Need Ice? Cereal? The Bush Brothers Are on the Way!

[Khephra]

From a distance, they looked like two well-dressed, middle-aged store clerks in a supermarket parking lot, helping a line of weary motorists load their cars and get on their way.

Only up close did it become evident that the assistants were the Bush brothers, and the cars were backed up because the residents of Fort Pierce, 130 miles north of Miami, were discovering that when the president of the United States promised to bring relief to hurricane-battered Floridians, it included personally putting bags of ice and water in the back seats of their cars.

This was an official trip to Florida, the White House said - no campaigning, no politics. But there were still plenty of potential voters to meet, like the young man in dreadlocks who drove his battered, mud-covered green Lincoln alongside the relief stand where George and Jeb Bush were standing, the car trunk already opened to receive supplies. Cameras whirring, the Bushes stuffed the car with cereal and canned goods and ice. As the driver departed, yelling his thanks out the window, the president turned to his brother, the governor of Florida, and said: "Fine looking car. I used to have one just like it."

The president moved through Florida today like the two hurricanes that preceded him, buzzing from Fort Pierce to Miami with a fleet of helicopters - Marine One, its backup, and three more stuffed with staff members, Secret Service and windblown reporters - so that he could be photographed thanking relief workers and drop in on the National Hurricane Center. And by late afternoon, he was examining flat-screen displays showing the approach of another storm called Ivan, and squinting through his glasses at sheafs of charts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/09/politics/campaign/09bush.html

Excuse me, I think I'm going to be ill... :puke:

[Fridays Child]

1. That's odd. I thought they'd be working on the line for people who need...

...extra ballots.

[Must_B_Free]

2. Wow what a compassionate man

Is there a smiley taking a shit icon?
:dump:
:turd:
:crap:
:shit:

[TahitiNut]

3. "so that he could be photographed"

He's not compassionate, but he plays one on TV. :puke:

"What's in it for me" motivates his every breath. He's disgusting.

[bluestateguy]

4. I'm sure their response would be the same in a California earthquake

NOT

[librechik]

5. how much are they charging for the water? n/t

[Khephra]

6. Well, all you need to do to get the water is to sign a piece of paper

saying that you support Jeb and W in their elections....

It used to be that something like that would be a joke, but these days you never know.

[soup]

7. and here *he is - at the NHC in Miami

"Hello. My name is George. Hurricanes are big storms. Hurricanes have names, too. Hurricanes make good photo-ops in Florida for people named George. Candy canes are good. Santa brings me candy canes. Candy canes are made with sugar. Sugar cane is grown in Florida. Sugar growers are big GOP contribution canes. I have no idea what I'm saying. It doesn't matter. As long as I don't fill my shoes with drool people will vote for me. If they don't, my brother will fix it."


President George W. Bush (news - web sites) on September 9, 2004 will promote his proposals for boosting the U.S. economy and criticize Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites)'s economic prescriptions, the Bush campaign said. Bush will give an economic speech during a campaign stop in Colmar in Pennsylvania, a state that lost 2,800 jobs in July, 1,600 of them in the manufacturing sector. Bush is seen during a briefing in Miami, Florida Wednesday. Photo by Larry Downing/Reuters

[llmart]

8. The quality of writing at the NY Times.....

has certainly deteriorated over my lifetime. This sort of pap is sickening. We're supposed to believe that all of a sudden he cares about Floridians after he stole their democratic rights from them in election 2000?

There's a reason I don't subscribe to newspapers any more.

[tanyev]

9. Now, now,

I'm sure their help was greatly appreciated, since there's hardly any National Guard left to call on.

<sarcasm>

[Gin]

11. The Ice Man Cometh!

g

[Rose Siding]

10. So, so corrupt to peddle this image

and cut services, raise rates for services, and line the pockets of their friends and families behind the camera.

[UpInArms]

12. related article: Fast relief for Florida

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/09/09/editb090904.html

Congress can move with amazing speed when it wants to. Trouble is, Congress doesn't always want to -- as with the highway bill that's been delayed for two years and the 12 spending bills it is supposed to pass by Oct. 1, but won't.

But on the first day back from summer vacation, both the House and the Senate, moved by a mix of compassion and practical politics, passed $2 billion in emergency cleanup funds for hurricane-hit Florida. The bill was on President Bush's desk the next morning.

Did we mention that the governor of Florida is the president's brother? Or that Florida is pivotal in the presidential election less than two months away?

Of course, Florida really does need financial help -- and, with another hurricane bearing down, it might soon need still more. But once we get through this year, Congress really ought to take a hard look at the whole process.

...more...