Had bush done what has been suggested, he probably would've been impeached unless he would have after the fact held on to political support even with the rhetoric that would've came from it. It would've been an unconstitutional act on his part at the time, posse comitatus

the entire forces of the Left in this country would've been raising hell, ramping up their moronic "Bush is Hitler" rhetoric and this time have him for once on some legal grounds. The media would've followed suit and they likely would've won the PR campaign to impeach him.


There is also the fact that this is a Federalism issue, its up to the State and Local govt. to do this job and then after the fact the Feds moving in. Their failure in this is why Louisianna now has Gov. Jindal(a rising star) and dumped Blanco. New Orleans is an irrational city on many levels, nagin was fortunate enough to survive.

I disagree GG. If Clinton were president during Katrina you know damn well he would of been down there the next day. The photo op alone with him bringing in the generators would of been in every national newspaper. He would of been on top of that like Gennifer Flowers. You can say alot of things but I know in my heart he would of been all over the largest national disaster in our nation's history. The man never missed a photo op, and this was the mother of all photo ops. Wasn't Bourbon Street and the down town mainly spared? He would of been all over that. Hillary back home at the White House. The slickster at the BIG EASY on a weeks pass. He would of been on that like stink on ****. NO DOUBT IN MY MIND.

Machiavelli Wrote:I disagree GG. If Clinton were president during Katrina you know damn well he would of been down there the next day.

....and he was in NYC after the bombing of the WTC, which was one of the first terrorist attacks on US Soil, in about, well, um, when was he there?

Oh, that's right, he never went.

WMD Owl Wrote:

Fo Shizzle Wrote:Good points...My main beef is that that SOB was watching the same damn TV coverage I was...and he didnt do a damn thing...He showed NO leadership...Relief in the form for portable generators, MREs, water, portable toliets..ect..ect...would have save lives...He had the capacity to make that happen with the push of a button...I have a very good friend that is a Col. in the NG...I asked him how long would it have taken to get supplies into NO...He said..."less than 6 hours"...and his unit is in NC.

You are the Champion of limited federal powers around here....

If the idiots Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin didn't ask for Federal/FEMA/Military intervention for Katrina, why should Bush impose his federal will over them?

All they had to do was ask before the storm hit so all the helicopters, MRE's, water and supplies could have been placed on standby.

It was a 5 the day before it hit... regardless of landfall, something was going to get royally F'ed up....

You are correct...The situation should not have happened if those in NO had been prepared in advance.

I fully understand the contradiction in my positon....and I also understand that by law...GB would have put himself
directly in the path of a unconstitutonal act....But....In this situation...where the constitutionally responsible agencies during this disaster failed to do their jobs...Noone would dare challenge the saving of lives by sending in whatever was necessary by the federal government. Only GB had the power of office to get that aid to the vicitims and he lacked the guts and leadership to make that happen.

GGniner Wrote:Had bush done what has been suggested, he probably would've been impeached unless he would have after the fact held on to political support even with the rhetoric that would've came from it. It would've been an unconstitutional act on his part at the time, posse comitatus

the entire forces of the Left in this country would've been raising hell, ramping up their moronic "Bush is Hitler" rhetoric and this time have him for once on some legal grounds. The media would've followed suit and they likely would've won the PR campaign to impeach him.


There is also the fact that this is a Federalism issue, its up to the State and Local govt. to do this job and then after the fact the Feds moving in. Their failure in this is why Louisianna now has Gov. Jindal(a rising star) and dumped Blanco. New Orleans is an irrational city on many levels, nagin was fortunate enough to survive.

You are correct in this being unconstitutional....But I find it hard to believe that after TV coverage of the rescue of victims and their subsquent praise for the POTUS for his intervention in a screwed up situation...that call for impeachment would gain much support.

I think a case could be made that a loophole exists in the Constiution that might have allowed federal interdiction anyway.
If the states are to handle things that the federal govt. does not...and the states negect to handle those things...Then does the federal govt have the obligation to step in?.

Machiavelli Wrote:I disagree GG. If Clinton were president during Katrina you know damn well he would of been down there the next day. The photo op alone with him bringing in the generators would of been in every national newspaper. He would of been on top of that like Gennifer Flowers. You can say alot of things but I know in my heart he would of been all over the largest national disaster in our nation's history. The man never missed a photo op, and this was the mother of all photo ops. Wasn't Bourbon Street and the down town mainly spared? He would of been all over that. Hillary back home at the White House. The slickster at the BIG EASY on a weeks pass. He would of been on that like stink on ****. NO DOUBT IN MY MIND.

well, one of many comparable disasters....Hurricane Floyd in NC. Which flooded half the state. FEMA moved in a month afterwards. the NC state and local govts. took care of the immediate aftermath...federalism.

WTC 93 he yawned as Al-Qaeda attacked us. Fire in Chicago?


If a POTUS violates posse comitatus, its grounds for impeachment. I have no doubt that you and the rest of the left would've trumped up the "bush is hitler" "bush is a military dictator" rhetoric and used it against him. All the lies about the aftermath of Katrina that came out by the media would've been replaced with new questions about "Executive Power", etc.

On top of that this is a perfect example of why Federalism works. the problem with Louisianna is they had an incompetent govt. on the State and Local levels with an entitlement minded citizenry that placed them in power.

RebelKev Wrote:Hambone, are you sure Bush declared NO a disaster area before the hurricane hit? I don't remember that being the case. I do, however, remember Blanco "finally" asking for help on Thursday....4 days after it hit.

Not that its the font of all knowledge, but Wikipedia quotes the following...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_H...ew_Orleans
The entire southeastern Louisiana region was declared a disaster area by the Federal Government before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, and FEMA prepositioned 18 disaster medical teams, medical supplies and equipment, urban search and rescue teams along with millions of MREs, liters of water, tarpaulins, and truckloads of ice.

Wikipedia may not always be 100% accurate, but on something this politically charged, if it weren't factually accurate, would have been challenged long before now... and I remember hearing it and reading it beforehand (I'm on the Texas Gulf Coast) and don't feel like searching any more

The Federal Government did what it was supposed to do. Could they have done more?? Since people died, the compassionate comment is always YES... but we can't expect the FEDERAL government to do everything for us... Unless we want a VERY different form of Government.

I'm not making Bush or anyone else blameless... I just think that MUCH MUCH MUCH more blame lies much closer to home... especially including the Mayor they re-elected. What the Federal government could have done pales in comparison to what the local government was already given to work with and failed to use. Most of what people said should have been done was there. Water and MRE's were at the Superdome when it was declared a shelter of last resort, and busses were supposedly dispatched to take people there BEFORE it hit... but I understand that the busses didn't all go, and tens of thousands of people came to the shelter AFTER it hit. Millions of MREs should have fed the affected people for a few days.

Obviously, some of you have longstanding political fueds... and that's no big deal... even healthy at times... but there's a REASON we say, "no good deed goes unpunished". At what point should Bush have stepped in?? When the Governor of the State asked for help. That is the rule/law. If the Governor were unable/unavailable, then I suepct the duty falls to the Attorney General of the state or something... but the REQUEST must be made by the state. Remember... you have the right in this country to be a complete moron or react poorly to pressure... and its not up to the Feds to keep you from being stupid (as if the Federal Government didn't have its share of morons)

I think you are correct, the supplies were positioned the hold up was with Blanco. She dragged her feet on letting the Feds step in, she had to sign off on it first. Which is a big reason why they now have Gov. Jindal.

the other part of it was Ray Nagin is an idiot and didn't have any plan to evacuate everyone.