tape does not contradict anything the Bush Administration has said about Hurricane Katrina. Doesn't contradict? What about "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." ? ? ?

By the way, Bush's approval rating is down to 34%.

For parts of the video, visit either of the sources below. (It's not the whole thing)

-Adam
Sources: MSNBC.com & CNN.com

* The Patriot Act passed the Senate by a vote of 81-18, not 89-10. This has been corrected. Sorry for any inconvenience.