Bush: accepting blame

[PokerPacker]

Bush Takes Responsibility for Blunders

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 1 minute ago

President Bush for the first time took responsibility Tuesday for federal government mistakes in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and suggested the calamity raised broader questions about the government's ability to handle both natural disasters and terror attacks.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at a joint White House news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

"And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility. I want to know what went right and what went wrong," said Bush.

Facing sharp criticism and the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, Bush scheduled a speech to the nation from Louisiana for Thursday evening. It will be his fourth trip to the devastated Gulf Coast since the storm struck two weeks ago.

It was the closest Bush has come to publicly faulting any federal officials involved in the hurricane response, which has been widely criticized as disjointed and slow. Some federal officials have sought to blame state and local officials for being unprepared to cope with the disaster.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (news, bio, voting record), D-La., welcomed Bush's conciliatory remarks. "Accountability at every level is critical, and leadership begins at the top," she said.

Other Democrats were less charitable.

"The season has come for Americans to look homeward ... instead of continuing to spend billions of dollars in Iraq," said Sen. Robert C. Byrd (news, bio, voting record), D-W.Va.

And Louisiana's Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco, accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency of moving too slowly in recovering the bodies. The dead "deserve more respect than they have received," she said at state police headquarters in Baton Rouge.

Meanwhile, R. David Paulison, in his first full day on the job as acting FEMA director, told reporters in Washington the government would step up its efforts to find more permanent housing for the tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors now in shelters.

"We're going to get those people out of the shelters, and we're going to move and get them the help they need," Paulison said.

Bush selected him to replace Michael Brown, who resigned on Monday after being recalled as the top onsite disaster-relief coordinator. Brown, a Republican lawyer with little previous disaster-management experience, drew fierce criticism for his handling of the crisis.

Paulison, a career firefighter with 30 years of rescue experience, said he was busy "getting brought up to speed." Bush promised him in a Monday night phone call that he would have "the full support of the federal government," Paulison said.

The storm displaced a million people, destroyed large areas of cities and communities and heavily damaged roads, bridges, canals and oil and natural gas facilities.

Bush's acceptance of responsibility came in response to a reporter's question on whether the United States was capable of handling another terrorist attack, given its halting and widely criticized response to Katrina.

"That's a very important question," Bush said. "And it's in our national interest that we find out exactly what went on — so that we can better respond."

"I'm not going to defend the process going in, but I am going to defend the people who are on the front line of saving lives," he added. "I also want people in America to understand how hard people are working to save lives down there in not only New Orleans, but surrounding parishes and along the Gulf Coast."

Also on Tuesday:

_Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said teams of federal auditors would scrutinize billions of dollars worth of government contracts. "We're going to cut through red tape, but we're not going to cut through laws and rules that govern ethics," he said. Congress has appropriated more than $60 billion for reconstruction. The Democratic National Committee accused the administration on Tuesday of "giving no-bid contracts to Bush's political cronies."

_Farm-state Democrats said they would ask for emergency money for farmers pummeled by Katrina as well as those struggling under high energy prices, drought and other natural disasters. Energy costs alone will shave farm incomes for North Dakota farmers by one-third to one-half, said Sen. Kent Conrad (news, bio, voting record), D-N.D.

_Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said some military aircraft and other equipment may be able to move out of the Gulf Coast soon. "We've got to the point where most if not all of the search and rescue is completed," said Rumsfeld, who is attending a NATO meeting in Berlin. He said nothing will be moved out of the area without the authorization of governors, the military leaders there and the president.

_A group of Democratic senators pressed Congress for a $5 billion upgrade of communications equipment that would make it easier for police, firefighters and other law enforcement authorities to talk to each other during emergencies. A similar measure was rejected in July as part of a homeland security bill. "They must be able to communicate with each other. This is a life and death issue," said Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050913/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_washington&printer=1;_ylt=AtnQ820AYCW3eBkorJlRJI52wPIE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

[Joe Sick]

:rubeyes:

...faints...

[Thiebear]

NO WAY!

well it's too late ...

[Goodlifer]

Is this considered flip flopping?

Hard to believe that this is the item he made the decision to accept responsibility for.

[PokerPacker]

typical, bashed for not accepting responsibility, bashed for taking responsibility. i should have known this would mean nothing.

[Goodlifer]

typical, bashed for not accepting responsibility, bashed for taking responsibility. i should have known this would mean nothing.

Yes, you should have.

Problem is it's politics. No one is going to look at it from a rational point of view. It's a two party system so he's wrong and right for everything he does.

But you selected a poor thread title, one with an obvious political slant.

[PokerPacker]

i know, i was in the moment when i wrote the title... *sigh*

[chomerics]

typical, bashed for not accepting responsibility, bashed for taking responsibility. i should have known this would mean nothing.

I am not bashing him for accepting responsibility. Hell, he just basically proved me right after two weeks of arguing, so why would I bash him

[PokerPacker]

I am not bashing him for accepting responsibility. Hell, he just basically proved me right after two weeks of arguing, so why would I bash him

this time, i'm not talking about you as the basher, as you didn't say anything against him yet on this thread (aside from the expected poking like you're last comment). thank you, chom, for being civilized.

[Goodlifer]

I am not bashing him for accepting responsibility. Hell, he just basically proved me right after two weeks of arguing, so why would I bash him

heh heh

That's really funny because there were a few who really didn't agree with you on it, and they were pretty loud about just how wrong you were.

What does vindication feel like ?

[Cskin]

I am not bashing him for accepting responsibility. Hell, he just basically proved me right after two weeks of arguing, so why would I bash him

No...he's simply taking responsibility for FEMA not being able to handle such a devastating natural disaster... the largest in US History. He's taking responsibility because things at the federal level went wrong.... easy to see that. He's being a man about it.

Those, like you, that blame the sun rising and the rain falling on Bush aren't going take this admission laying down.

Of course, you still refuse to believe that the catastrophic turn of events responsible for the loss of life in NO started at the local level with Mayor Nagin.... and worked it's way up to Blanco.... then all the way up to FEMA. The failures of Nagin and Blanco set the table for this disaster.... one FEMA was then incapable of overcoming due to the magnitude and scope of the disaster.

[chomerics]

this time, i'm not talking about you as the basher, as you didn't say anything against him yet on this thread (aside from the expected poking like you're last comment). thank you, chom, for being civilized.

I usually am pretty civilized, but I went off the deep end the past two weeks. Hell, I even knew I was going off the deep end, but I had to get my frustration out. I am happy that he admitted this, hopefully we can figure out how to fix the burocratic hell hole that was created by DHS. This is how you move on, you learn from your mistakes, and take ownership for faults.

I am completely skeptical on ANYTHING Bush does, but this was a step in the right direction IMHO.

As for vindication, I am not that type of person, most of the people here are great guys, and they all know where I stand. Most of the people will debate logically with you, and some may even change their mind, while others just ignore everything posted, and try to change the subject. Either way, I'm used to all the bashing, and when they really come out with the attacks, I know they're worried that I'm getting through to people, such as the last two weeks. Hell, everyone has their own opinion, that's great, but when your opinion puts your party before the country, it is just plain wrong in my book. I think this was the case over the past two weeks.

:2cents:

[chomerics]

No...he's simply taking responsibility for FEMA not being able to handle such a devastating natural disaster... the largest in US History. He's taking responsibility because things at the federal level went wrong.... easy to see that. He's being a man about it.

Yes, he is, for once I agree with you.

Those, like you, that blame the sun rising and the rain falling on Bush aren't going take this admission laying down.

Of course, you still refuse to believe that the catastrophic turn of events responsible for the loss of life in NO started at the local level with Mayor Nagin.... and worked it's way up to Blanco.... then all the way up to FEMA. The failures of Nagin and Blanco set the table for this disaster.... one FEMA was then incapable of overcoming due to the magnitude and scope of the disaster.

Skin, I never absolved blame from the local and state levels, no matter how many times you say this. As of right now, I think this it's 5, but maybe 6 times you have said something about me, which is a complete lie. This is in the past two weeks.

Maybe, just maybe, if you could understand how things happened, who made mistakes, and why the mistakes were made, then you would be a more informed individual. Yet you continue down the path of blind ideological rants, somehow I've come to expect this from you.

[du7st]

Nice. It only took the man 5 years of his presidency to become a leader. Now if he could manage to actually do something well we could be onto something.

[Chief skin]

WHATS UP??? he has never admitted he was wrong.

[Prosperity]

Actually I like that, shows a little more character atleast, of course incompetence has to be punished.

[Baculus]

I think that the blunders were of such magnitude and so obvious that someone had to take blame. And I think it was a good move on his part...

...Though the little voice in my head says that it was partially politically motivated to keep his administration's head above the water. But hey, if that is what it takes for him to admit to a mistake, then so be it. Naure can be a very humbling experience.