Hi Folks,
I found this time line on another political website. It's a liberal website but they they have references and citations for each event on the time line. Here is another time line. Here is a blog with a time line that goes into some recent historical background. Each emphasizes different aspects but together they give a pretty good picture who was warning who and who offered what help when etc. My favorite is that the City of Chicago offered help to FEMA before land fall but the feds refused it (reported on the third time line I linked).
If you look at these time lines (times line?), things don't look that damning for Bush personally until two days after landfall (sure he appointed a brain dead dilettante to head FEMA but that's politics). I'm willing to give the President the first 12-24 hours after landfall to be informed (FEMA and DHS on the other hand have no excuse for not be better prepared prior to landfall). However, take a look at Bush's reaction to the hurricane. For the first day he did normal political stuff (photo ops, flogging his favorite bills etc). But by the second day he had been informed that New Orleans' levees were not only "over topped" but breached as well and that the city was flooded leaving tens of thousands stranded with food and water running out. His reaction? A "casual" speech followed by a round of defensive excuse-making and spin doctoring that still hasn't ended. Meanwhile FEMA, state and local officials are muddling along and finally (two weeks later) getting a handle on things.
I'll give you a topic. The Federal Emergency Management Agency saw no emergency to manage. Discuss.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Katrina Time Line
Posted by Raised By Republicans at 5:23 AM
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3 comments:
Yesterday, President Bush toured New Orleans... again. This was his first close-up visit after a couple of flyovers last week. But he's not there to lead the effort. No, he's just there to be seen and have some photo-ops. The planning and logistics for the President's public relations missions is just one more thing that the actual relief effort coordinator, Vice Adm. Allen has to handle.
Bush might have been able to do some good if he had shown up on Tuesday or Wednesday and knocked some heads to get the relief effort rolling faster. But now, two weeks later, Bush is just going down there to try to help himself. Frankly, I suspect the beleaguered Vice Admiral would appreciate it if Bush stopped interfering and went back on vacation.
Yes, Bush is behaving like he get's to try his initial reaction over and over again until he get's it right. He doesn't seem to realize that the moment is past. People will need to see a lot more from him than a staged hug and a walk down the street with a bunch of firemen.
I heard that Lt. Gen Honore is now in charge of relief efforts. I have no idea if he is assisting or replacing the Admiral. If he's replacing the Admiral, that would be the third on the ground leader in less than a week. Yikes!
// posted by Raised By Republicans
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