25 Mind-Numbingly Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina And Its Aftermath
1) “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”
–President Bush, on “Good Morning America,” Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina (Source)
2) “What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them.”
–Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the Hurricane flood evacuees in the Houston Astrodome, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source)
3) “We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do… The good news is — and it’s hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.” (Laughter)
—President Bush, touring hurricane damage, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005 (Source)
4) “Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well.”
–FEMA Director Michael Brown, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)
5) “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”
–President Bush, to FEMA director Michael Brown, while touring Hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, Sept. 2, 2005 (Source)
6) “Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?”
–House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX), to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston (Source)
7) “Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, ‘New Orleans Dodged the Bullet.’ Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse.”
–Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, blaming media coverage for his failings, “Meet the Press,” Sept. 4, 2005 (Source)
8) “What didn’t go right?”
–President Bush, as quoted by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), after she urged him to fire FEMA Director Michael Brown “because of all that went wrong, of all that didn’t go right” in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort (Source)
9) “I mean, you have people who don’t heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.”
–Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Sept. 6, 2005 (Source)
10) “You simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals…many of these people, almost all of them that we see are so poor and they are so black, and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are watching this story unfold.”
–CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, on New Orleans’ hurricane evacuees, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)
11) “If one person criticizes [the local authorities’ relief efforts] or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me. One more word about it after this show airs, and I…I might likely have to punch him, literally.”
–Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), “This Week with George Stephanopoulous,” Sept. 4, 2005 ((Source)
12) “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.”
–Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA) to lobbyists, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal (Source)
13) “There are a lot of lessons we want to learn out of this process in terms of what works. I think we are in fact on our way to getting on top of the whole Katrina exercise.”
–Vice President Dick Cheney, Sept. 10, 2005 (Source)
14) “It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that’s seven feet under sea level… It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed.”
–House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Aug. 31, 2005 (Source)
15) “I believe the town where I used to come – from Houston, Texas, to enjoy myself, occasionally too much – will be that very same town, that it will be a better place to come to.”
–President Bush, on the tarmac at the New Orleans airport, Sept. 2, 2005 (Source)
16) “I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don’t have food and water.”
–Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)
17) “Last night, we showed you the full force of a superpower government going to the rescue.”
–MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)
18) “We just learned of the convention center – we being the federal government – today.”
–FEMA Director Michael Brown, to ABC’s Ted Koppel, Sept. 1, 2005, to which Koppel responded ” Don’t you guys watch television? Don’t you guys listen to the radio? Our reporters have been reporting on it for more than just today.” (Source)
19) “Louisiana is a city that is largely under water.”
–Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, news conference, Sept. 3, 2005 (Source)
20) “I also want to encourage anybody who was affected by Hurricane Corina to make sure their children are in school.”
–First Lady Laura Bush, twice referring to a “Hurricane Corina” while speaking to children and parents in South Haven, Mississippi, Sept. 8, 2005 (Source)
21) “It’s totally wiped out. …It’s devastating, it’s got to be doubly devastating on the ground.”
–President Bush, turning to his aides while surveying Hurricane Katrina flood damage from Air Force One, Aug. 31, 2005 (Source)
22) “FEMA is not going to hesitate at all in this storm. We are not going to sit back and make this a bureaucratic process. We are going to move fast, we are going to move quick, and we are going to do whatever it takes to help disaster victims.”
-FEMA Director Michael Brown, Aug. 28, 2005 (Source)
23) “I understand there are 10,000 people dead. It’s terrible. It’s tragic. But in a democracy of 300 million people, over years and years and years, these things happen.”
–GOP strategist Jack Burkman, on MSNBC’s “Connected,” Sept. 7, 2005 (Source)
24) “A young [black] man walks through chest deep floodwater after looting a grocery store in New Orleans…”
“Two [white] residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans…”
–captions at Yahoo News, Aug. 30, 2005 (Source)
25) “Thank President Clinton and former President Bush for their strong statements of support and comfort today. I thank all the leaders that are coming to Louisiana, and Mississippi and Alabama to our help and rescue. We are grateful for the military assets that are being brought to bear. I want to thank Senator Frist and Senator Reid for their extraordinary efforts. Anderson, tonight, I don’t know if you’ve heard – maybe you all have announced it — but Congress is going to an unprecedented session to pass a $10 billion supplemental bill tonight to keep FEMA and the Red Cross up and operating.” –Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Aug. 31, 2005, to which Cooper responded:
“I haven’t heard that, because, for the last four days, I’ve been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated. And when they hear politicians slap – you know, thanking one another, it just, you know, it kind of cuts them the wrong way right now, because literally there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman had been laying in the street for 48 hours. And there’s not enough facilities to take her up. Do you get the anger that is out here?” (Source)
Read more idiotic quotes that didn’t make the top 25…
Quotes That Didn’t Make the Top 25
“Mayor Nagin and most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out of the city in front of a hurricane.”
–Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), on why New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin failed to follow the city’s evacuation plan and press the buses into service, “Fox News Sunday,” Sept. 11, 2005 (Source)
“This is the largest disaster in the history of the United States, over an area twice the size of Europe. People have to understand this is a big, big problem.”
–Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Sept. 6, 2005 (Source)
“You know I talked to Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi yesterday because some people were saying, ‘Well, if you hadn’t sent your National Guard to Iraq, we here in Mississippi would be better off.’ He told me ‘I’ve been out in the field every single day, hour, for four days and no one, not one single mention of the word Iraq.’ Now where does that come from? Where does that story come from if the governor is not picking up one word about it? I don’t know. I can use my imagination.”
–Former President George Bush, who can give his imagination a rest, interview with CNN’s Larry King, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source)
“But I really didn’t hear that at all today. People came up to me all day long and said ‘God bless your son,’ people of different races and it was very, very moving and touching, and they felt like when he flew over that it made all the difference in their lives, so I just don’t hear that.”
–Former First Lady Barbara Bush to CNN’s Larry King, after King asked her how she felt when people said that her son “doesn’t care” about race, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source)
“Judge Roberts can, maybe, you know, be thankful that a tragedy has brought him some good.”
–Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, arguing that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts stands to benefit from Hurricane Katrina because “inflamed rhetoric in the United States Senate is just not going to play well now,” Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)
“Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people.”
–President Bush, Sept. 6, 2005 (Source)
“I’ve had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word ‘unrest’ means that people are beginning to riot or, you know, they’re banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I’ve had no reports of that.”
–FEMA director Michael Brown, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)
“I don’t make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.”
–FEMA Director Michael Brown, arguing that the victims bear some responsibility, CNN interview, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)
“Our Nation is prepared, as never before, to deal quickly and capably with the consequences of disasters and other domestic incidents.”
–FEMA Director Michael Brown, March 9, 2005 (Source)
“Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University”
–description on FEMA director Michael Brown’s résumé, which turned out to be false – he was only a student there (Source)
“I’m going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night’s sleep.”
–FEMA Director Michael Brown, on his plans after being relieved from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, Sept. 9, 2005 (Source)
“And in all fairness to the Department of Homeland Security right now, I mean this is a brand new Department that was formed after 9/11. In many ways this is a ‘learn by our mistakes and figure out what to do better’ type of scenario.”
–CNN anchor Kyra Phillips, Sept. 9, 2005 (Source)
“I don’t want to alarm everybody that, you know, New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That’s just not happening.”
–Bill Lokey, FEMA’s New Orleans coordinator, in a press briefing from Baton Rouge, Aug. 30, 2005 (Source)
“Louisiana’s Senator Landrieu announced on network television, ‘I might likely have to punch him, literally.’ And my question, since ‘him’ is the President, and both punching and threatening to punch the President is a felony, has her qualifying words ‘might likely’ saved her from arrest and prosecution?”
–unknown reporter to White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Sept. 6, 2005 (Source)
“As of Saturday (Sept. 3), Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.” –Washington Post staff writers Manuel Roig-Franzia and Spencer Hsu, who didn’t bother to fact-check the blatant lie peddled by the Bush administration as part of its attempts to pin blame on state and local officials, when, in fact, the emergency declaration had been made on Friday, Aug. 26 (Source)
“Just to get you on the record, where does the buck stop in this administration?” –White House reporter
“The President.” –White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Sept. 6, 2005 (Source)
