Bush Sheltered During Tornado Alert

President And First Lady Were Moved To Armored Vehicle On Their Ranch During Weather Alert

(CBS/AP)  President Bush and first lady Laura Bush were moved to an armored vehicle on their ranch Friday when a tornado warning was issued in central Texas, the White House said.

The vehicle was driven to a tornado shelter on the ranch, and the president, Mrs. Bush and their two Scottish terriers sat inside until the weather cleared, deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said.

The storm passed while they waited in their vehicle and the Bushes didn't have to enter the shelter, reports CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning at 2:34 p.m. CST after a severe thunderstorm with a history of producing tornadoes was reported 13 miles south of Clifton, Texas, and moving northeast. Clifton is 20 miles northwest of Crawford.

Stanzel said he did not know how long the Bushes and their dogs, Miss Beazley and Barney, had to stay in the vehicle, but that it was not "terribly long."

The rush to the tornado shelter interrupted Bush's day at the ranch where he cleared some cedar and was kept abreast of plans to execute Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

He received calls to wish him a happy new year from outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is visiting Miami, also called Bush to talk about Iraq.

Stanzel said Bush spent time on the rainy, windy day contemplating the new plan for U.S. policy in Iraq that he plans to announce in the new year. Bush hosted a National Security Council meeting at his ranch on Thursday.

[anvilheadsix]

He was really seeking shelter from all of the criticism.

"Harsh criticism is not the answer! Stop being so harsh on me!"

[lilywhitepts]

I bet that armored vehicle has a wet bar, and I bet he had a few stiff ones while he was waiting...why should today be any different?

[olebd]

Divine intervention for the world perhaps???? Hmmm....

[rincewind3-2009]

Oh, come on. It was a tornado, and Bush took shelter in an armored vehicle. How can anyone complain about that? I swear, some people are as eager to blame Bush for anything he does as others are to praise him.

[sandy5274]

ROFLMAO! So didn't the Coward in Chief Liar &
Phony Drug Store Cowboy Generalissmo George W Bush go hide out at his phony drugstore cowboy
ranch on 9-11 and then run and hide in an Air
Force Bunker as well?

Hey George W Bush your not President to Play Hide
& Seek Every Time Something Happens Stupid!

[gladys_over]

Poor President Bush. Tornados are the least of his problems.

In the latest AP-AOL News poll, Bush won the "villain of the year 2006" sweepstakes by a landslide, with one in four respondents putting him at the top of that bad-guy list. When people were asked to name the candidate for villain that first came to mind, Bush far outdistanced even Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader in hiding; and former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who is scheduled for execution.

What does it say about him, that one in four Americans rank him worse than Saddam and Osama ? He must be doing something seriously wrong.

How many Americans ranked FDR as worse than Hitler and Tojo during World War Two ?

None. Nobody did.

[gladys_over]

RE "Hey George W Bush your not President to Play Hide & Seek Every Time Something Happens Stupid!" - sandy5274

A tornado watch isn't as serious as a tornado warning, where twisters have actually touched down.

A tornado watch just means that conditions are ripe for tornados.

It was a little silly for the man who says over and over again that "I'm not going to lose my nerve" to run off to an armored vehicle during a mere tornado warning.

How many other Texans had access to one of those ?

A President should set a better example of "true Texas grit" than that.

(Maybe he was concerned that if anything happened to him and his Napoleon-like military genius brain, the situation in Iraq would start to get bad.)

[gladys_over]

CNN is calling it a tornado watch, not a tornado warning.

As far as I know, no twister had touched down. It was just a reaction to a storm of the type that has produced tornados in the past.

It must be agonizing to go through life so tormented by fear of physical danger as Bush obviously is.

After the 9-11-2001 terrorist attack, when a Bush spokesperson assured the public that Bush, who had gone into hiding, was safe, Newsweek reported that an unnamed Republican Congressman grumbled, "We don't need her to tell us the President is safe. We need the President to tell us America is safe."

[gladys_over]

RE: "It must be agonizing to go through life so tormented by fear of physical danger as Bush obviously is."

Can you imagine young Dubya in combat on one of those Swift Boats during the Vietnam War ?

The poor guy would have been a section 8 the first week. Total mental collapse.

Only brave men and leaders could go though that experience.

[processor2]

Only an idiot WOULDN'T TAKE SHELTER during a tornado watch/warning

..........

[kevboom]

I'll get you my pretty, and your little dogs too!

[joesal698]

"Only an idiot WOULDN'T TAKE SHELTER during a tornado watch/warning

Posted by processor2 at 08:55 PM : Dec 29, 2006"


Speak for yourself.

[randalds]

Dam*n tornadoes! Can't count on them to knock him off and put us all out of his misery. We need more efficient tornadoes!

[intn1]

I'm sure it was the secret service that had him seek some shelter. Tornado watches can turn to warnings in seconds and without warning. It's intelligent to get somewhere safe.

As for that crazy AP-AOL poll, I would want to see the demographics of the people who took the poll. I think the only truly reliable poll is one that surveys anybody old enough to grasp the issue and decide.

[randalds]

Only brave men and leaders could go though that experience.

Posted by Gladys_Over at 08:55 PM : Dec 29, 2006

During Vietnam we had a phrase for "men" like Bush. Gutless wonders. It fit him then and now. The "man" is one of the biggest cowards on two feet.

[j-whitman]

I want to know the name of the idiot who helped save him.

[defirststate]

Too bad, he'd be right at home in Oz. Picture this, Laura the 2 dogs and the scarecrow looking for a brain following the yellow brick road KBR built to the pipeline pump station. There'd be no brain for him there, but dumbya would finally find oil without the Saudi's pumping it into the ground behind the curtain for his drilling rig to strike. Oh well, at least the dogs are safe.

All his hot air combined with his famous ability to spin anything might have finally developed to the point that it appeared on Doppler radar. He may have been practicing his speech explaining that staying the course is now the new way forward, not just staying the course.

[randalds]

Well at least for an atheist like me it's proof that there is no god, because if there was he wouldn't have missed that bast*ard!

[randalds]

When I was about 8 years old in Michigan I saw a tornado from the basement window of our farm. I didn't know it at the time but it was headed for the small town of Burnips, Michigan where it would kill a young mother and her infant child by flattening their house trailer down to less then a foot tall, with them in it. That was tragic, but not as much as the fact that the one in Texas yesterday missed George W. Bush. That a mother and child should have died nearly 40 years ago is still sad compared to the fact that Bush didn't meet a similar fate yesterday.

[gladys_over]

RE: "I'm sure it was the secret service that had him seek some shelter." - intn1

The Secret Service ordered Condi Rice to run away and hide on 9/11, like Bush and Cheney. She refused, and remained in her office in Washington DC, aware that at times like that our leaders should have more on their minds than their own physical safety.

Did President Eisenhower ever hide in an armored vehicle to escape a thunderstorm ? Did Woody Allen ever do that ?

(Maybe it was the two Scottish Terriers that ordered the commander-in-chief to hide in an armored vehicle during the storm. Those dogs won't hunt.)

[bluestardad]

You cannot hide from the Hand of GOD!

[bluestardad]

His own ghost are starting to haunt him soon he will be crazier than he is now with mental torment.

[bluestardad]

There is no actionable intelligence anywhere to be found in the Bush administration.

[gladys_over]

RE: "As for that crazy AP-AOL poll, I would want to see the demographics of the people who took the poll. I think the only truly reliable poll is one that surveys anybody old enough to grasp the issue and decide." - intn1

That wouldn't be fair. It would exclude all of the President's remaining supporters.

With the increasing popularity of cell phones, the old fashioned phone booth has largely disappeared. Now Dubya's supporters have no place to hold their annual meetings.

[antoniof123]

Why should the people of America stop being so mean to the President. I do not, you reap what you sow.

[trid2bnrml]

Well, at least THE BUSH family, AND their beloved pets were able to make it to a safe shelter unharmed---which is more than can be said of thousands of Katrina victims and their beloved pets...

let's see, the escorted v. the ignored...wonder where the rest of us would fit in...

[grazinggoat]

RandalDS
Krispy comments again, well measured. Way to go bro.

[bluestardad]

RandalDS; well spoken but with International justice looking at this mess and American People's condemnation he is going to pay.

[bluestardad]

Look at Laura Bush in this picture is she on Morphine?

[pendragon679]

Dang, a tornado almost got King Dubya. I give it about a week before the neo-cons find a way to blame it on Clinton and make Georgie out to be a hero.

[randalds]

Posted by bluestardad at 02:02 PM : Dec 30, 2006
Posted by grazinggoat at 11:00 AM : Dec 30, 2006

Thanks guys. It's nice to know my words are appreciated and I'd like to add that I look forward to your postings also.

[randalds]

Look at Laura Bush in this picture is she on Morphine?

Posted by bluestardad at 02:03 PM : Dec 30, 2006


Wouldn't you be if you had to sleep with that?

;-)

[bildooreilly]

I think she's on XANAX Randal

[cantshutup]

I agree trid2bnrml...I wish all the people who died and suffered in New Orleans could have had the same opportunities for safety that bush and his *** dogs did!!!!!!!!!!!!

The decider is only interested in protecting his own arss!

[cantshutup]

g bush makes me feel very angry, scared and ashamed...

living in bushies world is similar to what a tormented child feels when he wishes his tormentor would just disappear...

[defirststate]

The dogs are safe!


Look at Laura Bush in this picture is she on Morphine?
bluestardad

Wouldn't you be if you had to sleep with that?
RandalDS

I think she's on XANAX Randal
bildooreilly

Both Xanax and Morphine may be part of her pharmaceutical cocktail, but she might need anti-depressants in addition to the anxiety and pain medications. They must have hooked up during her drinking days, and his. He got the better bargain.

As usual the growth on her side's expression seems to be a combination of the painful would-be intelligent look and the old really gotta go look.

Remember the Public Service Ad with an egg frying to represent a person's brain on drugs, picture the ad and look at him. It all comes together.

[randalds]

Remember the Public Service Ad with an egg frying to represent a person's brain on drugs, picture the ad and look at him. It all comes together.

Posted by defirststate at 12:13 AM : Dec 31, 2006

Amen bro. The two of them are the drugs, the eggs, the frying pan and the whole *** thing. Addiction to pharmaceuticals might be the only defense Bush and the wife have at their eventual trial.

BTW, why do right-wingers always assume we're kidding when we talk about Bush going to trial for his crimes when we are deadly (for him at least) serious? We are not. This is no joke. This has gone far beyond political differences. Far beyond the usual "Rah Rah Rah, my team won and yours lost" garbage of the usual elections and into the realm of out and out murder, that there is no turning back. Bush is a murderer and a war criminal. A growing majority of people want to see Bush pay for his crimes with prison time or worse.

[knyghtwolf]

The tornado freaked him out because he finally ran into a bigger windstorm than himself. I agree, he needs to be brought up on charges by the world court, but do you think it will ever happen? He is going to either have to live with the title of our countrie's worst ever president or be put on trial and given the same sentence as Sadam Hussein. He is literally on the same path with Corporate America in the quest of destroying our world for their personal gain....I guess you need to ask yourself this ONE question? When is enough going to be enough?

[creeper00]

Being reminded of the strange odyssey of Air Force One on 9-ll put me in mind of OJ's Bronco. The instinct of cowards seems to be to flee.

It's too bad the president didn't keep going till he got to Paraguay.

[lily_ayanami]

I'm surprised that this hasn't happened before, considering it's in tornado alley.

[randalds]

As usual the growth on her side's expression seems to be a combination of the painful would-be intelligent look and the old really gotta go look.

Posted by defirststate at 12:13 AM : Dec 31, 2006

That's the look he always gets whenever he actually tries to think. Unlike many other bodily functions this one does not come naturally to him so he always looks like he's straining the same way as when he trying to take a hard dump. To him both are equally as difficult and painful.

[randalds]

I guess that when Rove told Bush to build this phony ranch in the country so he'd look more like "a man of the people" he forgot to mention that there are actually dangerous thing in the rural areas. Who knows what will happen when Bush finds out that there are also coyotes, mean jack-rabbits and scary spiders out there too!

Do they really think that an armored vehicle will protect you if a tornado were to hit you directly? It is think kind of thinking that leads to trouble. But then this is our government thinking again....