GOP senator: Bush handled Katrina better than Obama handling spill

[kpete]

Source: The Hill


GOP senator: Bush handled Katrina better than Obama handling spill
By Michael O'Brien - 06/18/10 08:05 AM ET

President George W. Bush displayed better leadership during Hurricane Katrina than President Barack Obama has during the oil-spill crisis, a Republican senator said Friday.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) compared the two disasters to have devastated the Gulf Coast, especially in Louisiana, inasmuch as he thought Bush had handled his crisis better.

"Remember the criticism George Bush got during Katrina? They said it was a lack of leadership," Inhofe told the conservative Newsmax magazine in an interview. "Let me tell you, that leadership looks pretty good right now."

Republicans have been somewhat reluctant to explicitly link the Gulf of Mexico oil crisis to Hurricane Katrina, a major natural disaster for which Bush was heavily criticized for a perceived lack of responsiveness.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/104071-gop-senator-bush-handled-katrina-better-than-obama-handling-spill

[1Hippiechick]

1. They wish. n/t

[saigon68]

21. Bush Handled his privates

While hundreds drown

Then his thugs employed Black Water criminals to shoot a few "looters"

[PatriotPaul]

33. Oil Spill Hypocrisy

Senator Inhofe, were you aware that a video and transcripts were uncovered 6 months after Katrina that clearly show President Bush being forewarned by Gov. Blanco, the Head of the Hurricane Center, and the Head of FEMA that the levees might be breached and that this storm was very likely to be devastating? Bush seemed indifferent and days after Katrina stated that "no one could have foreseen the breach of the levees." This video showed him caught in a lie and fully warned.Senator Inhofe, are you aware that for the past 57 months many of your Party members and leaders have yelled that Katrina was the responsibility of local governments and NOT the Feds? Now suddenly after a PRIVATE corporation creates this mess it is Obama's responsibility. Your hypocrisy is almost as slimy as the oil.

Paul Harris
Author, "Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina"

[jaxx]

2. Imagine that.....Inhofe bitching about Obama.

Second nature to breathing for that bunch of wingnuts.

[NJmaverick]

3. Is that because only black people died from Bush's neglect

while the BP disaster is affecting wealthy white people's beach front property?

[AtheistCrusader]

9. The hurricane didn't miss wealthy white people's beachfront property either.

On the contrary, most of it was just GONE.

But the oil spill doesn't threaten on-shore property, and doesn't directly threaten human life (though there are air quality issues, and livelihoods are broken) so it's really pointless to draw comparisons between the two incidents.

They're just trying to whitewash Bush's legacy of incompetence, corruption, and greed.

[NJmaverick]

23. the failings of bush's Katrina response was one of speed

people (mostly poor and minority) died because he didn't act quickly enough. The wealthy did get their $$$ from Bush to rebuild their expensive homes, but it was too late for the dead.

[AtheistCrusader]

25. Well, in that vein, it's too late for some inlets and estuaries

that are horribly fouled now, when the Coast Guard had weeks to prepare (and BP had weeks to prepare).

But while it's horrible for environmental impact, it still doesn't compare to leaving people to die of dehydration on rooftops, drown, or otherwise be killed when there was no real reason for them to die.

[NJmaverick]

26. The question really becomes was it even possible to stop the damage

no matter what was done in those leaks. If there wasn't enough booms in stock world wide (and considering the scope of the spill, that's a very real possibility) there really was nothing to fault. Katrina, on the other hand, was a situation where actions could most definitely have been taken to save lives.

[CBHagman]

35. That's exactly it.

The RW wants to have it both ways -- mocking Malia and the "plug the hole" question, asking where the Coast Guard is (!), etc., while screaming that Obama didn't do enough.

[mrcheerful]

4. A perceived lack of responsiveness? WTF!!!!!!!!! No dip wad shrub went to a

birthday party then a few days after he flew over the city came on TV and said " your doing a heck of a job Brownie" while people were dying in the supposedly safe spot set up for refugees from the storm, Asshole.

[City Lights]

5. Everything is a game to the GOBPers.

Fuck them up, down, and sideways. :nuke:

[Turbineguy]

6. Ugh... let's see.....

Katrina was a natural disaster that the weather people warned us about. Bush had an agency, FEMA to deal with precisely such events.

On the other hand, if swaggering, looking concerned, and empty gestures constitute leadership, then yes, Bush had it down cold.

Note to Oklahomans: Sending this clown to the Senate just makes you look foolish. Who likes to look foolish?

[Tess49]

19. He's pretty much a moron. Wish we could dump him, but people

of his ilk keep sending him back.

[DesertDiamond]

7. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Sitting on your ass is better than taking action.

[LiberalFighter]

8. FEMA

[superconnected]

10. WTF? Bush never even took responsiblity for Katrina which the Gov never did fix.

[superconnected]

11. How many people died in Katrina? How many people died in this?

How did the government respond.

Republicanism - truly a degenerative brain disease.

And does that creep Inhof know how bad Bush is going to look when people start comparing the response to the two disasters?

[Xenotime]

18. 11 people have died so far. Do you add the animals who have died?

It's probably more than Katrina.

[superconnected]

27. Well never know because of how bp keeps under estimating it.

I still don't think this was handled worse that Katrina where the people were left out there dehydrating to death for over a week.

[Hugin]

12. Wrong.

There aren't a couple of thousand people dead, yet... Jim.

[felinetta]

13. Inhofe and Barbara Bush are heartless, cold reptilian monsters. Never forget what

she said about the people suffering during Katrina ( or as
Laura Bush called it Kareena - what a jerk)
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know,
were underprivileged anyway, so this - this is working very
well for them."

[Moonwalk]

14. Even if this statement was correct and the two comparable...

...then the argument is: two wrongs make a right. Obama isn't handling this well, so Bush was a good president who handled Katrina correctly. :silly:

:crazy: It's truly scary that people who think this way are at the highest level of our government.

[Ignis]

28. +1, and don't forget her response to the Iraq War coverage:

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? It's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/barbara.asp

[Uncle Joe]

15. Inhofe and his ilk are directly responsible for this catastrophe.

They have fought research, development and switching over to alternative, renewable and relatively safe sources of energy for decades every step of the way in spite of previous toxic fossil fuel disasters and the fast approaching dead end of continuous fossil fuel usage.

We lag much of the developed world because of people like Inhofe.

If we had more aggressively pursued an environmentally friendly course, while not being so desperate and fool hardy to drill in places where needed safeguard controls exceeded our technological limits, this wouldn't have happened.

This total lack of real functional political leadership is broad based and long term in regards to wise energy/environmental policy and Inhofe bears a large portion of that asinine, simple minded, suicidal "drill baby drill" mentality which is most responsible for this catastrophe.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[me b zola]

16. What a bunch of horse manure

Hey Inhofe, when the national guard is ordered to walk past dozens of human bodies that have been lying in the streets for two weeks get back to me. Okay?

[defendandprotect]

17. Bush created the Katrina catastrophe -- and a good part of the oil catastrophe --

[newspeak]

22. you're right

the levees broke, one reason was a lack of funds-federal funds. Cheney's energy meeting with their oily friends-allowed the deep water drilling and a lax on regulations. God, everyone and their mother KNOWS that the * administration was for deregulation.

And, more people would have survived Katrina if the administration hadn't sat on their arses or stepped out to birthday parties and buying shoes, and basically hindered than helped in the first few days. People from around the country attempted to bring in supplies and help NOLA--it was like something surreal-like they were intentionally denying help and supplies to the people.

BP should just give up on their image, because the more they attempt to suppress and bully (with the help of the government), the more a bright light is shined on their less than stellar activities. The more this oil is allowed to gush, the more damage it causes to everything and everyone. I'd be asking for aid from around the world--from every country and their engineers and scientists who have experience in this--and utilize every ship and machinery that is offered. The political, image saving bullshite is getting rather pathetic.

[area51]

20. Pardon me while I ...

BWHAHAHAHAHA! :rofl:

What's the weather like in Inhofe's alternate universe?

[SargeUNN]

24. I called his office since I am a Katrina Survivor and

have family and friends still in South Mississippi affected by the oil gusher, and told them it was a lie. I have had several from Mississippi tell me that they heard Obama when he was there and feel he is doing a decent job even though many of these same people voted against Obama and are hard core Republicans. I, along with these same people, went through Katrina which turned up being why I had to leave Mississippi due to the failure of Katrina Recovery. I told my story and gave my name and phone number to the person and demanded that the Senator retract his statement.

[underpants]

29. Wow Inhofe reads a oil industry publicly statement

I am shocked

:sarcasm:

[WinkyDink]

30. Bush was better; Obama is a failure; the world hates Obama. The 3 Big Lies this season.

[truthisfreedom]

31. A little trip down memory lane...

Someone should print up big posters of these and deliver them to Senator Inhofe.

Here's what bush was doing after knowing full well about Katrina coming in days in advance.



http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y-Kto3MxSdc/SKRUTKIMPEI/AAAAAAAAArY/FIWRObO-YzY/s400/McCain+Bush+cake+Katrina.jpg

[UTUSN]

32. Who-could-it-BE, WHO-could it BE?!1 Oh. I thought so. nevermind. n/t

[wordpix]

34. opensecrets.org proves Inhofe is just another oil co. whore doing what his pimps tell him

Note this report on Inhofe's take was ONLY for the 2010 cycle. See more years at the site

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00005582

Top Industries
Senator James M Inhofe 2005 - 2010

Select cycle and data to include: 2010

Top 20 Industries contributing to Campaign Cmte and Leadership PAC

Industry ↓ Total ↓ Indivs ↓ PACs ↓

Oil & Gas $564,700 $260,600 $304,100
Electric Utilities $398,390 $32,454 $365,936
Leadership PACs $344,771 $0 $344,771
Lobbyists $302,983 $287,154 $15,829
Retired $287,968 $287,968 $0
Lawyers/Law Firms $184,568 $126,318 $58,250
Republican/Conservative $160,675 $139,925 $20,750
Building Materials & Equipment $144,150 $48,650 $95,500
General Contractors $136,690 $53,690 $83,000
Real Estate $133,013 $121,013 $12,000
Misc Finance $130,726 $130,726 $0
Commercial Banks $128,375 $78,975 $49,400
Mining $126,450 $92,950 $33,500
Health Professionals $119,013 $98,513 $20,500
Misc Energy $94,300 $64,800 $29,500
Air Transport $92,300 $6,800 $85,500
Construction Services $91,350 $29,688 $61,662
Automotive $89,050 $28,550 $60,500
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing $88,850 $48,850 $40,000
Insurance

[and-justice-for-all]

36. Utter bullshit!!! People died during and after Katrina....

all while numb nuts was having cake and patting his cronies on the back for doing NOTHING.