President Bush has said many inane things on the campaign trail and during his presidency (for him, bascally the same). But some of his remarks in reaction to New Orleans have to be among the worst.
First, Mr Bush flew over New Orleans and parts of Mississippi's in Air Force One after famously "cutting short" his 33-day vacation by all of two days. Turning to his aides, he said: "It's totally wiped out. ... It's devastating, it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground."
This remark presumes that his aides had not been watching television, or worse, no one told the President about what had happened until he took off. What, one wonders, were his aides supposed to say back.
The next day Mr. Bush told Good Morning America: "I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting, price gouging at the gasoline pump, or taking advantage of charitable giving, or insurance fraud."
Say what?!? Was anyone thinking about insurance fraud? Of course, the President was talking about looters. Zero tolerance is always a dumb and empty phrase. But in this context, it proves a true moron. Should cops and judges really have zero tolerance for someone stealing food or diapers, or even if they are part of mob stealing TVs. Certainly if there was ever a time for some degree of tolerance, this is it.
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