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Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Bush's incompetence in the face of a disaster is nothing new
Posted by Jill | 11:54 AM

Via a commenter at Echidne comes this prescient article from 1999. It certainly strikes a familiar note:

Bush recently canceled an out-of-state presidential campaign appearance and spoke with family members and victims in the shooting at Fort Worth's Wedgwood Baptist Church.
But when Hurricane Bret threatened the Coastal Bend last month and thousands of vehicles were stuck on Interstate 37 trying to evacuate, there was no word from the governor.
Some say the governor has worked hard to address issues facing the state while he campaigns for the presidency. Others say Bush's aspirations for higher office have put state issues on the back burner.
"I don't see any of our big problems being addressed,'' said Garry Mauro, former General Land Commissioner who ran against Bush in 1998 and warned that Bush's presidential ambitions would prevent him from being a full-time governor. "If the guy's out of the state four or five days out of the week, he's not taking care of the business of the state.''

[snip]

In recent weeks, security is tighter around the governor and he has had few public appearances in Austin. Media members who attend Bush news conferences must now have a special pass and are sometimes required to sign in.
Some Corpus Christi area officials have criticized Bush for his lack of action and comments about the evacuation issue during and after Hurricane Bret. Thousands of Coastal Bend residents trying to evacuate were forced to poke along Interstate 37 for six to eight hours to reach San Antonio.
The Department of Public Safety had a plan to switch Interstate 37 to all northbound traffic during an evacuation and a $1.7 million crossover ramp was built to help with the switch. But emergency officials did not open all lanes northbound, saying there wasn't enough time to do it.
Local and state officials are now trying to come up with an evacuation plan to prevent a repeat of the situation during Hurricane Bret. But Bush has not weighed in on the issue, despite several attempts by the Caller-Times to get comments from him.
Bush's staff did not consult him about the issue and he hasn't given his opinion about using all lanes of I-37 for northbound traffic during hurricane evacuations.
"It appears that the people of Texas and the Gulf Coast are not his priorities," said Molly Beth Malcolm, Texas Democratic Party chairwoman. But a spokeswoman for Bush said he relies on local officials to take care of such situations.


Never being around when leadership is needed, passing the buck down the political food chain -- it's all part of the Bush modus operandi. He's an incompetent boob, and he's always been an incompetent boob. Too bad more voters didn't know about his performance in Texas in 2000.
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3 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said...
In the Wedgwood Baptist Church, a man who stopped the gunman from shooting any more people, and his name is Jeremiah Neitz, a man of Prussian-Mexican origin. Vaya con Dios, Jeremiah Neitz!
3/31/08, 5:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Jeremiah Neitz is a hero. He is a direct descendant of the American Revolution.
8/1/09, 1:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Jeremiah Neitz is the distant cousin of Muhammad Ali (he is the greatest says Ali!), and the war hero Simon Buckner!
9/3/09, 4:33 PM  
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