Bush acknowledges frustrations in New Orleans

[Doondoo]

President George W. Bush faced new pressure to jump-start the recovery from Hurricane Katrina on Thursday as he toured the Gulf Coast region hit by the worst U.S. natural disaster.

Eighteen months after the 2005 hurricane, analysts say tens of thousands of people remain displaced and more than half of the schools in the New Orleans area are still closed, a grim reminder of the toll on the region.

"I certainly understand that there are frustrations and I want to know the frustrations. To the extent we can, we'll help," Bush said as he sat down to lunch with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and other elected officials at a Creole restaurant near the French Quarter.

.......

Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat and the lieutenant governor's sister, called on Bush to waive a state and local matching requirement she said was slowing reconstruction projects in the region. Bush could waive the requirement, as has been done in previous disasters including the September 11 attacks, "with a single stroke of the pen," she said, adding that Congress would act if he did not.

The No. 3 Democrat in the House of Representatives, Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, said Democrats had urged Bush several times to waive the matching requirement.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "We are weighing the merits of the proposal."



http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0136155420070302

[POAS]

1. To look for a place to vent that

frustration all Bush has to to is look in the mirror. Assuming of course he casts a reflection!

[habitual]

2. they are weighing the merits of it eh?

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "We are weighing the merits of the proposal."

Translation: Does this allow for them and their cohorts to profit from the proposal.

[salin]

3. It has been 18 months - and now

we will try and listen and help? Only now we will "weigh" the merits of waiving the matching requirement. The article says this has become common in disasters - I would like to know how long it took before this was done in NYC after 911 and after recent natural disasters other than Katrina. I would guess that it doesn't ususally take 18 months before "considering" doing so.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. He has NO damn idea!

I wasn't even here before the storm. I, sometimes, feel guilty for being angry, but when I see nothing but "FOR SALE," and "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS" signs I get madder than a wet hen! We are suffering in ways they don't even address!

I am new to NOLA. If I am this mad, I can ONLY imagine the anger of residents prior to Katrina! Well, I don't have to imagine, I hear it when I talk to people in the streets, shops, and neighborhoods. Our city is dying. The blame goes beyond Bush.

However, I also have met real 'New Orleanians' and they will NEVER let this city, our city, DIE!

[EST]

5. Acknowledge frustrations, my ass!

He chided and insulted people for living so close to the devastation that they can't see the wonderful progress that must be so frigging obvious, springing up all around.

Poopsqueak windbag, worthless excrement.

[Javaman]

6. Here is clear evidence of the mental state of moron*

it took 18 months for the information to go from his* ear to his* brain. but then again I'm giving him* the credit of having a brain.

[gratuitous]

7. Before I even clicked on this post

I knew beyond doubt that Bush would be quoted as saying, in some construction, the words "I understand" or "I certainly understand" the frustration that people who have been made refugees for 18 months might be feeling. So I click on the story, and bingo! Bush's statement that he understands something is meaningless blather he trots out every time he wants to avoid talking about an issue. As soon as he says (and he often says it over and over) he understands something, it's like a big blaring klaxon to the press to quit asking him about it. He understands it, get it? You don't have to ask him any more about New Orleans.

But the federal government can't help out in New Orleans, because they're up to their eyeballs in debt, paying for two wars and shoveling any money left in the Treasury into Paris Hilton's purse by way of another tax cut.

[primavera]

10. That about sums it up alright

I suppose I should at least give him credit for now tempering his empty promises of assistance with the caveat "so far as we're able." It's less than truthful in that they could of course, re-prioritize their psychotic spending priorities to accomplish some good with our tax dollars instead of devoting them entirely to making the world a more dangerous place for everyone, but at least it acknowledges that they really have no intention of lifting a finger to assist anyone other than the uberrich and the oil and gas industry.

[qwlauren35]

8. I am SO SICK OF THIS PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can I barf now???

Stall, stall, stall. It's all he does whenever someone brings up something that doesn't fall within his myopic agenda.

What's to WEIGH???????????

[KamaAina]

9. "frustrations"?!

That's kind of like saying, for instance, that Bush** "isn't terribly well-spoken" instead of "is a complete dunce".

I can't wait to see how the NOLA blogosphere skewers the Fuckmook-in-Chief over this one ("fuckmook" is an N.O. blog word, used most frequently here: http://ashleymorris.typepad.com )

[KamaAina]

11. Yes! My man Schroeder comes through!

I can't wait to see how the NOLA blogosphere skewers the Fuckmook-in-Chief over this one

http://peoplegetready.wordpress.com/2007/03/02/still-a-boneless-chickenhawk/

How could any human being visit New Orleans and not recognize that, notwithstanding the challenges, the city is one of the most unique in the world. How could anyone come to our city and not commit to restoring the coastal wetlands destroyed by dredged oil company shipping lanes and by the Mississippi River channeled to accomodate shipping. These factors are largely responsible for the subsidence of the coast and saltwater intrusion which made New Orleans vulnerable to Hurricane Katrina. A Hurricane Katrina sized storm 50 years ago wouldn’t have caused as much destruction as we saw in 2005 because the coastal wetlands have been shredded....

All we heard from our pathetic president was some off-the-cuff trite remark about how, like The Saints, New Orleans residents are fighters. Hey asshole — some of us are losing the fight! Some of us have seen our insurance rates triple or quadruple by gouging private insurers who shouldn’t be allowed to sell policies in any state if they don’t fairly treat policyholders in Louisiana. Hey asshole, some of us, a year and a half later, still don’t have enough money to rebuild our homes! You quip that $110 billion ought to be enough. Well, hey asshole — it ain’t enough! After your Shaw Group, Halliburton, Bechtel, Parsons Brinkerhoff buddies ran their little plantation scheme to siphon billions in taxpayer dollars for themselves while paying immigrants to do all the work for pennies on the dollar, there wasn’t much left for rebuilding....

There are so many needs unmet by your pathetic leadership, Mr. President, that the imagination staggers to comprehend how you couldn’t see them, or how you could ignore them. Of course, it would help if you actually left the Isle of Denial and visited the remaining 80 percent of the city devastated by flooding to see what the hell is going on there. Maybe you ought to stand with a megaphone on top of the breach in the 17th Street Canal (which still doesn’t have a working pumping facility at the canal gates), as you did in that photo op on the rubble of the World Trade Center towers, and announce that you will do whatever it takes to rebuild this city. Your message would echo across vacant neighborhoods — bouncing back-and-forth against a bleak landscape of still-shattered homes.

Oh SNAP! Say it, Brian! :yourock:

[LafayetteTGR]

12. "Most people around the country don't want NO rebuilt,

but just won't say it aloud." This is according to my "Christian" friend in Nebraska. She is one of those people. As a lifelong member of La., I hope that isn't true.

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. Who cares if he is frustrated - they need help not statements of

frustration.