Dear Mr. Bush

[catchoftheday]

Dear Mr. Bush:

 

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

 

Also, any idea where all our National Guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

 

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

 

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

 

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

 

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

 

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

 

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

 

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

 

Yours Truly

 

Michael Moore

[Nugget]

Here come the conservatives to call him fat and a loser without dealing with the letter itself :notworthy

[FreshFish]

Here come the conservatives to call him fat and a loser without dealing with the letter itself :notworthy

930611[/snapback]

 

Moore doesn't have an agenda against Bush, and no mention of local officials. Bush is to blame 100% :plain

[Beinfest4Prez]

One of the best things I have seen written about Bush and his dealing of the trajedy. Good job Mr. Moore!

[Buckeye]

The guy knows his scarcasm. My favorite part:

 

"I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!"

 

So, trew.

[phoenix]

It really is a shame. The hospitals where the very sick and invalids who couldn't evacuate were left stranded in hospitals.

 

The helicopters who rescued them weren't from the government- they were from hospitals around the country. We sent one from Miami Children's Hospital to get people.

 

The disaster isn't on the Gulf Coast- it's in Washington.

[CapeFish]

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Apparently he must not see the Coast Guard, Navy, and Air Force helicopters who were there right after the storm.

 

Also, any idea where all our National Guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

They were in Baton Rouge and in surrounding parishes waiting for Governor Blanco to order them into the city.

 

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

The media in New Orleans was giving warning that the storm could hit them before it even made landfall in Miami. The National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, and the White House all made calls to local officials stressing evacuations once the storm emerged in the Gulf.

 

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

On August 30th, the President was in Texas getting ready to fly back to Washington on the 31st. He did the jet flyover on the 31st.

 

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

The Army Corps of Engineers had been giving warning since 1993. If I remember correctly Bill Clinton was president then. He could have done something as well. Heck, the entire state of Louisiana could have done something to pay for it themselves. What a concept, a state paying for a big project themselves. Even with these calls for action, the Army Corps of Engineers recommended evacuation in all scenarios they presented as the best option.

 

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

Contradiction over the timeline. August 31st was Day 2 since Katrina. Didn't Moore say the President was in San Diego?

 

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

Max Mayfield, head of the National Hurricane Center, said there is no correlation between the cycles of Atlantic Hurricanes and the cycles of Global Warming.Cooling.

 

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

So the President is now the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana too? Damn President/New Orleans Mayor/Orleans Parish President/Louisiana Governor George W. Bush for not using those easily available school and transit buses to evacuate the poor. Damn him for not planning with Amtrak and the Airlines to evacuate people in mass. Damn him for not going in a Hurricane Hunter plane and seeding the damn storm with experimental chemicals.

 

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

There are more than just Army helicopters, we also have a Navy, Coast Guard, and Air Force...and what is that....they are there! What? They were staged and waiting?

[Guest Moneyball]

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

Max Mayfield, head of the National Hurricane Center, said there is no correlation between the cycles of Atlantic Hurricanes and the cycles of Global Warming.Cooling.

931390[/snapback]

 

Hehe. B4Prez jumped all over MarlinGuru when he made this statement in the hurricane thread. Now that Moore is using the same statement to criticize Dubya it's all fine and dandy.

[Passion]

George Bush doesnt care about black people.

[CapeFish]

Oh, for the poll-eaters....here is an ABC News poll on the response:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/...=1094262&page=1

[FutureGM]

He does make some valid points.

[CapeFish]

He does make some valid points.

931434[/snapback]

Can you point out some specific points? I may agree with the fact that the feds didn't deal with the state and local government officials well. I also may agree with the fact that communications plans were bad. The Army Corps of Engineers snickering at an LSU simulation presentation was bad. As was the lack of levee funding, but all these things are not Bush specific.

[Beinfest4Prez]

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

Max Mayfield, head of the National Hurricane Center, said there is no correlation between the cycles of Atlantic Hurricanes and the cycles of Global Warming.Cooling.

931390[/snapback]

 

Hehe. B4Prez jumped all over MarlinGuru when he made this statement in the hurricane thread. Now that Moore is using the same statement to criticize Dubya it's all fine and dandy.

931411[/snapback]

No, I don't agree with the statement about global warming. I agreed about the damned slow response of both the feds and the state. Why do you put words into my mouth that I never say?

[Craig]

As long as the Democrats support Michael Moore, there is 1 more moron hurting the party among swing voters yapping his fat trap, so keep it up Mikey!!

 

Bush is partly at fault, but to blame him entirely is ignorant, even if he still doesn't care about black people.

[Guest Moneyball]

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

Max Mayfield, head of the National Hurricane Center, said there is no correlation between the cycles of Atlantic Hurricanes and the cycles of Global Warming.Cooling.

931390[/snapback]

 

Hehe. B4Prez jumped all over MarlinGuru when he made this statement in the hurricane thread. Now that Moore is using the same statement to criticize Dubya it's all fine and dandy.

931411[/snapback]

No, I don't agree with the statement about global warming. I agreed about the damned slow response of both the feds and the state. Why do you put words into my mouth that I never say?

931471[/snapback]

 

I wanted to see where you stand on that statement now that it's being used to criticize Bush.

 

Just wanted to use the knowledge of MB.com's only NHC intern to prove one of his points wrong.

[Beinfest4Prez]

:lol at Moneyball.

 

 

 

Damn straight, I am going to be the only NHC intern on mb.com. :mischief

[Kid T]

He does make some valid points.

931434[/snapback]

Can you point out some specific points? I may agree with the fact that the feds didn't deal with the state and local government officials well. I also may agree with the fact that communications plans were bad. The Army Corps of Engineers snickering at an LSU simulation presentation was bad. As was the lack of levee funding, but all these things are not Bush specific.

931443[/snapback]

 

Let's see:

- There was the delay in approving National Guardsmen from New Mexico to New Orleans. Paperwork was submitted to Washington on Sunday but wasn't approved until Thursday.

- FEMA and DHS heads had no clue (or denied knowing) that there were serious problems on the ground in New Orleans (in terms of lawlessness and people at the Convention Center without food and water). Instead, they claimed that there were adequate numbers of guardsmen to handle the crisis.

- Bush praised his political appointee-head of FEMA for a job well done.

- If helicopters were so readily available and standing by (as you assert), why wasn't any assistance sent for 4 days?

 

Click on this link to see Jefferson Parrish President Broussard's appearance on Meet The Press. It's very moving and should give you an idea of what they faced.

[catchoftheday]

why does everything have to turn into a "michael moore is a fat lazy mofo" ... bush took his sweet time to tackle the issue

 

 

everything was done in a very unorganized way, yet all they care about is showing the images of the poor people and how bad we should feel about the whole deal, instead of pointing the fingers at who's to blame

[Guest Moneyball]

why does everything have to turn into a "michael moore is a fat lazy mofo" ... bush took his sweet time to tackle the issue

 

 

everything was done in a very unorganized way, yet all they care about is showing the images of the poor people and how bad we should feel about the whole deal, instead of pointing the fingers at who's to blame

931492[/snapback]

 

Where the hell in this thread has Moore been made fun of?

[catchoftheday]

Where the hell in this thread has Moore been made fun of?

931495[/snapback]

 

not fully made in that expression and I also take that back cuz you are somewhat right

 

 

although I have seen some people just simply find excuses to evade what has been done

[IrishHarrington]

The people who deserve the most blame are the state and local officials Gov Blanco and Mayor Nagin everyone knew that this storm had the potential to be the storm of the century and they had no plan to evacuate people , no fortified sheltors with armed protection and relief supplies and on top of that they had no plan after the hurrican hit to deal with the flooding. Bush himself had little to do with the failure to mobilize help but his failure lay on his political intuition he gives the appearance of being asleep at the wheel and has done so since being re-elected. Personally i am ready to turn the page on the Bush presidency but the blame lays with the locals. Really i think it is counter productive to blame anyone for the freak hurricane , we cant beat mother nature no matter who is in office . Lets focus on helping people in stead of the politics of the horrible natural disaster

[catchoftheday]

Personally i am ready to turn the page on the Bush presidency

931538[/snapback]

 

oh so his first term and getting re-elected weren't enough

 

and I know this doesnt add much besides fill my neverending hate for the man some of you call the nations president

[JetsMania]

The people who deserve the most blame are the state and local officials Gov Blanco and Mayor Nagin everyone knew that this storm had the potential to be the storm of the century and they had no plan to evacuate people , no fortified sheltors with armed protection and relief supplies and on top of that they had no plan after the hurrican hit to deal with the flooding. Bush himself had little to do with the failure to mobilize help but his failure lay on his political intuition he gives the appearance of being asleep at the wheel and has done so since being re-elected. Personally i am ready to turn the page on the Bush presidency but the blame lays with the locals. Really i think it is counter productive to blame anyone for the freak hurricane , we cant beat mother nature no matter who is in office . Lets focus on helping people in stead of the politics of the horrible natural disaster

931538[/snapback]

 

I totally agree with you. How can a major city not have any plan for a disaster?

[MarlinFan10]

The way I see it, if Kerry was president the situation would have pretty much the same and this article would never have been written to criticize Bush. Sure, Bush should share part of the blame, but this is just Moore being partisan as always. He goes on to blame the hurricane on global warming, which wasn't a factor.

 

Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

 

Moore is just being pathetic now.

[Kid T]

Anyone (like President Bush) who believes that FEMA has done acceptable work is delusional. All you need to do is check this blog for a list of links to stories highlighting FEMA's incompetence (for example, turning away WAL-MART trucks with water and food, firefighters being turned away, NORTHCOM being ready but never being asked for help, etc.).