In contrast, the day after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, our great and fearless leader was in California, talking about how important it was to protect Iraq's oilfields and receiving a guitar with the Presidential seal from country singer Mark Wills. Priorities, priorities. Hey, but at least on Wednesday, TWO DAYS AFTER the Hurricane hit New Orleans, Bush finally flew back to Washington D.C. to...hold a press conference. OK, but on Thursday, he also did nothing, while his Vice President continued to vacation in Wyoming and his Secretary of State went shoe shopping in New York City. And on Friday, Bush DID manage to show up for a tour of the hurricane-hit region and also, of course, a photo-op.
The point here is this: George W. Bush is quite capable of acting quickly when he wants to, or when it might affect him politically with his right-wing base. But a tsunami or a hurricane? Eh, they can wait a few days...no reason to disturb the endless vacation at "the ranch." Could it be that the "compassionate" part of that famous oxymoron, "compassionate conservatism," got lost somewhere along the way to Washington DC? Or that it never existed in the first place in the right-wing Republican Party? I vote for the latter option.