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9/22/2005
25 Mind-Numbingly Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina And Its Aftermath
There’s one good thing these verbal barbarisms can do for you, though, and that is to bring home the point of a quote from the late George Burns, the comedian, who said, “Too bad that all the people who really know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair.” Read ‘em all, progressive readers, and then consider running for office, please.
1) “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” -President
Bush, on “Good Morning America,” Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated
warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane
Katrina (Source: Media Matters)
2) “What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in
Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the
people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this
(chuckle) - this is working very well for them.” -Former First Lady Barbara
Bush, on the Hurricane flood evacuees in the Houston Astrodome, Sept. 5,
2005 (Source: Editor and Publisher)
3) “It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that’s
seven feet under sea level….It looks like a lot of that place could be
bulldozed.” -House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Aug. 31, 2005 (Source: Sun-Times)
4) “We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do … The good news is - and it’s hard
for some to see it now - that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic
Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house -
he’s lost his entire house - there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m
looking forward to sitting on the porch.” (Laughter) -President Bush,
touring hurricane damage, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005 (Source: Huffington)
5) “Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans,
virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well.”
-FEMA Director Michael Brown, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
6) “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” -President Bush, to FEMA
director Michael Brown, while touring Hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, Sept.
2, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
7) “I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention
center who don’t have food and water.” -Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff, on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Sept. 1, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
8) “Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on
Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, ‘New Orleans
Dodged the Bullet.’ Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and
then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing
worse.” -Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, blaming media
coverage < clk.about.com;
for his failings, “Meet the Press,” Sept. 4, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
9) “I mean, you have people who don’t heed those warnings and then put
people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a
need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and
understand that there are consequences to not leaving.” -Sen. Rick Santorum
(R-PA), Sept. 6, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
10) “You simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals…many
of these people, almost all of them that we see are so poor and they are so
black, and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are
watching this story unfold.” -CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, on New Orleans’ hurricane
evacuees, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
11) “What didn’t go right?’” -President Bush, as quoted by House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), after she urged him to fire FEMA Director
Michael Brown “because of all that went wrong, of all that didn’t go right”
in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort (Source < usatoday.com;
)
12) “Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?” -House Majority
Leader Tom Delay (R-TX), to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans
at the Astrodome in Houston (Source < clk.about.com;
)
13) “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it,
but God did.” -Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA) to lobbyists, as quoted in the Wall
Street Journal (Source < clk.about.com;
)
14) “Louisiana is a city that is largely under water.” -Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff, news conference, Sept. 3, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
15) “I also want to encourage anybody who was affected by Hurricane Corina
to make sure their children are in school.” -First Lady Laura Bush, twice
referring to a “Hurricane Corina” while speaking to children and parents in
South Haven, Mississippi, Sept. 8, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
16) “It’s totally wiped out. … It’s devastating, it’s got to be doubly
devastating on the ground.” -President Bush, turning to his aides while
surveying Hurricane Katrina flood damage from Air Force One, Aug. 31, 2005
(Source < clk.about.com;
)
17) “I believe the town where I used to come - from Houston, Texas, to enjoy
myself, occasionally too much - will be that very same town, that it will be
a better place to come to.” -President Bush, on the tarmac at the New
Orleans airport, Sept. 2, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
18) “Last night, we showed you the full force of a superpower government
going to the rescue.” -MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
19) “You know I talked to Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi
yesterday because some people were saying, ‘Well, if you hadn’t sent your
National Guard to Iraq, we here in Mississippi would be better off.’ He told
me ‘I’ve been out in the field every single day, hour, for four days and no
one, not one single mention of the word Iraq.’ Now where does that come
from? Where does that story come from if the governor is not picking up one
word about it? I don’t know. I can use my imagination.” -Former President
George Bush, who can give his imagination a rest < clk.about.com;
, interview with CNN’s Larry King, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
20) “We just learned of the convention center - we being the federal
government - today.” -FEMA Director Michael Brown, to ABC’s Ted Koppel,
Sept. 1, 2005, to which Koppel responded ” Don’t you guys watch television?
Don’t you guys listen to the radio? Our reporters have been reporting on it
for more than just today.” (Source < clk.about.com;
)
21) “I don’t want to alarm everybody that, you know, New Orleans is filling
up like a bowl. That’s just not happening.” -Bill Lokey, FEMA’s New Orleans
coordinator, in a press briefing from Baton Rouge, Aug. 30, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
22) “FEMA is not going to hesitate at all in this storm. We are not going to
sit back and make this a bureaucratic process. We are going to move fast, we
are going to move quick, and we are going to do whatever it takes to help
disaster victims.” –FEMA Director Michael Brown, Aug. 28, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
23) “I don’t make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you
know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.” -FEMA Director
Michael Brown, arguing that the victims bear some responsibility, CNN
interview, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
24) “I understand there are 10,000 people dead. It’s terrible. It’s tragic.
But in a democracy of 300 million people, over years and years and years,
these things happen.” –GOP strategist Jack Burkman, on MSNBC’s “Connected,”
Sept. 7, 2005 (Source < clk.about.com;
)
25) “Thank President Clinton and former President Bush for their strong
statements of support and comfort today. I thank all the leaders that are
coming to Louisiana, and Mississippi and Alabama to our help and rescue. We
are grateful for the military assets that are being brought to bear. I want
to thank Senator Frist and Senator Reid for their extraordinary efforts.
Anderson, tonight, I don’t know if you’ve heard - maybe you all have
announced it – but Congress is going to an unprecedented session to pass a
$10 billion supplemental bill tonight to keep FEMA and the Red Cross up and
operating.” -Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Aug. 31,
2005, to which Cooper responded:
“I haven’t heard that, because, for the last four days, I’ve been seeing
dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians
thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell
you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and
very frustrated. And when they hear politicians slap - you know, thanking
one another, it just, you know, it kind of cuts them the wrong way right
now, because literally there was a body on the streets of this town
yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman had been laying in the
street for 48 hours. And there’s not enough facilities to take her up. Do
you get the anger that is out here?” (Source < clk.about.com;
)
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