Bush Revisits Gulf Coast, Cheney Dispatched

While V.P. Dick Cheney conducted his world tour against terrorism, President Bush found a way to actually land in New Orleans vs. just dipping his wings and waving. Neither major initiative is going very well. The invasion of Iraq scattered the seeds of terrorism across large swaths of that country. VP.Cheney is worried they new legions of bad guys will swarm their way into Afghanistan and join the resurgent Taliban.

Meanwhile legions of angry Americans are worried the President can’t deliver on his promises of rebuilding New Orleans and other communities in the region. In August of 2005 the White House failed to deliver life saving measures in a timely manner after Hurricane Katrina. The Bush team followed this up with an amazingly inept report on their sorry response, blaming it on unprecedented events and failures. I have yet to find a critical analysis of the White House Lessons Learned report in any mainstream media.

How can a report be credible if it doesn’t identify who was responsible for the evacuation of patients from dead hospitals, much less how well that task had been performed? Video shows President Bush asking FEMA chief about hospital patients in the recent aftermath of the storm.

White House Head of the Homeland Security Council, Frances Townsend said, "I reject outright any suggestion that President Bush was anything less than fully involved."

I wouldn’t brag on George’s full involvement as hospital patients stewed on high heat as long as 5 days in toxic gumbo. Would Frances cite his full involvement in conducting the Lessons Learned report? If so, was the President responsible for the complete omission of the hospital with the largest number of patient deaths? LifeCare Hospitals lost 24 patients after Katrina made landfall.

My guess is LifeCare’s owners, The Carlyle Group of Pennsylvania Avenue fame, are most appreciate of the faux pas. It helps them defend those civil wrongful death lawsuits coming down the pike.

Meanwhile V.P. Cheney scours the world crying of the dangers of terrorists. For thousands along the Gulf Coast who suffered, even died after Hurricane Katrina, the lack of attention and concern must be frightening.

The lengths this current administration will go to sweep its incompetencies under the rug and protect its friends, makes my knees quiver. Does the fact that no mainstream media outlet reported such a huge gaffe bother anyone else?

Some 18 months after the storm and a full year after its post mortem, will anyone pick it up? Nah, they might have to knock Anna Nicole Smith off the wires to make room. What a loss that would be!