McCain Knocks Bush's Response To Katrina

GOP Candidate Tours New Orleans, Says Residents' Plight Will Not Be Forgotten

(AP)  Republican presidential candidate John McCain took stock of still-hurricane-damaged areas of New Orleans on Thursday and declared that if the disaster had happened on his watch, he would have immediately landed his plane at the nearest Air Force base, drawing a sharp contrast to President Bush's handling of the tragedy.

McCain called the response to Katrina "a perfect storm" of mismanagement by federal, state and local governments.

The Arizona senator walked a few blocks of the hard-hit Lower 9th Ward, passing tidy rebuilt stucco houses standing next to abandoned structures, their facades still spray-painted with the markings of rescue workers who went door to door nearly three years ago searching for bodies. FEMA trailers still dot the neighborhood. McCain said his teenage daughter Bridget had been there with a volunteer youth group a few weeks ago to help in the recovery.

"Never again, never again, will a disaster of this nature be handled in the disgraceful way it was handled," McCain declared.

He made the same pledge over and over during the day: "I promise you, never again."

McCain is campaigning this week in what he calls "forgotten" areas of the country, and he assured New Orleans residents that their situation was not lost on him.

"I've been going to places that are perhaps very cynical about government," he told students during a town hall at Xavier University. Trying to reach out for the votes of Democrats and independents, he pledged to be a president who would take action to erase that cynicism.

"As president of the United States, I'm not going to leave anybody behind," he said.

He said that beyond the most immediate needs of people in New Orleans, such as affordable housing, the top priorities now were to achieve the government's goal to fortify the city against 100-year storms by 2011, and to move beyond that find a way to protect the region against Category 5 hurricanes.

On the latter issue, he said, "It's time to end the studies and it's time to act."

McCain was unsparing in his criticism of the Bush administration on Katrina, and said members of Congress must share some of the blame for putting money into pork-barrel projects when those dollars should have been used to fortify the region against disaster. He said his record was clean on that count, with a consistent opposition to wasteful spending.

Without mentioning Mr. Bush directly, McCain said that when Katrina struck, "If I had been president, I would have ordered the plane landed at the nearest base and I'd of been over here." He repeated that later, saying, "I would've landed my airplane at the nearest Air Force base and come over personally."

McCain said the missteps of the Bush administration were well chronicled and undisputed, citing unqualified leaders, poor communication and a failure to recognize the dimensions of the problem.

In a conversation with reporters aboard his Straight Talk Express bus, McCain rejected the notion that he ran any risk of guilt by association with the Bush administration in coming to New Orleans, saying voters would judge him on his own record, not that of the current Republican president.

Democrats, however, were happy to draw a connection.

The Democratic National Committee said in a statement that McCain had opposed emergency assistance to the Gulf Coast in Katrina's aftermath and predicted he would be "more of the same Bush-Brownie inaction for the Gulf Coast. And that's the last thing Louisiana — or the rest of America — needs."

McCain's "call to action" tour this week is designed to demonstrate that he is a different kind of Republican, reaching out to all and ready to take action to help those in need. Earlier stops on his tour included Selma, Ala., site of a famed civil rights battle; a shuttered steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio, and a tiny coal town in Kentucky where President Johnson declared war on poverty.

Katrina, the most costly natural disaster ever to strike the United States, roared ashore in August 2005, killing more than 1,800 people and displacing more than 250,000. Total damages were estimated to be around $125 billion. The recovery has been uneven.

Now, New Orleans is repopulating, port business has steadily improved and sales tax revenues are near normal. But the city still faces problems with crime, homelessness and frustrations about the pace of rebuilding efforts. Overall, repopulation in the region remains slow and many major infrastructure repairs have yet to be done, according to a new Brookings Institution report.

[bnnielsen]

if you remember you were walking beside and smiling right alone with bush, so i wouldn''t talk to much

[sueann702]

McCain is Bush clone. No clue on the economy,spends money,tax breaks for the rich,loves war/NAFTA,hates the constitution/no protection for US citizens thru the Patriot Act ect.

Enough.

[libh8er]

I don''''t think it''''s government''''s job to bail people out when they make foolish mistakes."
Posted by Voltaire333 at 12:32 PM : Apr 25, 2008

Do you? I see you put it in quotes....did McCain actually say that? Does going thru life as a bedwetting lib cause you any embarrassment?

[voltaire333]

Yeah, right, can you imagine if Old Man McCain had been president when Katrina hit? He''d have said, "Well, they chose to live there . . . Why should we bail them out? I don''t think it''s government''s job to bail people out when they make foolish mistakes."

This is mere window dressing so as to make McCain appear to be ''maverick'' and distance himself from Bush. However, in the essentials (the economy and the War in Iraq), McCain has a lot in common with George W. Bush. He is trying to position himself to look more moderate so he can blunt the Democratic appeal to the voters who are desperate for Washington to change course. People are SICK of the Bush conservatives and want something different. So McCain can find an issue that no longer matters (Katrina) and that everyone agrees was poorly handled, to have a ''safe'' issue on which he can appear moderate. I''m not fooled by this window dressing. I hope others aren''t either.

[demslie]

Hey you PATHETIC MORON! This is about a VERY incompetent action by the WORST President in US History. The question? Do we put a flip flopper like that in the office of President. Someone who will trash people the way he did then come back around YEARS later, after he voted against money to help them, and say it was a mistake... that''''s just not acceptable. Now put away the swastika and grow up for gods sake. Sieg Heil Bush

Posted by MCVet

MCVet uses these "stories" as his own personal ****** Posts. MCVet has never said a constructive word on any subject. MCVet, like all Angry Hateful Anti-American Democrats has never contributed a meaninful thought to any problem in the world. MCVet lives his little life behind a blog and the little man just screams his hate and anger and calls people names, just like all Democrats do. I hope your little ego fells better because you sure have not helped your party. John McCain is polling ahead of O''Bama and Hitlery in all major polls because the American People are tired of the endless Hate Rants of Democrats like MCVet.

[rob416]

It is easy for Sen. McCain to say after the fact that he would have handled the Katrina disaster differently, especially when you are running for president. No doubt the Bush Administration failed in their handling of the disaster as they fail in handling most things.

[mcvet]

I''''LL SAY IT AGAIN!....SHAME ON THOSE WHO HATH NO SHAME IN TWISTING AN HONORED AMERICAN''''S NAME!

MAY GOD BLESS THEM TO HAVE HAVE A BETTER RESPECT FOR OTHERS!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by dumbshun at 11:27 PM : Apr 24, 2008
+ report abuse

Hey you PATHETIC MORON! This is about a VERY incompetent action by the WORST President in US History. We DO NOT want it repeated. Now this "Person" who supported the WORST President and his actions when these people were being run out of their homes by a flood, is NOW saying it was a mistake. The question? Do we put a flip flopper like that in the office of President. Someone who will trash people the way he did then come back around YEARS later, after he voted against money to help them, and say it was a mistake... that''s just not acceptable. Now put away the swastika and grow up for gods sake. Sieg Heil Bush

[mcvet]

The State of Lousiana set up the Katrina disaster by theirself with stubborness and laziness that is charactaristic of New Orleans. They were more interested in keeping young tourists drinking in the French Quarter than complying with Federal recommendations to improve safety for young adults, who were dying tragically in alchohol related deaths.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Pensacola88 at 01:01 AM : Apr 25, 2008
+ report abuse

So you are saying that McSame is LYING now and was telling the truth back then? I really don''t understand you fascist and your approach to things. It''s got to be one of the two. Either Bush and Brownie, who McSame supported for the job at FEMA, were terribly Incompetent as McSame said yesterday or they did a good job and the fault lies with the State. Maybe you should take that magic swastika off in a corner and see if IT will provide you with the answer... reasoning it out for yourself is obviously out of the question!! Sieg Heil Bush

[fibonacci_]

Little McSame.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by whitepicks2

It is indeed very tempting to paint McCain with the words of his pastor-supporter, but as I condemn the same whenever it is done to Mr. Obama, I will offer Mr. McCain the same courtesy.

I will say however, that his hypocrisy is obvious, he didn''t criticize the racist remarks made by Babs Bush at the time, nor do I see any fingers he may have lifted in assistance to the stricken.

McCain is just another opportunist, who feels his best chance to gain office is to appeal to the regressives, those fools trying to resist the inexorable tide of human progress, and the last person America needs as a president at this time, or any time, for that matter.

[brianbwb-2009]

"McCain Knocks Bush''s Response To Katrina"

Ok, but what was McCain doing at the time to mitigate Bush''s malfeasance?

[watcher269-2009]

Always Remember, FACTS Have A Liberal Bias

Lies and deceit have a Republican Bias.

[watcher269-2009]

"SURRENDER" TO IRAQI TERRORISTS AND "BEG" FOR THEIR "MERCY"?

Posted by dumbshun -
-------------------

WOW - And I thought that no-one else was as Dumb as BUSHIT - however - Dumbshun(DumbShiite as you should be called) are a scraping from the bottom of the *** barrel!

[jerr11]

In another story, McCain said, "The Katrina response was a disaster, but the Iraq war has been a stunning success!"

[pensacola88]

Many people still forget that before Katrina, the state and federal authorities told the population to evacuate, but very few heeded the warning. That was not Bush''s fault. Others forget that in ''93-''94, the Lousiana State legislature refused to raise the drinking age and lost their federal hiway earmarks. The State of Lousiana redirected Federal Army Corp or Engineers fundings away from levy maintenance to make up for the Federal Hiway projects that lost funding.

The State of Lousiana set up the Katrina disaster by theirself with stubborness and laziness that is charactaristic of New Orleans. They were more interested in keeping young tourists drinking in the French Quarter than complying with Federal recommendations to improve safety for young adults, who were dying tragically in alchohol related deaths.

[G H M]

He''s biting his master''s hand, that feeds him! --not good!!!

[element51]

dumbshun...Now let me get this straight. I''m a democrat so you are calling me a coward? Let me tell you something you little buttweisil, you might get away with calling others names on here but you won''t do it to me. You get on here and contribute absolutely NOTHING to the discussions that other posters are trying to have. You act like a snot nosed little punk and we are supposed to be scared of you? I''m not and I''ll let you know it. If you disagree with others that''s fine. Offer some constructive comment to add to the discussion. But if all you can do is is provide snide remarks and insults go somewhere where you are wanted. You ain''t the only horse in the race sonny.

[lucasnico]

dumbshun..........keep posting.......keep living up to your name.

[stn_sage]

WOW! What any politician won''t say or do to get higher political office!!

Where was Mr. McCain with his denouncement of the way Katrina was mishandled when it happened?! Back then, it might have meant something! It might have helped!
But, NOW?! It comes off as hypocracy!

I''m disappointed in ALL three of the potential presidential candidates, because not one of the three is truly presidential!