# Did Bush fake a Katrina photo op? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 4, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006 "2005-09-04T04:52:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/1 "2005-09-04T04:52:40Z")
I expect nothing but a grunt from the pig that Bush is, but I need to confirm this before I go ballistic. [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005\_09/007042.php](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007042.php) > [@](#): > > But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast — black and white, rich and poor, young and old — deserve far better from their national government. > [@](#): > > ZDF News reported that the president’s visit was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of ‘news people’ had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time. > > The people in the area were once again left to fend for themselves, said ZDF. If he really did this, I cannot fathom how even his most ardent defenders will be able to stomach him. Can anyone confirm or refute this? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/2 "2005-09-04T05:05:03Z")
I personally don’t believe it (and I’m no fan of the administration), mostly for three reasons: 1. I believe that Bush is misguided (perhaps even deluded), but not out and out EVIL, 2. He (or at least his friends) are politically smart, and this would just be such an obvious a political nightmare (in the sense that the deception would be pretty evident) that I can’t believe that they’d go for it, and 3. Why bother to take all the stuff away, in a logistical sense? Isn’t that just a lot more trouble than one lousy photo is worth? Just MHO. ---
**Author:** ![AFAIKnow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a6a055/32.png) [@AFAIKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AFAIKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/3 "2005-09-04T05:13:09Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I personally don’t believe it (and I’m no fan of the administration), mostly for three reasons: > > 1. I believe that Bush is misguided (perhaps even deluded), but not out and out EVIL, > > 2. He (or at least his friends) are politically smart, and this would just be such an obvious a political nightmare (in the sense that the deception would be pretty evident) that I can’t believe that they’d go for it, and > > 3. Why bother to take all the stuff away, in a logistical sense? Isn’t that just a lot more trouble than one lousy photo is worth? > > Just MHO. Because, apparently if Bush could do more than grunt, that is what he would do. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/4 "2005-09-04T05:16:26Z")
I hope you’re right, **Leaper** , and plausibly you are. 'Cause I really don’t know if I could stand it. That story about the big honcho over at FEMA being some lawyer who had no experiience in public health, or logistics…that’s not true either? Sure hope not. 'Bout two inches from going totally postal, right now. ---
**Author:** ![markdiscordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@markdiscordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdiscordia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/5 "2005-09-04T05:17:09Z")
> [@Hentor the Barbarian](#): > > If he really did this, I cannot fathom how even his most ardent defenders will be able to stomach him. By repeating “too soon to politicize”, “could you do any better” and all the other catch-all non-defenses that anyone who is still blindly worshipping this motherfucker is forced to use since there are no real arguments left in his favor. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/6 "2005-09-04T05:19:49Z")
Could also be that they started pumping and then realized they were in the wrong spot. More likely that Bush would choose to be photographed somewhere its already happening and simply exaggerate the significance. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/7 "2005-09-04T05:20:01Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > 1. Why bother to take all the stuff away, in a logistical sense? Isn’t that just a lot more trouble than one lousy photo is worth? You do realize, don’t you, **Leaper** , that these allegations are coming from a [United States Senator](http://landrieu.senate.gov/hurricanes/index.cfm) who was WITH him – by his side – during his visit, and who witnessed, first-hand, the absence of all but one piece of equipment only shortly after his departure? So was she lying, or just mistaken? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/8 "2005-09-04T05:27:31Z")
Well, apparently [all helicopter flights were suspended](http://www.nola.com/weblogs/print.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/print076556.html) while Bush was in the area, hampering relief efforts. The claim is being made by the Chief of Staff of a U.S. Representative. So perhaps the other stories aren’t too big a stretch … . ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/9 "2005-09-04T05:31:40Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > So was she lying, or just mistaken? Mistaken, of course, if I’m right. We simply don’t know a lot of things, like whether the spot she saw was EXACTLY the same spot as the photo op, whether equipment had to be moved due to alligators or looters or what have you, etc. etc. It’s just that even I, a lifelong liberal, find it somewhat hard to believe that anyone, much less one of the most watched men on the planet, would go to the trouble of bringing needed supplies and then TAKING THEM AWAY simply because there was no one to photograph them. ---
**Author:** ![markdiscordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@markdiscordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdiscordia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/10 "2005-09-04T05:32:23Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > Well, apparently [all helicopter flights were suspended](http://www.nola.com/weblogs/print.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/print076556.html) while Bush was in the area, hampering relief efforts. > > The claim is being made by the Chief of Staff of a U.S. Representative. > > So perhaps the other stories aren’t too big a stretch … . To maintain the position that Bush is honest by this point, one would have to believe that every other person in the US government, every head of a foreign state, every member of the media, and every notable private citizen is a liar. Occam’s Razor, people. ---
**Author:** ![markdiscordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@markdiscordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdiscordia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/11 "2005-09-04T05:33:42Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > It’s just that even I, a lifelong liberal, find it somewhat hard to believe that anyone, much less one of the most watched men on the planet, would go to the trouble of bringing needed supplies and then TAKING THEM AWAY simply because there was no one to photograph them. “He wouldn’t do something so dastardly because he’d be called on it” has two flaws: –This thread IS calling him on it –Events of the last five years have clearly demonstrated that Bush could drop-kick a puppy on live television and his supporters wouldn’t do anything except allege that some puppies were recently spotted meeting with Bin Laden. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/12 "2005-09-04T05:38:30Z")
I wasn’t JUST arguing “he’d be called on it.” I was also arguing clumsiness of execution, logistics, and just plain “he’s being accused of holding out a piece of food to a starving man, then taking it away, giggling fiendishly,” and I just don’t think he’d do it (or, if you prefer, could find the people who’d think it’d be a good idea). Just because I disagree with the man doesn’t mean I think he’s some kind of morally bankrupt, soul-twisted Antichrist. Why isn’t just having beliefs that are bad for the country at large enough? Why does he have to be a totally amoral monster too? ---
**Author:** ![markdiscordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@markdiscordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdiscordia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/13 "2005-09-04T05:40:11Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Why isn’t just having beliefs that are bad for the country at large enough? Why does he have to be a totally amoral monster too? Because that is what the evidence indicates. There plenty of conservatives who are just wrong and not evil. But Bush isn’t one of them. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/14 "2005-09-04T05:43:47Z")
I reserve judgement on this one. Offhand I surmise BushCo. and his formidable spin machine were caught flat-footed by the hellacious disaster aftermath. It could possibly be amusing, in a very twisted way, if grim reality finally sank in because basic services were so eroded they couldn’t even support optimal Presidential face time to gloss over the devastation. It’s a split decision. Bush would be excoriated if he didn’t show up in person. He’d take a hit since his mere presence would funnel away already misdirected resources. In all fairness, Bush _had_ to appear. He’s the President, a highly political animal by definition, which exponentially ups the ‘morale building’ shit when everything swirls right down the toilet. (The metaphor assumes ridiculously basic things like running water and waste disposal but I’m struggling to remain fair here…) It’s tempting, but _wrong_, so wrong, to measure this by the bagatelle about Clinton causing airport gridlock for a haircut. Idiocy and unfairness doesn’t justify more of the same, even under much worse circumstances. Bush was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t appear. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/15 "2005-09-04T05:47:11Z")
> [@markdiscordia](#): > > –Events of the last five years have clearly demonstrated that Bush could drop-kick a puppy on live television and his supporters wouldn’t do anything except allege that some puppies were recently spotted meeting with Bin Laden. Everything except? Come now, there are some Bush apologists who’d start there. After jumping in with a tu quoque and pointing out that Clinton probably kicked puppies too, of course. I swear to Og, sometimes partisan politics make me want to put my fist through a wall. Two many people are deep into the fallacy of the excluded middle, with us or against us, Democrat or Republic, our side or theirs. If you oppose Bush you must be a dirty hippie liberal. If you don’t want cancer you must want AIDS. Bah, we get what we deserve, fucking high school mentality in this country. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/16 "2005-09-04T05:52:38Z")
To a great extent, I agree, **FinnAgain**. Your second paragraph is EXACTLY why I don’t like this idea of portraying Bush as a demon in human clothing who clicks his heels and laughs whenever a baby cries (besides the fact that I disagree with it). ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/17 "2005-09-04T06:21:25Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > Well, apparently [all helicopter flights were suspended](http://www.nola.com/weblogs/print.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/print076556.html) while Bush was in the area, hampering relief efforts. > > The claim is being made by the Chief of Staff of a U.S. Representative. > . It has been made too by a poster, \*\* Poor Yorick \*\* whose relative was stranded in a NO hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/18 "2005-09-04T06:30:44Z")
I also heard that as soon as the cameras were turned off Bush wrestled a wheelchair out from under some crippled kid. Just for laughs. Oh, and then he pushed an old lady down in the mud. Man, losing that election last November _really_ hurt you guys, huh? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/19 "2005-09-04T06:34:47Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Man, losing that election last November really hurt you guys, huh? 😛 It certainly hurt thousands of people in the hurricane zone, you smirking subhuman. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006/20 "2005-09-04T06:34:49Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Man, losing that election last November _really_ hurt you guys, huh? 😛 It hurt all of us, hell, the entire damn world, you dumb fuck. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bush-fake-a-katrina-photo-op/320006.md?page=2)