Bush Returns to New Orleans for 10th Anniversary of Katrina

[bemildred]

Source: AP

Former President George W. Bush is returning Friday to New Orleans — the scene of one of his presidency's lowest points — to tout the region's recovery from the nation's costliest natural disaster on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

He's chosen to deliver remarks at Warren Easton Charter High School, the same school he visited on the first anniversary of the catastrophic storm. He is accompanied by his wife, Laura, whose library foundation helped rebuild what is the oldest public school in New Orleans.

The school's success is one of the president's brighter moments in what was an extremely trying time for the Bush administration. Bush was vilified for his government's lackluster response.

A series of faux pas — from flying over flooded New Orleans first on Air Force One to his "Heckuva job, Brownie" quip in support of then-director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown— marred his personal record.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/bush-returns-orleans-10th-anniversary-katrina-33376754

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. one faux pas few discuss or remember - bringing a night time presser to an area

with no electricity with lights and generators and crawling with press for the photoop - spewing his bullshit - then it all gets packed up and goes dark. Leaving behind a powerless (pun intended) region.

One of the low points, in my view.

[Botany]

6. I will never forget the picture of w flying over the New Orleans and then he said .....

... something like it looks bad from 5,000 feet I bet it is real bad on the ground.

And where was the Louisiana National Guard and their amphibious vehicles after
Katrina? Can somebody say Iraq?




BTW Black Krim best tomato so far this summer.

[appal_jack]

35. Yes, never forget.

I recommend this song of Randy Newman's:

https://m.

with an updated verse I sang to myself to make sense of it all back in 2005:

President Bush flew over in an aeroplane,
With a fat man named Karl Rove hired to be his brain.
Then he said "Heck of a job" to his friend Mike Brown,
'Cuz the plan all along was to let the brown folk drown.
Louisiana...

Lyrics for this one updtated verse copyright 2005 by appal_jack, fwiw, and writtin in commemoration of these photos:



&



k&r,

-app

[gvstn]

57. Than`kls r raewminding mawe aebut Raendy/ Naemaen/ hae is graeaetJ!

Srry/ my/ `klaey/baerd is nt r`kling right.

I naed ae nae nae.

[TexasProgresive]

2. Is he just stupid or have more than his share of gall.

[bemildred]

3. The pretense of good intentions must be maintained.

They have no shame, that much is obvious.

[mpcamb]

50. Shameless audacity

[NCjack]

4. "W" helped rebuild a school. If he delivered the entire Bush family fortune

to help rebuild New Orleans, it would not be enough.

[Big_Mike]

48. Donna Brazille, who is no R shill, has publicly praised him for his efforts

He told Congress to piss up a rope and brought in billions to the region to rebuild. On this one issue, the man ended up doing a good job. Beat him for "Mission Accomplished" and I'm right with you. But on this particular issue, you are wrong.

[MyNameGoesHere]

51. I think he was shamed into doing that

even a evil asshole has no choice but to be forced to do the right thing. It was nothing more than spin control and it had nothing to do with him doing his job.

[Big_Mike]

49. Found the article with the information

Donna Brazile, a prominent Democratic political operative, praised President George W. Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina on Thursday, just hours before President Obama’s speech in New Orleans marking the storm’s 10th anniversary.

Brazile, a Louisiana native, has applauded Bush’s Katrina response before. But she made her latest comments on board Air Force One while flying to the Big Easy with Obama, who has previously criticized’s his predecessor’s handling of the storm recovery.

She praised Bush for pouring more than $120 billion into rebuilding New Orleans and other Gulf communities over the opposition of some Republicans on Capitol Hill.

“The president made a commitment and I think he kept his word,” said Brazile.

Walter Isaacson, the Aspen Institute CEO who served with Brazile on the Louisiana Recovery Authority, echoed her comments.

“George W. Bush, I think, gets a bum rap,” he told the traveling press corps. “It took a while to get things started, it was a little bit slow. But he cared about the city deeply and so did Laura Bush.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/252119-donna-brazile-praises-bushs-katrina-response-on-flight-with

[irisblue]

54. what happened to her moral compass?

how did she become a R supporter?

[Big_Mike]

60. That was exactly my point. You cannot allow righteous hatred of an individual blind you

from seeing the whole individual.

W's faults are way beyond legion. However, his actions regarding New Orleans and AIDS in Africa are without reproach. He did, and continues to do, good things in these areas.

[alcina]

5. Is he making another flyover? /nt

[LiberalElite]

7. He has some fkg nerve eom

[Nay]

8. Jesus Christ. That takes a lot of fucking nerve. He is such a clueless asshole. nt

[livetohike]

9. Exactly what I was about to post. I'll bet they fill the seats

with people paid to cheer for him, so we won't hear the boos he deserves. Where are those pie throwing people? He needs an avalanche of them.

[Duval]

30. That's what I said this

morning when I heard the news. And I'll bet everyone who is there had to sign some pledge that he won't be jeered or shown any disrespect, which he deserves. I remember that picture of him with John McCain sharing birthday cake while New Orleans was drowning.

[livetohike]

36. Me too. It was disgusting, as was all of his Presidency. If there is a protest somewhere today, will

we even see it? I know it's Trump, Trump, Trump 24/7.

[Duval]

41. If there is a protest somewhere, I'm

hoping someone from Mother Jones or an independent journalist will make the video and share it somehow. I seriously doubt our MSM would carry it. And I'm so tired of Trump I turn the TV off when I see him.

[DinahMoeHum]

10. Here's hoping rocks and bottles greet him at the school.

(well, I can fantasize, can't I?)

[tanyev]

15. Or maybe just eggs and tomatoes.

[Sophiegirl]

16. Or shoes. eom

[LibDemAlways]

34. Tar and feather him first. Then break out

the rocks and bottles. And maybe conclude with public waterboarding.

[spiderpig]

11. I hate Shrub with the intensity of 100,000 burning suns

but nothing made me angrier than his non-response to Katrina.

I love New Orleans. Mr. pig & I would go every coupla years and hang with the locals & enjoy the food & the music.

When I saw the devastation on CNN I couldn't believe the lack of response. A nurse from a hospital on Canal Street saying they were evacuating patients to the 3rd & 4th floors. Federal response - nothing.

Don't get me started on The Quaker Oats Guy at the Astrodome ("most of them were underprivileged anyway, so this is working out quite well for them.&quot

The entire family is disgusting.

[Botany]

14. "The Quaker Oats Guy at the Astrodome"

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway,"
she said, "so this is working very well for them."

[davidpdx]

12. He is an asshole and has a lot of nerve going back to a place he did nothing to help

during a national disaster. Bush won Louisiana and Mississippi in both 2000 and 2004 and they must have regretted voting for him.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

13. Wha? Is he offering target practice?

[George II]

17. I don't know how others feel, but I think this is an insult to New Orleans.

[New Orleans Strong]

46. Yes it is. N/T

[seafan]

18. This family doesn't do hurricanes.

Bush Returns to New Orleans for 10th Anniversary of Katrina, August 28, 2015

I cannot stand to read that article beyond its title.

He still walks free.



The links below still have many photos from that still-raw wound in our history, from which we have not recovered and never will be again who we once were.


The perils of George (pix heavy)

In the midst of this tragedy were some miracles.


And here. The warmonger was also "in charge" when Hurricane Ike hit Galveston in 2008.


And here.

This family doesn't do hurricanes. (Pix heavy)

Jeb Bush doesn't either.


These are from Katrina's aftermath.



















And he still walks free.

[Surya Gayatri]

23. This was perhaps the most iconic photo of the whole trajedy for me...

I can't help tearing up every time I see it. Heart shredding.



Thanks for posting.

[sarge43]

38. Thank you. Never forget; never forgive. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

55. Who would have believed this could have happened? Thanks for the mindful images. n/t

[muntrv]

19. Georgie, you're doin' a heckuva job!

[romanic]

20. I'll never forget what his mother said about the evacuees

and how it was "better for them" when the Hurricane hit.

[jwirr]

21. One of the things I remember is that many residents were evacuated to

other states. Does anyone know how many came back?

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. Less than 40% came back.

Completely changed New Orleans demographics.

A lot could not afford to return.

The public housing buildings which were not touched by the hurricane WERE boarded up and residents were not allowed to move back in.
60 Minutes did a show about that.

[jwirr]

33. Thank you. More proof of W's mismanagement. And a very good example

of disaster capitalism. I would bet that today the wealthier people who were least effected by the flooding are making big bucks off of the hurricane damaged area.

One wonders today how those refugees are doing in their new areas. But I am willing to bet no one bothered with a follow up. Out of sight out of mind.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. Lot of folks got stuck in Houston.

David Simon Did a tv series called Treme about the after effects of Katrina, and one of the angles he covered was how the city was rapidly gentrified, and how people lost their homes...literally....because they were not there after the storm, and the city bulldozed them "by mistake".
Big money poured into the city to make a huge stack of bucks for re-building.

What many non-southerners do not understand is the sense of "home" to people down here. It is a real and tangible feeling, and to be forced out of your community/city/state can fee like losing a limb.
Truly.
So the psychological suffering is something rarely heard about.

[jwirr]

40. Just as I thought. The sins of the bush administration just keep getting

bigger.

As to the sense of home. My family lives on the reservation. We do not stray very far from home. As you say it is like losing a limb.

[dixiegrrrrl]

58. You might be interested in this post of today about those stats....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027121561

[UpInArms]

22. that was one of the most poorly written reports

Dimson did noy "inherit" Katrina ... He fekked up entirely .....

I hate these historical revisionists

[Frank Cannon]

52. They call it a "faux pas".

A faux pas is when you're having dinner at your girlfriend's parents' house and you refer to her by your ex's name.

Katrina was no faux pas.

[valerief]

24. It's a shame we're paying for his security. It would be nice if people

could get close enough to him to let him know how they really feel.

[Feeling the Bern]

25. I guess they are right: Criminals always return to the scene of the crime

I hope he is booed out of the school with Bobby Jindal's tongue squarely up his ass.

[NastyRiffraff]

26. They let him back into this city?

I would have thought he'd be banned for life.

[Android3.14]

27. The ability to feel shame is a virtue

GWB, you are a disgrace, and you shouldn't show our face in public.

[onecaliberal]

28. That is some intestinal fortitude.

Just, wow.

[hibbing]

31. oh FFs

Just go back to your gated community mansion and try to paint your soul clean.


Peace

[Mike Nelson]

32. Ugh...

Media will make him "popular" like they did his dad.

[wheniwasincongress]

37. but but but....

HW wears funny, colorful socks! W paints pictures of dogs!

[RoccoR5955]

42. The plan was to destroy New Orleans

Then rebuild it, only Disneyfied, like they rebuild Times Square. They figured it it went over big in NYC, it would work in New Orleans.

They want to make it so that the poor have no place to go.

[Ineeda]

43. Watch HBO's 4-part 2006 documentary

When the Levees Broke and become horrified and enraged, and have your heart broken all over again. What we witnessed (safely in our living rooms, mostly) was beyond belief, but the stories of corruption and involvement/non-involvement of the government beneath it all will blow your mind---again. So many villains and so many heroes (including General Honore, who prevented military-sanctioned murders.)

[packman]

44. Was "Heckofajob" Brownie with him?

Dum and Dummer

[wordpix]

45. Brownie was with ! I think yesterday

Rachel had a segment on it last night and sure enough there was Brownie standing next to !

[MyOwnPeace]

47. And who was the genius......

that thought up this "great idea" to have Dimson come back to New Orleans?
If it was by committee, shouldn't the rest of the room been rolling on the floor laughing - or yelling W-T-F ARE YOU THINKING?!?!?!?!?!

[Solly Mack]

53. Barf

How insulting.

[BadGimp]

56. First I thought this was an onion story

[question everything]

59. Might as well. Can have an opportunity to face the people (nt)