George W. Bush: Hurricane Katrina: Questions, Criticism and Commentary

The following links address the growing list of Qustions, Criticism and Commentary which continues following the massive natural disaster created by Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast of the United States on August 29, 2005, and the actions of and reactions by President George W. Bush.

"[M]ost chillingly of all, this is the Law and Order and Terror government. It promised protection — or at least amelioration — against all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological. It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water."—Keith Olbermann, September 5, 2005.

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SourceWatch Related Resources

Hurricane Katrina: List of related pages

• In particular, the links relate to the main article George W. Bush: Hurricane Katrina.
• Also see George W. Bush: Hurricane Katrina: Public Relations

Articles & Commentary

August 2005

• Tony Pugh and Ron Hutcheson, "Bush returns to DC to oversee relief for Katrina," Knight Ridder Newspapers (Tallahassee Democrat), August 30, 2005.
• Ron Fournier, "Response to Katrina Poses Chances for Bush," Associated Press (MyWay.com), August 31, 2005.
• Tim Grieve, "The 9/11 of New Orleans," Salon "War Room", August 31, 2005.
• Tim Grieve, "Bush is back," Salon "War Room", August 31, 2005.
• Arianna Huffington, "The Flyover Presidency of George W. Bush," The Huffington Post, August 31, 2005.
• "New Orleans in Peril," New York Times, August 31, 2005.

September 2005

• David Brooks, "The Storm After the Storm," New York Times, September 1, 2005.
• "Waiting for a Leader," New York Times, September 1, 2005.
• David E. Sanger, "News Analysis: Hard New Test for President," New York Times, September 1, 2005.
• Matthew Rothschild, "Katrina Compounded," The Progressive, September 1, 2005.
• Ted Widmer, "Why Katrina Is Likely to Be a Disaster for President Bush, too," History News Network, September 1, 2005.
• Cynthia Bogard, "Why Thousands May Die," Common Dreams, September 1 ,2005.
• Tim Grieve, "For Bush, A Different Kind of Storm," Salon "War Room", September 1, 2005.
• Tim Grieve, "The White House responds: 'This is not a time for politics'," Salon "War Room", September 1, 2005.
• Tim Grieve, "The right on Hurricane Katrina," Salon "War Room", September 1, 2005.
• Mike Whitney, "The Devastating Impact of Hurricane George," Uruknet', September 1, 2005.
• Transcript: Jack Cafferty: "Bashed Admin. over Katrina," CNN, September 1, 2005. Link and WMP and QT video links posted on Crooks and Liars website.
• Andrew Taylor, "White House Backpedals on Flood Control," Associated Press (Washington Post), September 1, 2005.
• Elisabeth Bumiller, "Democrats and Others Criticize White House's Response to Disaster," New York Times, September 2, 2005.
• Max Hastings, "Bush Didn't Cause the Storm, But He's to Blame for the Mess," Daily Mail (London) (LexisNexis), September 2, 2005.
• "Editorials, Including Those at Conservative Papers, Rip Bush's Hurricane Response," Editor & Publisher, September 2, 2005.
• David Gonzalez, The Victims: "From Margins of Society to Center of the Tragedy," New York Times, September 2, 2005.
• David Pace, "Congressman can't get Bush on the line," Associated Press (Macon .com), September 2, 2005: Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., "said the communications problems that kept him from meeting with Bush are symptomatic of the problems that have plagued the slow-moving federal response to the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. ... In St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, just south of New Orleans, victims of the hurricane are still waiting for food and water and for buses to escape the floodwaters, Melancon said. And for the entire time Bush was in the state, the congressman said, a ban on helicopter flights further stalled the delivery of food and supplies."
• Norman Solomon, "Ending the Impunity of the Bush White House," Common Dreams, September 2, 2005.
• Paul Krugman, "A Can't-Do Government," New York Times, September 2, 2005.
• Eric Umansky, "Left Behind," Slate, September 2, 2005.
• Marc Sandalow, "Anarchy, Anger, Desperation the Response. Sharp criticism of U.S. reaction and failure to prevent disaster," San Francisco Chronicle, September 2, 2005.
• "The Man-Made Disaster," New York Times, September 2, 2005.
• Mark Drolette, "While bodies rot, Bush acts like he couldn't care less — because he couldn't," The Smirking Chimp, September 2, 2005.
• Michael Giltz, "Greta Van Susteren Praises Looter," AMERICAblog, September 3, 2005.
• Michelle Krupa, "Bush visit halts food delivery," The Times-Picayune, September 3, 2005.
• Maureen Dowd, "United States of Shame," New York Times, September 3, 2005.
• Laura Rozen, "If he could go to Baghdad, why didn't Bush go to the New Orleans Superdome or the Convention Center?" War and Piece, September 3, 2005.
• Elisabeth Bumiller and Adam Nagourney, "As White House Anxiety Grows, Bush Tries to Quell Political Crisis," New York Times, September 4, 2005.
• Susan B. Glasser and Josh White, "Storm Exposed Disarray at the Top," Washington Post, September 4, 2005.
• Frank Rich, "Falluja Floods the Superdome," New York Times, September 4, 2005.
• "Pattern Emerges in Katrina Lack of Response Stories. Beyond Incompetence," BellaCiao, September 5, 2005: Reading the news after the Katrina Hurricane and the lack-of-response disaster, a pattern began to emerge."
• Adam Nagourney and Anne E. Kornblut, "White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage," New York Times, September 5, 2005.
• Bob Herbert, "A Failure of Leadership," New York Times, September 5, 2005.
• Paul Krugman, "Killed by Contempt," New York Times, September 5, 2005.
• Delaware Dem, "Olbermann Just Destroyed Bush and the GOP (Updated with Transcript)," Daily Kos, September 5, 2005.
• Ronald Brownstein, "In Disaster's Aftermath, the Buck Stops at the President's Desk. The natural instinct of any administration is to circle the wagons when hit with the sort of criticism buffeting the White House over the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina. President Bush is probably even more resistant than most of his predecessors to admitting error or reexamining decisions," Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2005.
• Tony Jones, "Voters will remember disaster response, Hitchens says," ABC News (Australia), September 5, 2005. Christopher Hitchens: "Well, you remember the distinction between imminent threat and non-imminent threat, or permanent threat? The argument like that in the case of Iraq, which has already begun to intrude into this case too? With New Orleans the threat from flooding from the ocean, or from Lake Pontchartrain is permanent. It always could happen."
• Eugene Robinson, "It's Your Failure, Too, Mr. Bush," Washington Post, September 6, 2005.
• Steve Holland, "Bush resists immediate probe into Katrina response," Reuters, September 6, 2005.
• Richard Wolffe, "Yet Another Gulf War. Up Against It: Buffeted by Iraq, gas prices and the fury over his response to Katrina, Bush faces a new storm of his own," Newsweek, posted September 6, 2005; September 12, 2005 (issue).
• Cam Simpson, "Administration's figures on response don't appear to add up," Knight Ridder Newspapers (Chicago Tribune), September 6, 2005.
• Jennifer Loven and David Espo, "Dems Assail White House on Katrina Effort," Associated Press (SF Gate), September 7, 2005.
• Maureen Dowd, "Haunted by Hesitation," New York Times, September 7, 2005.
• Dick Morris, "President Bush Will Rebound From Katrina Missteps," NewsMax, September 7, 2005.
• Adam Nagourney and Carl Hulse, "Democrats Step Up Criticism of White House," New York Times, September 8, 2005.
• Hunter, "Enough. It's Over," Daily Kos, September 8, 2005.
• "Mr. Bush's Storm," Washington Post, September 8, 2005.
• Dave Astor, "Conservative Pundits Reluctant to Criticize Bush's Katrina Response," Editor & Publisher, September 8, 2005.
• Richard N. Haass, "Storm Warning. How the flood compromises U.S. foreign policy," Slate, September 9, 2005.
• David Sirota, "GOP's New Mantra to America: Go Cheney Yourself," The Huffington Post, September 8, 2005.
• Paul Krugman, "Point Those Fingers," New York Times, September 9, 2005.
• Beth Crawford, "Bush, Blame, and the Buck," Common Dreams, September 9, 2005.
• Steven Thomma, "Katrina underscores Bush's isolated style of management," Knight Ridder Newspapers, September 9, 2005.
• Charles Sullivan, "It's Not Easy Being King," CounterPunch, September 9, 2005.
• Doug Thompson, "A Very, Very Good Idea," Capitol Hill Blue, September 9, 2005.
• Mike Allen, "Living Too Much in the Bubble? A bungled initial response to Katrina exposed the perils of a rigid, insular White House. Inside Bush's plan to show he isn't isolated," Time, September 11, 2005.
• Steve Perry, "Let Them Eat Brownie. It's not about FEMA--it's about the president and the black hole of 'Homeland Security'," City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), September 13, 2005.
• Maureen Dowd, "A Fatal Incuriosity," New York Times, September 14, 2005.
• Donald Kaul, "Bush faring well in Incompetence Derby," Times-Leader (Springfield, MO), September 17, 2005.
• Larisa Alexandrova, "Defending Those Who Know," The Huffington Post, September 18, 2005.
• Frank Rich, "Message: I Care About the Black Folks," New York Times, September 18, 2005.
• Jerry Lanson, "The Pain-Free Presidency," Common Dreams, September 18, 2005.
• Jim Glover, "Let Us Pray -- For Bush Relief," Dissident Voice, September 18, 2005.
• Beth Quinn, "George is worst natural disaster to hit country," Times-Herald Record, September 19, 2005.
• Peter Lee, "George of the living dead," The Smirking Chimp, September 19, 2005.

March 2006

• Margaret Ebrahim and John Solomon, "In videos, Bush, Chertoff appear calm before storm. Meeting tapes, transcripts show others alarmed before Katrina hit," Associated Press, March 1, 2006 (posted by Houston Chronicle, March 2, 2006).
• Nicole Gaouette, "Video Details Stark Katrina Warning to Bush," Los Angeles Times, March 1, 2006.
• "Excerpts from Hurricane Katrina briefings," Knight Ridder Newspapers, March 1, 2006.
• "Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina," Associated Press (CBS News), March 1, 2006.
• Margaret Ebrahim, "Ex-FEMA Chief Says Bush Was Overconfident," Associated Press (Forbes), March 1, 2006.
• Nancy Yamada, "EXCLUSIVE: Ex-FEMA Chief Says Tapes 'Speak For Themselves'," WUSA 9 News (Virginia), March 1, 2006.
• "Video shows Bush Katrina warning," BBC, March 2, 2006.
• Scott Shane and David D. Kirkpatrick, "Unaware as Levees Fell, Officials Expressed Relief," New York Times, March 2, 2006.
• "Video Contradicts Bush Katrina Statement," newswire.co.nz, March 2, 2006.