* to cut vacation short "This is more -- this is more symbolic"

[paineinthearse]

Q This is more -- this is more symbolic. Cutting short his vacation is more symbolic because he can do all this from the ranch, right?

:rofl:

* couldn't manage to put his bunny jammers on, let alone a national disaster. He IS a national disaster.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050830-4.html



Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
Naval Air Station North Island
San Diego, California

9:34 A.M. PDT

MR. McCLELLAN: All right, let me start over. I wanted to get this information to you all as soon as possible, but the President did make the decision this morning to return to D.C. tomorrow -- tomorrow, after we return this afternoon to Crawford. Tomorrow morning, I expect the President will probably participate in a conference call with some federal officials to receive the latest update and make sure we're doing all we can to coordinate the response efforts. And then we will depart around 10:40 a.m. tomorrow from Waco. He'll return to Washington.

When we return, probably around 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon, the President will chair a White House task force meeting on the response efforts to Hurricane Katrina. The White House has established an interagency task force. It consists to supplement and strengthen our response efforts. The interagency task force will consist of all the relevant agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Defense, and others. Those are some of the agencies that will be included. The Department of Energy will be included in it, obviously. And that meeting will take place at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow.

<snip>

Q Is the President going to go visit the disaster sites?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, I expect he will. We have had some initial discussions about that. I know that we will continue to discuss that and make sure that it is done in coordination with officials -- with state and local officials. We don't want to do anything that would disrupt the ongoing response -- the ongoing response efforts right now. So we're kind of coordinating to determine when the best time will be. I think you can expect by the latter part of the week that we will probably -- by the latter part of the week, we will make a visit to the region that has been impacted.

Q -- is this?

MR. McCLELLAN: I would expect by the latter part of this week.

Q This is more -- this is more symbolic. Cutting short his vacation is more symbolic because he can do all this from the ranch, right?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think -- no, I disagree. Like I said, this is one of the most devastating storms in our nation's history, and the President, after receiving a further update this morning, made the decision that he wanted to get back to D.C. and oversee the response efforts from there. This is going to -- there are many agencies involved in this -- in this response effort, and it's going to require a long and sustained effort on behalf of all the federal agencies working closely with state and local officials to help people recover from the destruction and devastation.

Q What is he unable to -- what is he unable to do in Crawford he could do --

MR. McCLELLAN: We'll talk to you all later. We've got to go. Thank you.

END 9:40 A.M. PDT

[BrklynLiberal]

1. "Cutting his vacation short"???

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[paineinthearse]

3. Sorry, I meant to say his vacation from his vacation from his vacation

First it was Crawford, but Cindy made it too hot. Then they hastily skedaddled to Idaho, but it was too cold. So the beat it to San Diego (home of "mission accomplished" for a drum beating speech at the North Island Naval Air Station (no chance of meeting any hostle civilians there!

[NYC]

2. He will go to Washington TOMORROW.

According to PBS, Lehrer. So, is that cutting his vacation short by ONE day? When was he originally planning on going back?

[Missy M]

4. One day, what a sacrifice he is making.....

he should have had his ass back in DC weeks ago.

[elperromagico]

10. He may need extra vacation time

after dealing with this crisis. ;)

[NYC]

20. No doubt. AntiCoup2K4 said the vacation was supposed

to last through Labor Day. Maybe by then, he can start the new vacation, so he can recover from the old 5 week vacation.

[AntiCoup2K4]

12. Originally he was supposed to be out through Labor Day

So by coming back on the 31st, he'll be able to milk it for all it's worth in regards to the hurricane disaster.

"See I'm sittin round the White House doin nothin instead of doin nothin in Texas or Utah or Idaho. That's cause we care. And carin's hard work. It's hard!"

[FreedomAngel82]

25. Hey

It's short to him. :eyes: I remember sometime last year I believe it was on Al Franken's show he had a guest on who was an aide to Clinton's. She was talking about how much a hard working president Clinton was. Basically Clinton would stay up until 3am in the morning finishing up whatever it was he was working on that day. He wouldn't go to sleep until everything was done. Then when it came time for his vacation he would only go half of the month and then he'd be back to work. I miss him.

[Rude Horner]

5. Good time to cut the press conference short

I mean, that IS a good question seeing as how we were told that he could oversee all aspects of his job in Crawford and how this wasn't really a "vacation". If he can oversee Iraq from Crawford, why the hell can't he oversee the disaster recovery efforts there as well? I'll tell ya why - cuz it looks awfully fucking bad to have the prez on vacation during this time. This move back to Washington early is pure BUSHit!

[paineinthearse]

9. The real reason * will not return to Crawford before August 31

Cindy and her supports will be there until the BRING THEM HOME NOW TOUR departs on the 31st.

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22339&mesg_id=22339

[RageFist]

6. The fact that this isn't even enfuriating

anymore speaks volumes...its just typical. :(

[Wickerman]

7. beautiful. The press called Scotty on it and he caved.

I love it.

[elperromagico]

8. One would think that, if he can do the rest of his work from Crawford,

he could do this from Crawford as well.

The two most likely scenarios are:

A) It is merely symbolic. People like to see the president in DC during a time of crisis.

B) He really doesn't do shit in Crawford.

Maybe it's both.

[Nordmadr]

11. I long ago decided that this man was not really running the

country. He is simply the media man and symbolic figurehead just like the monarchy in England. the country is actually in the hands of all those lovely PNAC'ers including Cheney and Rumsfeld.

Olaf

[rodeodance]

14. he only knows how to give speeches that some one else writes.

[Rude Horner]

16. If he's the best they got

to give speeches, the GOP is in more trouble than I thought.

from the wonderful site:
www.dubyaspeak.com

******
Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?

I like the idea of people running for office. There's a positive effect when you run for office. Maybe some will run for office and say, vote for me, I look forward to blowing up America. I don't know, I don't know if that will be their platform or not. But it's -- I don't think so. I think people who generally run for office say, vote for me, I'm looking forward to fixing your potholes, or making sure you got bread on the table

TOP 10 AS SELECTED BY DUBYASPEAK VIEWERS

10. At this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly outta Ronald Reagan Airport.
9. Laura and I will thank them from the bottom of my heart.
8. When you have your own money, it means you've got more money to spend.
7. The benefits of helping somebody is beneficial.
6. We're in for a long struggle, and I think Texans understand that. And so do Americans.
5. Sometimes when I sleep at night I think of "Hop on Pop".
4. I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here.
3. And one of the things we've got to make sure that we do is anything.
2. We're making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end.
1. Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better.

TOP 10 AS SELECTED BY THE EDITOR (from the remainder of the collection)

10. I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war.
9. I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.
8. You teach a child to read and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.
7. No, I know all the war rhetoric, but it's all aimed at achieving peace.
6. My mom often used to say, "The trouble with W" -- although she didn't put that to words.
5. In 1994, there were 67 schools in Texas that were rated "exemplorary" according to our own tests.
4. I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe -- I believe what I believe is right.
3. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease.
2. I understand small business growth. I was one.
1. Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.

[elperromagico]

18. He's good enough to have beaten us twice.

Fraud or no fraud, he's the president and our guys aren't.

Apparently there are a great many Americans who couldn't care less that their president can't string a sentence together.

[Rude Horner]

19. a great many Americans

are morans.

[pretzel4gore]

23. ever heard of the 'race of the hot cross buns'?

it's a race, famous among a select few, where hot cross buns are slid down an incline: the winner gets a prize. anyway, when al gore was running for presdent usa, he had no idea the race was decided already, by a hot cross bun named bush!
i once purchased the brooklyn bridge for 20 dollars. 20 dollars!! i hacven't decided what i'm gonna do with it yet, but when i do.....brooklyn will be the first to know :)

[bluedog]

13. what a load of crap.....lies again

well, lies again..didn't they say he could do the same work in crawford that he does from the WH?..........which is it a lie or not?

[elperromagico]

15. They won't even admit that it's mostly symbolic.

I could accept that excuse. It doesn't look good for the president to be cutting brush at his "ranch" while the gulf coast is drowning.

They won't even admit that. No no, the president has work to do. Therefore, he goes to Washington.

So much for "working vacations."

[NewInNewJ.]

17. I don't think he will leave the ranch.

I think he is too scared of that Sheehan Woman!

[montana500]

21. bwahahahhaa

lol

[susu369]

22. I've never believed Rove is the genius the media parrots him to be

(or he is really distracted). Politically (nevermind the humanity)Bush should have gone back to Washington this past weekend BEFORE Katrina hit and taken charge - duh. Bonus for the evil bu$h* cabal: that would have kicked Cindy Sheehan (God bless her) out of the picture. Great excuse to leave Crawford. They failed to take advantage of that! Geez, Bu$h only had a couple of vacation days left anyway.

Now the truth is obvious that bu$h is an incompetent and uncaring leader.

He lucked out immediately after 9-11 while the coward crisscrossed the country and failed to take his leadership responsibility (no criticism from the media); however, I think his "luck" may be running out Big Time.

Having lost my home to Hurricane Ivan, my heart goes out to everyone in Katrina's path.

[FreedomAngel82]

26. I think luck is running out too

People really believe Bush is a "good Christian man" but he's now showing his true colors to the whole country, no make that the whole world. So I wonder what's up with Karl Rove. I haven't seen him around Bush lately either: has anybody else? :shrug:

[newscott]

24. Maybe he should fly to Nebraska.

[ray of light]

27. Oversee it?

What? Are they gonna give him "My Pet Goat Takes a Bath" to read while they work?

[peekaloo]

28. now the real looting begins!

I hate being cynical sometimes.

[Javaman]

29. so moron* flys to DC on a moments notice for a blind braindead woman...

but it takes a day and a half to fly back to DC??????? after a major disaster hits???? And he's flying to DC and not LA???????

Tell me I'm not hearing right?? What a fuckwit*

colossal failure*.

[paineinthearse]

32. * has an aversion to

Dead soldiers (dodges funerals)
Dead soldiers' grieving moms (dodges Cindy)
Destitute poor people.

[truthisfreedom]

30. wow. I can't believe they got Scotty to slip up and say that bush can't

be president from the ranch. what a giant cock-up. this whole thing has been a giant cock-up, from the lackadasical approach to the run-up to the storm to the relaxed way in which bush has "ended his vacation early." he strummed a guitar while New Orleans was flooding, the Mayor of New Orleans can't understand where the resources are (sandbagging was impossible, 70% of the budget was cut from the Army Corp of Engineers study of how to protect NO from a cat 5 hurricane just last year)... there is going to be so much anger directed at the federal government for cutting money here at home and spending it on killing the poor people of Iraq that bushco may finally come apart at the seams!

in fact, the Mayor of NO stated that he could not reach the administration for help as the last of the pumps are failing in NO and its' all flooding...

[Scout1071]

31. But what about the West Wing renovations?

Are we sure all the work is done? Wasn't that their excuse last week?

[omega minimo]

33. Mother Nature says "Bollocksy" to Mr. Bush

:puke:

He needs to hurry back to the WH to count all the LOOT BushCo. is raking in from oil profits.

[NVMojo]

34. I need to leave this country before I end up having heart failure...

[paineinthearse]

35. If/when the shit hits the fan

It's just a short drive for me to the Peoples' Republic of Vermont.

[political_invader]

36. Did anyone watch CHIMP-BOY's Press confrence...

He sounded like he had just flew in from mars ( probably did )uhh duh I had the pilot do a fly over and gee there is lot of water down there New Orleans is underwater and gone!!

Where in the HELL have you been IDIOT was my thoughts. Just couldn't believe his demeanor.

Have a NICE Day !!

[paineinthearse]

37. WH press corps got feisty 2 days in a row

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4534847&mesg_id=4534847