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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGeorge W. Bush in 2005: 'If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare'
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/george-bush-2005-wait-pandemic-late-prepare/story?id=69979013
A book about the 1918 flu pandemic spurred the government to action.
By Matthew Mosk
April 5, 2020, 4:08 AM
In the summer of 2005, President George W. Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he began flipping through an advanced copy of a new book about the 1918 flu pandemic. He couldn't put it down.
When he returned to Washington, he called his top homeland security adviser into the Oval Office and gave her the galley of historian John M. Barry's "The Great Influenza," which told the chilling tale of the mysterious plague that "would kill more people than the outbreak of any other disease in human history."
"You've got to read this," Fran Townsend remembers the president telling her. "He said, 'Look, this happens every 100 years. We need a national strategy.'"
Thus was born the nation's most comprehensive pandemic plan -- a playbook that included diagrams for a global early warning system, funding to develop new, rapid vaccine technology, and a robust national stockpile of critical supplies, such as face masks and ventilators, Townsend said.
The effort was intense over the ensuing three years, including exercises where cabinet officials gamed out their responses, but it was not sustained. Large swaths of the ambitious plan were either not fully realized or entirely shelved as other priorities and crises took hold.
</snip>
A book about the 1918 flu pandemic spurred the government to action.
By Matthew Mosk
April 5, 2020, 4:08 AM
In the summer of 2005, President George W. Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he began flipping through an advanced copy of a new book about the 1918 flu pandemic. He couldn't put it down.
When he returned to Washington, he called his top homeland security adviser into the Oval Office and gave her the galley of historian John M. Barry's "The Great Influenza," which told the chilling tale of the mysterious plague that "would kill more people than the outbreak of any other disease in human history."
"You've got to read this," Fran Townsend remembers the president telling her. "He said, 'Look, this happens every 100 years. We need a national strategy.'"
Thus was born the nation's most comprehensive pandemic plan -- a playbook that included diagrams for a global early warning system, funding to develop new, rapid vaccine technology, and a robust national stockpile of critical supplies, such as face masks and ventilators, Townsend said.
The effort was intense over the ensuing three years, including exercises where cabinet officials gamed out their responses, but it was not sustained. Large swaths of the ambitious plan were either not fully realized or entirely shelved as other priorities and crises took hold.
</snip>
FFS. Even SHRUB knew that the threat was serious 15 years ago. And that simpleton read it in a book.
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George W. Bush in 2005: 'If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare' (Original Post)
Dennis Donovan
Apr 2020
OP
And at least he took his job seriously and was not a narcissistic egomaniac. n/t
blitzen
Apr 2020
#6
"In the summer of 2005, President George W. Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas."
WhiskeyGrinder
Apr 2020
#4
dalton99a
(81,516 posts)1. My Pet Goat wasn't the only thing he read
By all accounts he does read books - he married a librarian
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)5. I know. I was riffing on my 2005 view of him
neeksgeek
(1,214 posts)2. I never liked GWB. But I never considered him a fool.
I despised his policies, most of the time, and I certainly voted against him. He wasnt our smartest President. But compared to Trump, he was downright brilliant.
blitzen
(4,572 posts)6. And at least he took his job seriously and was not a narcissistic egomaniac. n/t
ChazII
(6,205 posts)3. A broken clock is right twice a day. n/t
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,357 posts)4. "In the summer of 2005, President George W. Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas."
Just a few weeks later, he was bungling the federal response to Katrina. He was not a good president.
dalton99a
(81,516 posts)7. W was a lazy idiot
He allowed Rove and Cheney to use him
Response to Dennis Donovan (Original post)
elocs This message was self-deleted by its author.