 
Reuters and Associated Press photos
"President" Bush, NEW and IMPROVED! Now he CARES about you dying unnecessarily in a natural disaster!: While Hurricane Rita devastated parts of Texas and Louisiana, Bush decided to forego the birthday cake and hang out at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, where he is pictured above today, trying, as usual, to fake it until he makes it.
Bush regime's response to Hurricane Rita
underscores its non-response to Katrina
The Bush regime's actual response to Hurricane Rita -- thus far, the only people who have been reported to have died because of Rita died indirectly because of Rita* -- has been meant to save the regime's political ass more than it has been meant to save any ordinary American's actual ass.
For once, though, the Bush regime's quest for political gain -- which usually is from the pain and suffering and the deaths of others** -- has had the happy side effect of actually benefitting some people.
For some dumbfucks, the Bush regime's obvious pandering for post-Katrina political Brownie points will work. For those dumbfucks, the Bush regime's actually doing what it is supposed to be doing anyfuckingway will be enough to restore Gee Dubya to the status of a great leader in their vacant eyes.
For those of us who aren't dumbfucks, however, the Bush regime's response to Hurricane Rita only underscores its non-response to Hurricane Katrina.
They've found almost 1,100 bodies in the wake of Katrina -- and they're still searching for Katrina's victims, most of whom were in Louisiana and Mississippi.
What was Bush doing on Aug. 29, 2005, the day that Hurricane Katrina hit land? I asked on Sept. 14.
Was he at a hurricane command center, closely monitoring the situation and marshalling resources? Was he overseeing, with [former Federal Emergency Management Agency head Michael] "Brownie" [Brown], a massive federal evacuation effort of the people of New Orleans?
Um, no...
He was eating birthday cake with Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain in Arizona on Aug. 29, 2005.
Bush didn't repeat that mistake this time.
For Hurricane Rita there was a massive evacuation effort of the Americans in Rita's path (mostly residents of Houston) and Bush was at a hurricane command center, at least pretending to be monitoring the situation. He was even at least pretending to be, in his own words, "marshalling resources." Reports The Associated Press today:
President Bush tracked Hurricane Rita's march [today] from an Air Force base in the Rocky Mountain foothills, getting reports on flooding, search and rescue efforts and damage caused by the storm more than 1,000 miles away.
"It comforts me knowing that our federal government is well-organized and well-prepared to deal with Rita," Bush said. "The first order of business now is search and rescue teams -- to pull people out of harm's way."
Bush warned those evacuated from coastal areas to be careful about returning home.
"The situation is still dangerous because of potential flooding," the president said. "It's important for them to listen carefully to the local authorities about whether or not it is safe for them to return back to their homes. It's going to take a while for the authorities on the ground to fully understand the impact of the flooding."
The trip to Peterson Air Force Base, home of the U.S. Northern Command, came as polls find Bush's job approval ratings at the lowest of his presidency. The administration received blistering criticism for what was perceived to be a sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina.
Bush flew over the Gulf Coast two days after Katrina hit on Aug. 29 and visited the area two days later. The White House said Bush stayed away so he and federal officials would not get in the way of recovery efforts.
This time, Bush arrived at the Northern Command at sunset [yesterday], hours before Rita roared ashore with nearly 100-miles-per-hour winds.
The president received an hourlong update from military leaders and from other federal officials via videoconference.
Hurricane response from the military is organized through the Northern Command, which was set up 2002 as part of the government's moves after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In the briefing, Bush was told that the storm was expected to dump nearly 25 inches of rain in eastern Texas and western Louisiana over a five-day period.
"I've come here to watch Northcom in action -- see firsthand the capacity of our military to plan, organize and more quickly to help the people in the affected areas," Bush said.
Bush said six Navy ships were in the area and military aircraft were on hand to help with rescuing, evacuating and relocating people. Civilian volunteers, including more than 200 doctors and more than 400 nurses, have been organized to help and the American Red Cross is prepared to deliver hundreds of thousands of meals a day, Bush said.
He said 17,000 active-duty troops and 36,700 National Guard members were in the region and other troops were ready to move in if needed. [By stark contrast, it took four days for the National Guard to show up after Katrina.]
"As the hurricane continues along its destructive path, the American people should know courageous and dedicated men and women are responding to our citizens in need," Bush said in his weekly radio address, which was taped at the White House [yesterday]. "We are marshalling resources of the federal government to save lives and property and bring comfort to those evacuated." [Emphasis mine.]
He also said the government would continue to help the victims of Katrina. State and local officials will provide their ideas for the future of the revived region, the president said.
"We'll do everything we can to guide the recovery effort and help them realize their vision so that communities along the Gulf Coast are better and stronger than before the storm," he said.
Bush mentioned tax relief and other incentives for the private sector as ways to help create jobs and attract investment.
"Private enterprise is the engine for creating new jobs in America, and it will be the engine that drives the recovery of the Gulf Coast," he said.
[Even in the wake of disaster, Bush can find a way to promote his pro-rich-at-the-expense-of-the-ordinary-American agenda. He is the money-grubbing capitalist pig's wet dream.]
The hurricanes have tested the nation, Bush said, and "revealed the strength and resilience of our people." [God, that is such typical meaningless Bushian propagandistic drivel, especially after the debacle that was Katrina.]
From Colorado, Bush planned to stop to Austin, Texas, the home of the state's emergency operations center, and then to San Antonio, where he was to spend the night.
He was expected to make additional hurricane-related visits throughout the weekend, but the White House did not say where he would go or when he planned to return to Washington. In the capital, opponents of the war in Iraq rallied by the thousands [today] to demand the return of U.S. troops.
The "President" Bush in the AP story above is diametrically opposed to the "President" Bush that we saw for Hurricane Katrina. And yet John Kerry was supposed to be the big "flip-flopper."
I'm glad that Hurricane Rita killed no one unnecessarily. I'm glad that the federal government actually did what the fuck it was supposed to do.
But the Bush regime's response to Rita demonstrates that it had the capability to protect the poor people of Louisiana and Mississippi and the other Gulf Coast states from Katrina just the same -- but chose not to do so.
The choice not to act is a choice nonetheless.
*I refer, of course, to the 24 people who were killed yesterday in the bus fire during the massive evacuation of Houston and other Gulf Coast areas -- an evacuation that never materialized for the doomed people of New Orleans.
**I'm thinking especially of the almost 3,000 Americans killed on Sept. 11, 2001, and of the needless deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis and the needless deaths of almost 2,000 U.S. troops -- so far -- in Iraq in the Bush regime's "war on terror," even though al-Qaeda, not Iraq, perpetrated 9/11 and even though Iraq had never committed any terrorist act against the United States.
10:20:42 AM 
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