Reply #318: 9/10 E-mail fr friend Comparing Pres'l Actions Re- Hurricanes Past

[snot]

In August of 1969 when Cat-5 Hurricane Camille hit roughly the same area as Katrina, President Nixon had already readied the National Guard and ordered all Gulf rescue vessels and equipment from Tampa and Houston to follow the Hurricane in. There were over 1,000 regular military with two dozen helicopters to assist the Coast Guard and National Guard within hours after the skies cleared.

August, 1992 -- Hurricane Andrew -- President H.W. Bush (#41) was in the midst of a brutal campaign for re-election. Yet, he cut off his campaigning the day before and went to Washington where he marshaled the largest military operation on US soil in history. He sent in 7,000 National Guard and 22,000 regular military personnel, and all the gear to begin the clean up within hours after Andrew passed through Florida.
In September 1999, Hurricane Floyd -- a category 3 -- was bearing down the Carolinas and Virginia. President Clinton (#42) was in Christchurch, New Zealand, meeting with President Jiang of China. He made the Presidential proclamation declaring the areas affected by Floyd "Federal Disaster Areas" so the National Guard and Military can begin to mobilize. Then he cut short his meetings overseas and flew home to coordinate the rescue efforts. This all one day BEFORE a Cat-3 hit the coast.
George W. Bush (#43) - August 2005 - Cat-5 Hurricane Katrina bears down on New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf. Both states are down nearly 8,000 National Guard troops because they are in Iraq -- with most of the rescue gear needed. Bush is on vacation. The day before Katrina makes landfall, Bush rides his bike for two hours. The day she hits, he goes to Johnnie McCain's birthday party and lies to old people about the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company welfare boondoggle. People are dying, the largest port of entry in the United States (and fifth largest in the World) is under attack. Troops and supplies are desperately needed. The levees are cracking and the emergency 1-1/2 ton sandbags are ready, but there aren't enough helicopters or pilots to set them before the levees fail. The mayor of New Orleans begs for Federal coordination, but there is none, and the sandbagging never gets done. So Bush -- naturally -- goes to San Diego to play guitar with the country singer and give another tired speech trying to justify the Iraq oil war. The levees give way, filling New Orleans with water, sewage, oil and chemicals. The city is totally destroyed. Thousands are dead or dying. Bush decides he'll end his vacation a couple of days early -- TOMORROW -- because Rumsfeld has skybox tickets to a Padres game! He goes back to the Farm in Crawford, with every intention of doing something on WEDNESDAY about this disaster that starting happening last Sunday night.