Bush promises not to get in the way

Now, that's what I call leadership: Bush promises not to get in way of Rita relief

"We will make sure that my entourage does not get in the way of people doing their job, which will be search and rescue immediately. Rest assured, I understand that we must not and will not interfere with the important work that will be going forward," Bush said. [Reuters]

Comments

[Peter]

Well...that would be an improvement over the post-Katrina firefighter photo-ops, at least.

[mudkitty]

He has a talent for stating the obvious.

[Anodyne]

Ok, I think I finally get how this works. Screw up so badly the first time that people will actually think you are doing them a favor if you stay away the next time.

Caption Fun: Taxi!

[gordo]

Imagine what Bush might have achieved if the press hadn't subjected him to the soft bigotry of low expectations.

[Pepper]

Good. Now if he'd only leave the country.

[Eli]

I can't believe he called them his "entourage."

[Benji Sasha]

Ugh.[/general numbness]

[Bill the cat]

The Bush years have been agonizing. Please, let it end soon.

[Flint]

Well...

Frist was subpeanoed today and is a target in an SEC invetsigation.

Tom DeLays buddies in his PAC have been indicted and he may be next.

Karl Rove is the subject of both the Plame and the Abrahamoff investigations.

And Bush is praying that he stays out of the way.

[Auguste]

The Bush years have been agonizing. Please, let it end soon.

If there's any biochemists out there, I'm looking for the exact dose of Ambien that will last until Jan. 20, 2009.

[Steven]

"Ok, I think I finally get how this works. Screw up so badly the first time that people will actually think you are doing them a favor if you stay away the next time".

If Bush (The Federal Government) had stay away. Then think of how many of those poor souls would still be dying -- And remember those poor souls were left behind to die by their own state and local government!
But that's ok give them a free pass, after all, they are liberal humnanitarins (hope I spelled that right)who's only real concern is too tax everybody, and spend the money on more liberal causes -- the hell with our own people's safety! We can just blame it all on the Federal Government.

If they come in to soon (the Federal Government) to save our sorry ass, then we can just conplain about how they are trying to take control of our wonderful state...if they come in to late, well then, of course we can blame them for everything!

Isn't it great to be a liberal?

[lindsay Beyerstein]

Believe it or not, Bush isn't the federal government. We haven't quite descended to one-man rule in this country. The federal government should intervene promptly in disasters when a state asks for help.

The article I linked to was written when Bush was still planning to visit Texas to "oversee" preparations.

It's sad when a president is so ineffectual that he can't be anything but a spokesmodel in times of disaster. Nobody was even pretending that Bush would have provided leadership to disaster workers, or anyone else. The goal was just to show up and look presidential without getting in the way of the real work. Luckily for Bush's image, strategists cancelled the Texas trip at the last minute.

[Steven]

"Believe it or not, Bush isn't the federal government. We haven't quite descended to one-man rule in this country".

Again you are wrong Lindsay, a real republian knows that he is!
And if he wants to take a damn nap during a disaster -- he can!

[Earl Bockenfeld]

Americablog.com has the following about Bush's cancelled trip - Bad too-sunny visuals.

Interfering with on-going storm preparations wasn't the reason Bush ditched going to San Antonio yesterday. No, that's not why. The reason was a bad visual:

It was too sunny.

Not kidding:

Another White House official involved in preparing Mr. Bush's way noted that with the sun shining so brightly in San Antonio, the images of Mr. Bush from here might not have made it clear to viewers that he was dealing with an approaching storm.

The White House is desperate.

[mudkitty]

The poor are desperate, the Administration just think they are.

[cfrost]

Nice photo. This guy looked to me like a dufus the first time I laid eyes on him, and he still does. I'll never understand how a guy who looks dumber than Brittany Spears can be sold to the electorate.

[notyou]

Actually, some fourth rate reporter (who ought to have had his homework done) was the one who asked Bush if, "...you and your entourage would get in the way." (I saw it live on cable news) and Bush responded with the quote that opens your post.

At that time it was public knowledge that Bush planned to be at a command center in Colorado until first responders had a chance to get things under control. Either that reporter is a dumbshit, numbnuts or a total asshole with a biased agenda (I prefer the latter explanation)--like about 90% of what now masquerades as journalists.

I don't even particularly like Bush. However, these shitheads, who do not even bother to disguise their attempts to discredit his every move (including the fact that like all living humans, the man has to take a piss every now and then) have become nauseating and are turning the American public off in a big way.

I don't like being patronized by a transparently biased press. It is possible to bad-mouth somebody for so long and so hard, that people who are not rabid radicals get a gut full of it. There is a law of diminishing returns...but blockheads don't ever seem to get that.That's why I watch the various C-SPANS. What ever happened to old fashioned reporting of facts?

If I had been Bush (who, though obviously irritated, showed remarkable restraint), I would have turned around and snapped out something like, "Last time I looked my being in Colorado, where everyone, except obviously YOU, knows that I plan to go, is not likely to hamper any responder efforts in the storm area; but just so YOU can have something to bitch and fault-find about for the next week, I'll see if I can arrange another fly over!"