Was Katrina relief delayed for political reasons???

Question

well Mr. Bush seemed to act like katrina had not happened for a few days and didnt send federal help. isnt it funny that the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans were both democrats and bush didnt send help right away???? i know the Mississippi was under republican control but dosent that seem a little fishy???

Answer 1

Honestly, I think he was just an idiot playing Golf and Fema are idiots, Politically I think he thought well those black people are used to living like that,. they will get along ok! He is such a huge I can't even find the words, Political? hmmm Probably to an extent but mostly racist and stupid. He didn't even take the time to see the problem because it wasn't rich people who were trapped. Thats just my opinion.

Answer 2

You make a good point. In fact, the Republican led Mississippi did seem to get a somewhat better response than the Democratically led Louisiana/New Orleans. Now, in fairness, one should not entirely discount the ineptness and corruption of the Louisiana and New Orleans systems and the role that those factors may have played. Nevertheless, Louisiana is such that the densely populated New Orleans has always tended to vote Democrat; and the more sparsely populated remainder of the state tends these days to vote Republican. This has made Louisiana a difficult state to predict; and, thus, an important swing state. The absentee vote notwithstanding, one might easily see where moving large numbers of people out of New Orleans and keeping them out might make it easier for Republicans to gain and keep control of that state. It seems unlikely that this thought was lost on the Republican leadership as it might affect both the 2006 and 2008 elections.

Answer 3

Being a resident of Louisiana, born and raised in Baton Rouge, I honestly do not believe that at the very beginning relief was delayed for political reasons. The help needed was far beyond anything any of us could have imagined. Hind sight is 20/20. We all know now that things could have been handled differently. But at the time, everything was so confusing! We were all in a state of shock, and we weren’t prepared for the magnitude of the situation. Every person I know went far beyond what was asked of them to help out. I work for the state, and we were working nights and weekends to get people food and shelter and families reunited as fast as possible.

I don’t think we need to be pulling politics into this any more. What was done is done. We need to learn from the mistakes we made, and better prepare ourselves incase something like this ever happens again. Stop the fighting and finger pointing on who did what wrong. In the end, is it really helping anything other than to divide us more?

Answer 4

Bush didn't send help to MS right away either. Help came to MS from Churches and private individuals. These same people would have been happy to help in NO as well but unlike MS, NO was under water. Remember the hurricane isn't what caused the damage in NO it was the levy breaking that caused the flood. Gov. Blanko took her sweet time asking for federal help(it would have been illegal for the feds to go in without it. Mayor Nagin did what he could by moveinging the residences of the housing projects to the Super Dome(where else could they have gone, bus them out of town and drop them off in the middle of the woods in MS?) had the levy not gone down the powers that be would have pinned a medal on Nagin. There is nothing fishy here. What we were treated to was the sight of people who have never made a right mov in their entire life, faced with a once in a lifetime disaster and unable to handle it. Hell those folks at the Super Dome could even handle going to school, graduating, and getting a job. Despite the leftist hysteria, Bush had nothing to do with the mess in NO, that mess was created years ago by liberal do gooders in search of votes.

Answer 5

No, it was a combination of lack of resources in the city of New Orleans itself, and complete incompetence from the federal govt.
Bush could have been a leader in that crisis - but he showed that he is not.

Here is a timeline prepared just after the event - before the spin and lies - such as 'The Governor never requested help" started flying around.
Other areas that did recover better just did not have the massive populations and devastation that hit New Orleans.

Answer 6

Why did the governor or Louisiana not declare a state of emergency until after the storm hit (you cannot get federal aid until the state issues a state of emergency). Florida issues one before hurricanes hit land, to the US gov't is read to go as soon as the storm passses.

Also why did Ray Nagin let the people of his city stay in their homes? Many places have mandatory evacuations where police force people from their homes and to shelters? And he offered little or no bus service to some of the communities not giving those with no transportation any choice. The US gov't may have made mistakes, but the governor and mayor are to shoulder more blame.

And get this, not counting the physical rebuilding, and inspecting on the citizens of New Orleans, the state of Arkansas spent more on displaced people than the state of Louisiana in the months immediately following the disaster. Why? It isn't Arkansas job to help them, but they did it anyway. And BTW, Arkansas had a republican governor, and he didn't do it for political reasons.

Answer 7

you have got to be kidding me.the governor has to request federal help.typical lib,blame everyone else but the real morons.ask the mayor where the $17mil they got every year for 15 years to update and service the levies went?and while were on the subject,why didnt the city force evacuation on people.why is there even local government if the president is responsable for everything?if your gonna live below sea level in an ocean,buy a ****** boat.oh since it was republicans in mississippi your not up at arms.if you watched the news you would think nola was the only place hit.kiss my ***.

Answer 8

The federal government does not automatically send help. It has to be requested. President Bush declared a disaster area within hours of Katrina making landfall, but the governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans waited to request the assistance. It had nothing to do with the fact that the President didn't want to send in help, he was merely following protocol, because declaring a state of emergency only makes assistance available.

The difference is that the leadership in Mississippi recognized that they could really use the help right away, so they requested it sooner.

Answer 9

To be honest, There are many things that "smell like rotten fish" regarding response to Katrina, but I think calling out party politics at those levels is at best oversimplified, if not outright incorrect. If you really want to get angry at irony and hypocrisy...

Venezuela offered $1M, oil, food and equipment for Katrina victims, but the US turned them down saying unsolicited offers can be "counterproductive". The day after Katrina struck, Cuban doctors, skilled in disaster relief and setting up field hospitals volunteered to help. However, Bush played politics and snubbed (ignored) Castro's offer of medical personnel and supplies.
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/1778/1/116/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9311876/
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/2889

Although Rice said that all offers of foreign aid would be accepted, Bush said the US was unfamiliar with offers of foreign aid. Greece was just one of many other countries offering aid that Bush refused. They offered two ships to be used as offshore medical and temporary refugee quarters. Bush turned down that offer, instead awarding a FEMA contract (with brother Jeb's help) to Carnival Cruise Lines to the tune of $192-$325 million.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hurricane_Katrina:_Profiteering
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168203,00.html
http://katrinacoverage.com/2005/09/30/coburn-obama-want-carnival-answers-greece-offered-free-ships.html

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=8ed6b1bc57fa11e648fee9b7d49da616

Answer 10

Rove is a mastermind and definitely knows how to play people. However, I doubt anything that incompetent would have come from him or the Bush WH.

I think their eyes were on the Iraq ball and didn't pay attention to what was happening in New Orleans.

If Bush had reacted swiftly and competently, both Nagin and Blanco would have been replaced with Republicans by now.

Answer 11

Mississippi didn't receive all that much help right off the back either, but yes its true it seems bush and all the assholes in congress don't care about all those people in need, but they sure are quick to help out Florida.