The administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, which handles procurement policy for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, has been arrested on a three-count indictment. His name is David Hossein Safavian. He’s been charged with making false statements to a GSA ethics officer and the GSA-OIG, along with obstruction of a GSA-OIG investigation. Josh Marshall has … Read More
Dems Develop Backbone?
House-Senate Katrina probe dies as Dems refuse to participate in GOP-controlled probe.
Republicans Say The Darndest Things
Example No. 1: "D’oh!" It seems that a fax memo intended for Karl Rove was accidently sent to the wrong fax machine and got out. In it, it describes how the administration should confront immigration problems. What factors should be considered in confronting such this unique and complex issue — an issue which direct impacts our national security concerns? Cost? … Read More
Find The Money
With Bush proposing upwards of $200 billion to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, many fiscal conservatives are understandably edgy. Likening Bush’s proposal to Roosevelt’s New Deal programs (which is, to them, a bad thing), they wonder where the money is going to come from. Of course, some conservatives are being blatently stupid about the effort. This moron notes … Read More
Bite Me, Karl
Seriously, this man is scum. From Huffington Post: Karl Rove, President Bush’s top political advisor and deputy White House chief of staff, spoke at businessman Teddy Forstmann’s annual off the record gathering in Aspen, Colorado this weekend. Here is what Rove had to say that the press wasn’t allowed to report on. On Katrina: The only mistake we made with … Read More
Not What You Would Call A Great Communicator
Bush ratings before Thursday’s speech on New Orleans/Katrina: 39% Bush ratings after Thursday’s speech on New Orleans/Katrina: 35% Rassmussen Reports
Lights Return To New Orleans – Um, Not So Much
From Brian Williams’ blog at MSNBC": I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the … Read More
President Flopsweat?
Bush boards Air Force One after delivering his Katrina-related speech to the nation last night. Hat tip: Shakespeare’s Sister REACTIONS FROM OTHERS: Balz/Washington Post: The main text of President Bush’s nationally televised address last night was the rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, but the clear subtext was the rebuilding of a presidency that is now at its … Read More
Is THAT Charity?
So I was listening to Bush’s speech about Katrina. It started off boring — a laundry list of things that happened as a result of Katrina (we know what happened, George; we were paying attention), and a laundry list of things that are happening now in terms of recovery. Yawn. Then he started going into rebuilding efforts. I thought parts … Read More
Increasing The Deficit To Improve Bush’s Image
Boy, Josh Marshall really hits it on the head with this one: This worries me. Note the added emphasis. The clip comes from a piece in tomorrow’s Post about yet another huge funding bill the president will roll out tomorrow for Katrina aid, which the Post says will cost more next year than the entire cost of the Iraq war … Read More
Bush’s Potty Break
I wasn’t going to touch it, but now I must. By now, I’m sure many of you have heard about the Reuters photo, which shows Bush writing an important message to Condi Rice as the two of them are sitting in conference at the U.N. Just in case you haven’t, I will (against my better judgment) post it here. This … Read More
Katrina: Right Wing Myths Debunked
Think Progress has a link-o-riffic debunking of some right-wing Katina memes. Here’s an example — there are many more: CLAIM — STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS WERE MOSTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR FAILURES: “White House Shifts Blame to State and Local Officials” [Washington Post, 9/4/05] FACT – BUSH PUT FEMA IN CHARGE OF EFFORT BEFORE KATRINA STRUCK: “Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, … Read More
Bush Takes Responsiblity, Sort Of
CNN reports: President Bush on Tuesday said he takes responsibility for the federal government’s failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina. "Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government and to the extent the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said during a joint news conference with Iraqi President Jalal … Read More
Katrina Follies
The article in the Wall Street Journal (registration required — UPDATE: I’ll put larger excerpts below the fold) should put to rest the conservative meme that FEMA (and the federal government) needs a specific request from local government before it can act in the face of a disaster. The articles points to the Department of Homeland Security’s National Response Plan, … Read More
Bush Displeased
Nice article in WaPo by Dan Froomkin. Key grafs: Is Bush the commanding, decisive, jovial president you’ve been hearing about for years in so much of the mainstream press? Maybe not so much. Judging from the blistering analyses in Time, Newsweek, and elsewhere these past few days, it turns out that Bush is in fact fidgety, cold and snappish in … Read More