What does it mean? Is he gonna resign? Is he gonna slap himself in the face a few times? Is he being sent to his room? What?
I wouldn't say that. I would say that Bush is the worst president in my personal experience. That would include Ike, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Senior, and Clinton. I had problems with all of them, except for Kennedy. Ford pardoned Nixon, so I can't give him a pass. Carter was a lousy leader, but a good man. LBJ did wonders with the social issues JFK had targeted... just amazing accomplishments, but they went down the rabbit hole of Vietnam, which is what most people, sadly, remember him for. Ike should have taken on the blacklisting of the McCarthy era, and not waited until he was leaving office to make his "military-industrial complex" speech. Reagan was a strong leader, but didn't accomplish nearly what his supporters think that he accomplished. And he largely got a pass for Iran-Contra, which was a travesty. Bush Senior should have said "**** it!" and taken out Saddam during the Gulf War, which would have prevented his son from doing what he's doing there. Clinton couldn't keep his pants zipped. Otherwise, Bill has a damn fine record. All in my opinion, of course. Good to see George finally accept responsibility for something. Perhaps Rove will see the good of contrition on Bush's part and encourage him to do it more often. He can suggest fewer vacations and more press conferences, while he's at it. Bush is setting records for the first, and setting records for the fewest press conferences for a modern President. Bush remains, despite the competition, the worst President I've known. I won't get into Nixon, who I had the pleasure of voting against. Someone finally makes him look halfway decent. Keep D&D Civil!!
Historians are going to rank W in the bottom of the list, no doubt about it. W has enough time to straigthened out this situation, but I am not holding my breath. BTW most historians wait until many years after a presidency has completed before they have to enough documents and can make a detailed evaulation.
Bush should take responsibility for hiring Brown - now that would be really impressive. I'm still impressed he did it. If he had shown this kind of character on early in his presidency, then this nation wouldn't be so divided.
If he had shown this kind of character on early in his presidency, ... He would have had to polling very badly.
I think GW Bush is willing to take responsibility for this as opposed to other things that haven't gone right is because this wasn't a situation that the Admin. created. While the Admin. might've done things to exacerbate it its not like they created the hurricane and as others have noted their is a lot of blame to go around so its not like this is something as associated with this Admin. as the invasion of Iraq.
hopefully for only past mistakes, I don't want him making more and thinking he can get away for it by saying 'sorry'.
Why did you have to take the class so many times? Did you drop or fail the class multiple times? Most degree plans only require two american history classes glynch, I happen to agree with Sonny on that...failure came from all levels of our government....are you accusing me of toeing the Repub line? That would be a most laughable accusation.
Exactly. It was good to hear Bush say this. Every level of gov, espeically the local gov. really messed up on this one.
no...not especially...I realize you are a FOB(fan of Bush)...but comeone Ups...quit parroting the party line....Ive seen you do it time after time lately...you are better than that. The locals were woefully unprepared....true....and once in a crisis situation with no communication capabilities and no visiable backbone...they cracked. Perfectly understandable imo.... but I expect better response from the national gov...they should have been better prepared...they have dealt with disasters time after time...they had experience and the capabilties to respond better thanthey did. Surely you can see that...its only logical. Incompetence at the local and FEMA levels cost us dearly. Now...lets all hope and pray that Mr Bush can correct the issues that FEMA had..and can fix what went wrong...before they next disaster happens....you never know...it could be us next time....we are WAY overdue. All aspects of government emergency preparedness failed....equally...in their own ways. We cant fix the problems if we are blinded by politics...
Rocket2k that I do agree with, and these friendly appointments must stop. On both party lines. This has been a disaster in which I think in the future politician's will not put their "FRIENDS" in such critical post.
Max, your colors are showing. Clinton!!? Still think the lying about the blow job, even under oath, is worse than any lies/ deceptions/incompetencies Bush has engaged in? NO I don't think Bush alone is responsible. Like the Iraq War lies or "fixing" intelligence and then packaging it to the public as the truth, this is serious. If he is responsible, then he should consider resigning or he should go beg the victims at the Astrodome for forgivenss, not just do photo ops with NYC firemen in New Orleans. Otherwise empty pr words. I don't see it simply as : "Everyone is responsible; so nobody really is. Everything is about as good as realistically possible therefore, remain contented with Bush" This is the party line in a nutshell. Now we have the false nobility : (Well I'm the CEO so I have to say the cliche.) "I'm responsible." (wink). I think it may be enough to hold the dittos, some of whom have been wavering for the first time and those desperate to remain contented. We'll see.
A Fatal Incuriosity By MAUREEN DOWD Published: September 14, 2005 I hate spending time in hospitals and nursing homes. I find them to be some of the most depressing places on earth. Maybe that's why the stories of the sick and elderly who died, 45 in a New Orleans hospital and 34 in St. Rita's nursing home in the devastated St. Bernard Parish outside New Orleans, haunt me so. You're already vulnerable and alone when suddenly you're beset by nature and betrayed by your government. At St. Rita's, 34 seniors fought to live with what little strength they had as the lights went out and the water rose over their legs, over their shoulders, over their mouths. As Gardiner Harris wrote in The Times, the failed defenses included a table nailed against a window and a couch pushed against a door. Several electric wheelchairs were gathered near the front entrance, maybe by patients who dreamed of evacuating. Their drowned bodies were found swollen and unrecognizable a week later, as Mr. Harris reported, "draped over a wheelchair, wrapped in a shower curtain, lying on a floor in several inches of muck." At Memorial Medical Center, victims also suffered in 100-degree heat and died, some while waiting to be rescued in the four days after Katrina hit. As Louisiana's death toll spiked to 423 yesterday, the state charged St. Rita's owners with multiple counts of negligent homicide, accusing them of not responding to warnings about the hurricane. "In effect," State Attorney General Charles Foti Jr. said, "I think that their inactions resulted in the death of these people." President Bush continued to try to spin his own inaction yesterday, but he may finally have reached a patch of reality beyond spin. Now he's the one drowning, unable to rescue himself by patting small black children on the head during photo-ops and making scripted attempts to appear engaged. He can keep going back down there, as he will again on Thursday when he gives a televised speech to the nation, but he can never compensate for his tragic inattention during days when so many lives could have been saved. He made the ultimate sacrifice and admitted his administration had messed up, something he'd refused to do through all of the other screw-ups, from phantom W.M.D. and the torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo to the miscalculations on the Iraq occupation and the insurgency, which will soon claim 2,000 young Americans. How many places will be in shambles by the time the Bush crew leaves office? Given that the Bush team has dealt with both gulf crises, Iraq and Katrina, with the same deadly mixture of arrogance and incompetence, and a refusal to face reality, it's frightening to think how it will handle the most demanding act of government domestic investment since the New Deal. Even though we know W. likes to be in his bubble with his feather pillow, the stories this week are breathtaking about the lengths the White House staff had to go to in order to capture Incurious George's attention. Newsweek reported that the reality of Katrina did not sink in for the president until days after the levees broke, turning New Orleans into a watery grave. It took a virtual intervention of his top aides to make W. watch the news about the worst natural disaster in a century. Dan Bartlett made a DVD of newscasts on the hurricane to show the president on Friday morning as he flew down to the Gulf Coast. The aides were scared to tell the isolated president that he should cut short his vacation by a couple of days, Newsweek said, because he can be "cold and snappish in private." Mike Allen wrote in Time about one "youngish aide" who was so terrified about telling Mr. Bush he was wrong about something during the first term, he "had dry heaves" afterward. The president had to be truly zoned out not to jump at the word "hurricane," given that he has always used his father's term as a reverse playbook and his father almost lost Florida in 1992 because of his slow-footed response to Hurricane Andrew. And W.'s chief of staff, Andy Card, was the White House transportation secretary the senior President Bush sent to the rescue after FEMA bungled that one. W. has said he prefers to get his information straight up from aides, rather than filtered through newspapers or newscasts. But he surrounds himself with weak sisters who don't have the nerve to break bad news to him, or ideologues with agendas that require warping reality or chuckleheaded cronies like Brownie. The president should stop haunting New Orleans, looking for that bullhorn moment. It's too late. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/14/opinion/14dowd.html?hp
same, this is hte first time i recall him ever attempting to be accountable for anything. (I imagine they figured his approval ratings weren't going to get much lower so may as well try it, it wouldn't hurt) Either way I hope it's sincere and marks a turning point. It probably won't, but I can hope.
