Posted on 09/13/2005 10:42:25 AM PDT by Uncle Joe Cannon
Bush: 'I take responsibility'
Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:10 PM ET168
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush took responsibility on Tuesday for failures in the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.
"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do it's job right, I take responsibility," Bush said. "I want to know what went right and what went wrong."
Bush takes responsibility "to the extent of the failures of the federal government."
But the vast bulk of the failures occurred at the state and local levels. Even the mistakes of the federal government were primarily caused by the fact that the federal government had to pick up the pieces after the state and local governments screwed up.
Ladies and Gentleman, our Commander and Chief, and the President of the United States!!
I am extremely proud of him for taking responsibility.
In the Military, a commander is responsible for everything his unit DOES or FAILS to do. It is part of command. It does not need even to be said, as it is understood.
But it takes "the right stuff" to stand tall in times like these and say "I take responsibility for the things that went wrong with the federal government not doing its job right."
But -- the REAL bungaling was with the State and City government.
Don't hold your breath waiting for anyone else to step forward. But watch the spin -- the PREZ is NOT responsible for everything that the MSM will try to attach to him.
Just great.....
I agree. Bush didn't do anything wrong. FEMA may have made some mistakes, but that is to be expected since we've not faced this kind of disaster before.
But the local government (mayor and governor) didn't even follow the plans they had in place, let alone 'foresee' anything additional that would need to be done in this type of situation.
And Mary Landrieu, saying that they were lucky to get their people to work on a sunny day let alone on a day when they were expecting a cat 5 storm. . .I can't believe the MSM has let that racist comment lie.
Oh, I forgot. Landrieu is a Democrat, so she gets a free pass from the MSM.
Actually....I expect there will be a huge number of DEMOCRATS suffering with heart failure all over the US having heard the President say those words!!
Now would be a good time for a SLOW RESPONSE by LOCAL officials....(heh!)....Just kidding!!
It makes Blanco and Nagin look sooooooo tiny. Those two are at risk of being squashed like bugs in comparison.
Also, I believe this absolutely rips the rug out from under most of the bashers.
Here bartender ... take it out of this, and give me a double.
Quite frankly, within the bounds of our Constitution, federal responsibility is fairly limited here. Not that we operate within those bounds, but even so, I have yet to read a clear, concise and accurate synopsis of federal failings even according to the bloated responsibility for damn near everything that federal government has taken upon itself.
Bush has jumped the shark...
May be a bit off-topic, but this is Bush's 3rd visit to NO. My question is - has Blanco and/or Nagin been with him every time? Any time?
I'm sure some astute, observant member of this board will know.
How so?
Yeah the libs will definitely try to milk this all they can but actually I think it's a very smart thing to do. The gut reaction from the public will be that they see a president strong enough and man enough to take responsibility for happens on his watch and doing what is needed to fix it - not cowardly trying to pass the buck like the libs always do.
Well, maybe he jumped it before but this was a blunder too.
MSM, dems, and Louisiana officials have struggled ardently to keep this a totally federal blunder. That in the context where FEMA's PR before and after the cane portrayed themselves as supermen of sorts.
Now the refrain "Bush's Fault" has been legitimized from his own mouth. Another Rove idea?
He could have said "It's my responsibility to correct the errors and fire people..." He didn't.
I don't see it that way. This is nothing more than a General taking responsibility for those under his command. Do you realize how many incompetent generals Lincoln had to go through before he found Grant?
I am just waiting for the MSM to call for impeachment. You know its coming...
Exactly. I don't think he really needed to make the statement he did, but that he made it shows both moral fibre and political astuteness.
President Bush once again shows that he knows where the bucket stops (maybe a bad metaphor under the circumstances, but I hope you'll forgive me).
Also, he puts the light on the behaviour of the Governor and the Mayor, and at the same time throws the ball into the Dim's court. What are they going to do now? Call for impeachment? Start a revolution? Commit mass suicide?
I think the latter is more likely than the two former, but neither is very likely.
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President George W. Bush took responsibility on Tuesday for failures in the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina."Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do it's job right, I take responsibility," Bush said. "I want to know what went right and what went wrong."
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