Incurious George

My mother used to say that what you do in the dark will come out in the light.  She was talking about, well, you know what she was talking about.  Despite President Bush’s best efforts to keep the American public in the dark about his incompetence (and here), light is being shed on how his administration screwed New Orleans residents who were left behind to fend for themselves. And, yes, the displaced are disproportionately black.

A newly released videotape shows that Bush was fully warned (here and here) of the looming “catastrophe within a catastrophe.”  The Associated Press reports that Incurious George:

Bush didn’t ask a single question [emphasis added] during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: “We are fully prepared.”

Six days of footage and transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

Linked by secure video, Bush’s bravado on Aug. 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.

As reports of Bush’s incompetence mount, his approval rating is at an all-time low. The CBS News poll also found that 90 percent of African Americans disapprove of Bush’s response to the needs of Katrina victims.

Last night, a CNN viewer cut to the chase: “Stick a fork in Bush. He’s done.”