White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 - Under the command of President Bush's two senior
political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to
contain the political damage from the administration's response to
Hurricane Katrina.
It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to
an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed
administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on
the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response
to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with
the White House plan.
The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush's chief political adviser,
Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. It began
late last week after Congressional Republicans called White House
officials to register alarm about what they saw as a feeble response
by Mr. Bush to the hurricane, according to Republican Congressional
aides.
As a result, Americans watching television coverage of the disaster
this weekend began to see, amid the destruction and suffering, some of
the most prominent members of the administration - Richard B. Myers,
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Donald H. Rumsfeld, the
secretary of defense; and Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state -
touring storm-damaged communities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspec...
Every day Bush stays in office is another day we are made less safe!
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