The Magical History Tour

So, you know how President Bush has been holding press conferences lately? Specifically, press conferences in which he talks about the last 8 years and certain situations that may have been perceived incorrectly by the public?

Um....yeah.

Like yesterday for example... Bush claimed that 'the federal response to Hurricane Katrina was... “pretty quick,”...' (The Rachel Maddow Show, January 12, 2009) Wow, really?

Dubya claims he had no idea the levees could be breached, that so many people could die or that there would be such widespread devastation...despite being told exactly that in no uncertain terms the Sunday before the hurricane hit. The language that the National Weather Service used in the report given to President Bush in Crawford, Texas the Sunday before Katrina hit was, "Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer. At least one half of well-constructed homes will have roof and wall failure. Power outages will last for weeks. Water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.”

Which part of that is unclear?

As for the government's actions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina... It wasn't a slow response! They sent helicopters! Helicopters which pulled 30,000 people off of roofs! "Right after the storm!" Please ignore the fact that Dubya spent Monday - the day that Hurricane Katrina hit - eating birthday cake with John McCain in Arizona. And the fact that the day after Katrina made landfall, President Bush traveled to Southern California to play a guitar onstage with a country singer. Then there's the whole thing about how the National Guard didn't even arrive in the area until two days after the levees had been breached. Also, per the Rachel Maddow Show, "FEMA did not finalize its request for buses to move people out of the affected area until six days after Katrina hit. FEMA trucks loaded up with ice were rerouted to Georgia, and South Carolina, and Maine."

Because who needs ice in New Orleans when there are massive water shortages and people dying everywhere?

You know what else? He inherited the recession and is being unfairly accused for the current economic free fall. Once again, umm...yeah. Do you know how many jobs the U.S. lost last year? 2.6 million. Yes, 2.6 MILLION. That's the most job losses since World War II. Total net jobs created during the past 8 years? 3 million. Total net jobs during the Clinton administration? about 21 million.

From the Rachel Maddow Show:

Bush‘s chairman of economic advisors recently said that, quote, “It does look like a great eight years, aside from the last quarter, unfortunately.” Or if you will, we had this amazing house of cards that totally amazed everyone and it stayed standing for longer than most houses of cards. And then a stiff breeze flattened it entirely. Good for us.

Now, I realize the President doesn't control the entire U.S. economy, nor does he control the ever-increasing number of companies and factories going out of business or moving their plants outside the country. However, his stubborn and constant insistence for the last 7-1/2 years that the economy is actually strong and fine and that people are worrying for nothing just shows that he's living in his own reality - one that has absolutely nothing to do with ours.

Do you think he knows that we all have access to newspapers, online news, videos, etc. from the last 8 years? Does he realize that a record is made of every little single thing he does? Does he realize that not everyone surrounds themselves with people who do their very best to keep us insulated from any and all bad news?

I wonder if rewriting history is something that only someone who has been elected(ish) the President of the United States can do, or if just anyone can do it?

If other people can rewrite history, too, I invented Velcro and the diesel engine and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. Hooray for me!