Posted on 9/19/2004, 6:29:09 PM by arkady_renko
By David Morgan
PENSACOLA, Fla. (Reuters) - President Bush on Sunday returned to hurricane-ravaged Florida to witness the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ivan and comfort storm victims in a campaign battleground state that could determine whether he wins a second term in office.
The Republican incumbent, eager to show a compassionate face to Florida communities hard-hit by three hurricanes in just over a month, toured storm-blasted neighborhoods near the Florida Panhandle city of Pensacola then flew by helicopter to nearby Orange Beach, Alabama.
A pained-looking Bush hugged and kissed a tearful Karen Heinhold in the shattered Pensacola area beachfront community of South Wind, which was swept with a wall of water.
"We lost everything," she told the president in front of a housing site where only a white front door now stood propped up with wooden beams. Her husband Jim stood nearby clutching an American flag.
In the same community, a woman held a makeshift sign that said: "George Bush 2004, You Have Our Vote."
Residents said 29 homes once stood on stilts in the development on an inlet called Big Lagoon. Now some homes in the neighborhood, strewn with debris and twisted tree limbs, bear the pink markings of search and rescue crews.
"We think some people here are (dead) but we're not sure," said Peggy Riedel, a neighbor who works as a construction coordinator.
Bush spent more than an hour touring the development with his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and FEMA Director Michael Brown. The president offered sympathy, hugs and autographs and posed for photos.
Sunday marked the president's fifth visit to Florida since Aug. 10, and his third tour of hurricane-damaged neighborhoods in the state where hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan have killed 81 people and caused an estimated $13 billion to $18 billion in insured damage.
Keenly aware that his father was criticized in Florida for a slow federal response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Bush has so far requested $5.1 billion in new disaster funds for aid and recovery efforts. Congress has already approved $2 billion of the request.
The aid includes loans for small-business owners, a target audience of Bush's re-election campaign nationwide.
Bush reached the White House after winning Florida in 2000 by just 537 votes, following a bitter recount battle with Democrat Al Gore that was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In this year's contest for the state's 27 Electoral College votes, Bush faces a tight race against Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
Republicans got good news last week when the Florida Supreme Court allowed Ralph Nader onto the Nov. 2 ballot as the Reform Party candidate. Nader is viewed by many as a potential spoiler for Kerry because of his popularity among liberals and environmentalists.
But with storm damage afflicting several sections of the state, analysts say the presidential campaign has become secondary for residents engrossed by the momentous tasks of reordering their lives.
Many Floridians are fretting they might get hit again this week if Tropical Storm Jeanne gathers strength and veers toward them. But that storm, which killed 11 people in the Dominican Republic and two in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, was edging past the central Bahamas on Sunday and weather forecasters expected it to turn away from Florida.
A_R
And if he didn't go to Forida right now he'd be in some other kind of hot water with this type of writer.
After all, it's Bush's fault anyway.
comfort storm victims in a campaign battleground state that could determine whether he wins a second term in officeImagine for a second if Bush didn't go to Florida. Imagine how Kerry would rail against him, "couldn't even take the time to go to the Florida". Imagine how the press would take up the call and repeat it over and over and over again.
Not hard to imagine, is it?
The Main Stream Media is a bunch of document-forging liars. I can't think of any other way to hit back at them, so I think I'll just donate some more money to the group they hate the most.
I'd have a 'pained look' too, if I were followed 24 hours a day by a$$-munchers like Mr. Morgan
President Bush doesn't change, he would go to see what help he could give no matter.
Any President would have gone to Florida. I cannot remember a natural disaster that was not visited by the sitting President.
No. It is usually the state's governor who tours the sites of natural disasters.
Reuters ? For crying out loud ... they just had a hissy fit over the word terrorist being inserted into their script service releases by news outlets instead of freedom fighters.
Reuters is scum.
Hey, dummy. Has it ever occurred to you that the President actually HAS a "compassionate face??"
It never ceases to amaze me that these leftist writers can't even write a straight story about something that is so obvious to any honest observer.
Can you IMAGINE how this same story would have been written if it had been the debauched one who came down to Florida? They'd be gushing all over him.
These people are SO disgusting!
CenTex
It is impossible for a reporter to write a story with just the facts. Even ole Dan the almost made it through boot Marine has problems with the facts.
Cen-Tex
True, how is the press going to deal with it.
Could someone please post this accompanying photo as I don't know how to:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/040919/480/fldp10709191622&e=7&ncid=480
It's a very odd photo in the sense of you don't normally see a head of state standing in the middle of the devastation of someone's house with their arm around the homeowner's shoulder. It's really the essence of President Bush though. He's the ultimate in compassion. In tragedy, he's the one that gives you a shoulder to cry on, and the hug you need. It's not a photo-op to him. That's what Peggy Noonan said in one of her articles too. He's the one to count on for help if the neighbor's house is burning down.
Somehow, this photo also reminded me of the strength of character in NYC after 9/11. It speaks of: "We are proud Americans. We will rebuild. Nothing or no-one will keep us down".
Just do like Terreeezaa says and "LET THEM ALL RUN AROUND NAKED"
what strikes me is that at times like this, it is as if President Bush is unaware of the camera. He's not doing it for effect, he's doing it because he's human, not because he's a politician.
Dear Reuters,
FU
FU big time.
Sincerely,
IOTN
Yes, I found it an amazing photo for that reason. There are well-meaning folks, though, who have difficulty comforting others in the midst of tragedy. President Bush isn't one of them. I wonder if Governor Bush is as good at comforting too?
Just shows that Reuters in completely incapable of getting through on sentence, much less the first paragraph, without slamming Bush.
other than as a curiosity, does anyone read AP/Reuters ?
Not in the same way. Governor Bush strikes me as the type who would arrive on the scene, shake your hand, look you right in the eye, then get straight to business. Not that he cares less, or is more to the point, than his brother, they are just very different. Jeb has a cooler personality type, and isn't as open as President Bush.
Neither one has an ounce of phoniness in him.
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