Bush tells New Orleans: `We understand'

[rodeodance]

Source: ap




Bush tells New Orleans: `We understand'

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 44 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS - President Bush commemorated Hurricane Katrina's devastating blow Wednesday with a somber moment of silence. Across town, in a symbol of a federal-city divide that persists two years after the killer storm, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin marked the levee-breach moment with bell-ringing.

"We're still paying attention. We understand," Bush said in remarks afterward.

The president and his wife, Laura, spent Wednesday's anniversary in New Orleans and Bay St. Louis, Miss., determined to celebrate those he said have "dedicated their lives to the renewal" of the region. But with New Orleans and the Gulf Coast far from their former selves after two years, some here think it's the president's dedication that should be in the spotlight.

In Mississippi, Bush was positioned so that the rebuilding of the U.S. Highway 90 bridge over the Bay of St. Louis was in the camera shots. The two-mile bridge was completely destroyed by the hurricane, causing a 45 minute trip for anyone wanting to get from Bay St. Louis to Pass Christian to the east. Two lanes were opened in May and the other two are scheduled to be completed in November. Bush cited it as an example of Mississippi's recovery.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070829/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_katrina;_ylt=AjVdQl7dPGSDXhwXrOpEM0ys0NUE

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Interesting that an AP story should talk of Bush's positioning. They are finally catching on??

[rodeodance]

1. "armed with facts and figures to show how much the Bush administration has done ".....

......As on other visits, the president and his team arrived here armed with facts and figures to show how much the Bush administration has done to fulfill the promises the president made two-and-a-half weeks after the hurricane.

"We will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives," Bush said then from historic Jackson Square in New Orleans' French Quarter. "This great city will rise again."

In fact, there is some good news here. The city's population is rebounding, and a few neighborhoods thrive. New Orleans has recovered much of its economic base and sales tax revenues are approaching normal. The French Quarter survived Katrina, and the music and restaurant scenes are recovering.

But much of New Orleans still looks like a wasteland, with businesses shuttered and houses abandoned. Basic services like schools, libraries, public transportation and childcare are at half their original levels and only two-thirds of the region's licensed hospitals are open. Rental properties are in severely short supply, driving rents for those that are available way up. Crime is rampant and police operate out of trailers.

[humbled_opinion]

26. Yeah the fact is he don't care a bit about the people only the politics.n/t

[alfredo]

2. Yeah, "we understand" but we don't care.

[hatrack]

3. "Message - 'I care'"

'Nuff said.

[mac56]

6. That's exactly what I thought of.

Poppy Bush sure stuck his foot in it with that pathetic attempt at empathy.

[htuttle]

22. Exactly what I thought of, too

[Demeter]

4. But New Orleans, and the Rest of the Country, DOESN'T Understand

how you could have left everybody to drown.

[Barrett808]

5. That's the "royal we", right? n/t

[librechik]

7. isn't that "unnershtanda?"

cuz Bush doesn't understand how to say understand without slurring and talk ing o ver ly pre cise ly uh cuz he's usually got the buzz on, know what i mean?

[KamaAina]

8. New Orleans tells Bush**: "Bite us"

Different take on the same story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070829/ap_on_re_us/katrina_anniversary

NEW ORLEANS - Prayers, protests and a lingering disgust with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina marked the disaster's second anniversary Wednesday, with a presidential visit doing little to mollify those still displaced by the storm.

Clarence Russ, 64, took a dim view of politicians' promises as he tried to put the finishing touches on his repaired home in the city's devastated Lower 9th Ward....

But Gina Martin, who is still living in Houston after Katrina destroyed her New Orleans home, was unconvinced. "Bush was down here again making more promises he isn't going to keep. The government has failed all of us. It's got to stop," she said.

Martin was among an estimated 1,000 people taking part in a protest march that started in the Lower 9th Ward. It was a uniquely New Orleans-style protest: There were signs accusing the Bush administration of murder and angry chants about the failure of government. But marchers also danced in the street accompanied by two brass bands.

Remember, these are the people who organized the Jazz Funeral for Democracy after the Selection. And sixteen years and counting later, they are still my people.

[rcsl1998]

9. I'm Sure Everyone Got the Message...

...when Karl Rove was appointed to head the Katrina relief & rebuilding efforts. But when new Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appointed Holy Joe Lieberman as head of the Senate Committee to oversee Homeland Security, did he know that the first decision that W's favorite 'Democrat*' would make would be to NOT investigate the Katrina fiasco?

[Algorem]

10. "We understand you're not in the 1%,pee-ons."

[neuvocat]

11. He understands that he can't sit on Trent Lott's front porch yet.

[MasonJar]

12. W is one evil, little (in the most perverse sense) nitwit. I read on DU that he

intended to bring his listeners in from Okla. and Texas. Smart move!

[MasonJar]

13. If you didn't hear the heart-warming story this morn on NPR about the

4 entrepeneurs who have opened their small businesses in a dead zone and are doing well, then go to the NPR web page. They filed papers for small business loans and never heard a word back. Now there is an enormous shocker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They shared one phone, one copier, etc. and the ladies put their remaining savings into the businesses. Then everything came together and they are bringing new energy to the downtrodden community. Truly heroic Americans! Screw George (never succeeded at anything in his miserable, measly, little life) W Bush. Go, New Orleans, come back without the neocon con men.

[djp2]

14. More BS, that is BuShit

We're still paying attention. We understand," Bush said in remarks afterward.

I'm giving up on Bullshit is is now BuShit!!

[uppityperson]

15. We understand, we just don't care. I see what you mean about talking about positioning

Give him the best shot, the bestest background, and talk about how it is manipulaiton.

[Hekate]

16. Was there mass vomiting? or did the crowd moon him? Oh, right, they were hand-picked smiley faces.

Poor NOLA. :-(

I had a fantasy about Bush's driver deliberately getting lost and giving him a ground-tour of the continuing devastation. But for all I know the Nekkid Emperor simply choppered in and choppered out, conveniently maintaining his delusional bubble.

Hekate

[dbt]

17. Batshit, catshit, ratshit, fatshit, thatshit's BULLSHIT.

HBO has recently been showing Mr. Spike Lee's When The Levees Broke. He makes no judgements on the (in)actions of the Regime before and after New Orleans was allowed to drown. Rather, he lets the people do the talking and just shows the bu$hler clips as they were broadcast.

The only thing bu$h understands is culling The Cattle* so that The Chosen may become even more obscenely wealthy.

(*See also, "Thinning The Herd" and/or "Useless Eaters.")

[DrDan]

18. "We understand . . . now watch this drive . . . " n/t

[bdamomma]

19. he understands shit, he does not care about NO.

[Doctor_J]

20. I have to hand it to *

I have always considered him a devout coward, but it some fucking nerve to go back there and face those people he let die.

[MilesColtrane]

21. 1,500 Dead Americans in New Orleans

You were never paying attention, you cocknosed douchebag.

[Mad_Dem_X]

23. He understands NOTHING

not even what's going on his own head.

Fuck him. FUCK. HIM.

[Javaman]

24. They didn't report the whole quote!!!!

"we understand, but don't care!", then morons* fangs sprung out and he sucked the blood from the nearest person.

[CJCRANE]

25. A lukewarm version of Big Dog's "I feel your pain" n/t

[Kablooie]

27. The full sentence: "We understand you had some flooding here a while back."