Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Why Does the Christian Right Embrace a Lying President ?

host · 09-02-2005, 07:56 AM

What can it be, besides hypocrisy and a lust for "earthly" power and wealth that would compell supposed "spiritual" leaders of conservative christians in the U.S., to continue to predictably and reflexively support, rather than to question or condemn, the repeated and obvious lies that emerge from the lips of President Bush, especially during major national crises?

Quote:

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/t-p/ka...TERPLAN31.html

More From The Times-Picayune | Subscribe To The Times-Picayune
Feds' Disaster Planning Shifts Away From Preparedness

August 31, 2005
By BILL WALSH, BRUCE ALPERT And JOHN McQUAID
c.2005 Newhouse News Service

WASHINGTON - No one can say they didn't see it coming......

excerpts are from an article by Sheila Grissett which appeared in the June 8th, 2004 edition of the Times-Picayune.)

For the first time in 37 years, federal budget cuts have all but stopped major work on the New Orleans area's east bank hurricane levees, a complex network of concrete walls, metal gates and giant earthen berms that won't be finished for at least another decade.

"I guess people look around and think there's a complete system in place, that we're just out here trying to put icing on the cake," said Mervin Morehiser, who manages the "Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity" levee project for the Army Corps of Engineers. "And we aren't saying that the sky is falling, but people should know that this is a work in progress, and there's more important work yet to do before there is a complete system in place."

Quote:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...8,print.story?
HURRICANE KATRINA: THE LEVEES

HURRICANE-PROTECTION PROJECTS

Flood-control funds short of requests
Advertisement

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By Andrew Martin and Andrew Zajac
Washington Bureau

September 1, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Despite continuous warnings that a catastrophic hurricane could hit New Orleans, the Bush administration and Congress in recent years have repeatedly denied full funding for hurricane preparation and flood control.

That has delayed construction of levees around the city and stymied an ambitious project to improve drainage in New Orleans' neighborhoods.

For instance, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested $27 million for this fiscal year to pay for hurricane-protection projects around Lake Pontchartrain. The Bush administration countered with $3.9 million, and Congress eventually provided $5.7 million, according to figures provided by the office of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).

Because of the shortfalls, which were caused in part by the rising costs of the war in Iraq, the corps delayed seven contracts that included enlarging the levees, according to corps documents.

Much of the devastation in New Orleans was caused by breaches in the levees, which sent water from Lake Pontchartrain pouring into the city. Since much of the city is below sea level, the levee walls acted like the walls of a bowl that filled until as much as 80 percent of the city was under water.

Similarly, the Army Corps requested $78 million for this fiscal year for projects that would improve draining and prevent flooding in New Orleans. The Bush administration's budget provided $30 million for the projects, and Congress ultimately approved $36.5 million, according to Landrieu's office.

"I'm not saying it wouldn't still be flooded, but I do feel that if it had been totally funded, there would be less flooding than you have," said Michael Parker, a former Republican Mississippi congressman who headed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from October 2001 until March 2002, when he was ousted after publicly criticizing a Bush administration proposal to cut the corps' budget........

Quote:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509020001
On the September 1 broadcast of ABC's Good Morning America, President Bush acted as though the breach of the levees was an unforeseeable fluke occurrence: "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."

But, as news reports in the Tribune, Times-Picayune and elsewhere made clear, plenty of people did anticipate the breech. The Army Corps of Engineers, for example, wanted to enlarge levees and improve drainage. But it couldn't, because the Bush administration and Congress didn't give it the money it needed.

So when Bush told ABC's Diane Sawyer during an exclusive interview (video here) that nobody could have "anticipated the breach of the levees," surely she challenged him on his claim? Surely she said, "Wait a minute, Mr. President: the Army Corps of Engineers wanted more money to prevent exactly that. They must have anticipated something. The New Orleans Times-Picayune concluded yesterday that 'No one can say they didn't see it coming.' A former Republican congressman who headed the Corps of Engineers in your own administration lost his job after he publicly criticized your efforts to cut the Corps' budget. How can you say nobody saw this coming?"

But instead, Sawyer simply moved on to her next question:

SAWYER: And in fact Mr. President, this morning, as we speak, as you say, there are people with signs saying help, come get me. People still in the attic, waving. Nurses are phoning in saying the situation in hospitals is getting ever more dire, that the nurses are getting sick now because of no clean water. And some of the things they have asked our correspondents to ask you, they expected, they say to us, that the day after this hurricane that there would be a massive and visible armada of federal support. There would be boats coming in. There would be food, there would be water. And it would be there within hours. They wondered what's taking so long.

BUSH: Well, there's a lot of food on its way, a lot of water on the way, and there's a lot of boats and choppers headed that way. Boats and choppers headed that way. It takes a while to float them. For example, [the USS] Iwo Jima is coming from the East Coast of the United States toward New Orleans. And people have got to know that there is a massive relief -- the most -- most massive federal relief effort ever in combination with state and local authorities. And there's a lot of help coming.

SAWYER: But given the fact that everyone anticipated a hurricane [Category] Five, a possible hurricane Five hitting shore, are you satisfied with the pace at which this is arriving? And at which it was planned to arrive?

BUSH: Well, I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday. I mean, I understand the -- anxiety of people on the ground. I can imagine -- I just can't imagine what it's like to be waving a sign that says, "Come and get me now." So there is frustration. But I want people to know there is a lot of help coming. <b>I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.</b> They did anticipate a serious storm. But these levees got breached, and as a result, much of New Orleans is flooded. And now we are having to deal with it and will.

SAWYER: A couple of quick questions about the concerns. ...

So...what we have is the record of President Bush making public declarations that are obvious falsehoods, after two major disasters, with the intent of deflecting efforts to assign blame or responsibility to him or to his administration.........

Quote:

Bush speaking on ABC TV, Sept. 1, 2005:

I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.

As i've posted on this forum before, on Sept. 16, 2001, days after the 9/11 attacks, Bush declared that no one could have imagined that terrorists would hijack airliners and fly them into buildings. Big events bigger lies.

Why is there no outrage or condemnation of Bush expressed by his religious "base"?