http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/breaking_news/12677081.htm
'U.S. Rep. Richard Baker a Republican from Baton Rouge, who told some lobbyists, "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."
Commentator Linda Chavez, a former Bush nominee for secretary of labor, who characterized Katrina's victims as people "for whom sitting and waiting is a way of life."
The President's mother, Barbara Bush, who said that it would be "scary" if Katrina evacuees chose to stay in Texas and enjoy its hospitality: "So many of the people here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."
And the President himself, who, on his first Gulf trip, seemed to be most upset by the fact that Katrina had victimized Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi ("... this guy lost his entire house... ").
It's also true, as some African American leaders are well aware, that the Bush administration failed, for whatever reasons, to heed specific warnings that a major hurricane would entrap New Orleans' neediest. During the summer of 2004, a Louisiana hurricane expert briefed a White House aide on the results of a hurricane exercise. The report's conclusion: A category 3 storm "would cause flooding that would leave 300,000 people trapped... many of whom would not have private transportation for evacuation."
and.....
'Fairly or not, an overwhelming majority of African Americans are now telling pollsters that Bush's slow response to the crisis in New Orleans was partly attributable to racial insensitivity; the latest Gallup poll reports that 72 percent of African Americans agree with rapper Kanye West's recent charge that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
Now we have word that ....."More than half of the newly formed National Black Republican Association's executive boards walked out over the weekend, following a news release commending President Bush for doing a wonderful job responding to Hurricane Katrina.
The Washington Times buries deep in Tuesday's editions that board members had "questions surrounding approval of the latest news release issued by the NBRA, praising President Bush's leadership after Hurricane Katrina."
*I think that the GOP needs to read Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People before they allow another one of their members to speak!
