Unpleasant Reality

Attack Back

Members of Congress may be feeling emboldened to attack Bush because his approval ratings are so low. But Congress's approval ratings aren't much higher. And that, in turn, may be emboldening Bush to strike back.

In his 10th visit to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, Bush yesterday portrayed himself as the defender of the people of New Orleans against a Congress that would deny them the aid they deserve.

Michael A. Fletcher and Spencer S. Hsu write in The Washington Post: "President Bush, on a Gulf Coast inspection tour that included his first visit to this city's storm-shattered Lower Ninth Ward, bluntly accused Congress on Wednesday of underfunding the repairs and called for speedy action to make good on federal commitments.

"The president said Congress has been slow to provide funding to rebuild housing destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and, while pledging to make New Orleans's levees 'equal or better than they were before' the storm, attacked a congressional decision last year to redirect $1.5 billion from his request to repair the region's flood-protection system to projects in other storm-affected states."

Here's the transcript of his remarks in New Orleans.

Nedra Pickler writes in the Associated Press: "In the devastated Lower Ninth Ward, few residents were around to tell Bush how they felt. But two young women held up a sign for his motorcade that said, 'Where's my government?' Farther up the road, a man waved a flattened cardboard box on which he had written, 'Pres. cut the red tape and help us.'

"The president scaled down the enthusiastic assessment he made on his last trip to New Orleans in January, when he suggested this city would be a great place for Americans to bring their families and have their conventions. This time, Bush discussed the hard work ahead.

" 'I'm getting a view of the progress that is being made,' Bush said. 'There's still a lot of work to be done, no question about it.' "

Once More Unto the Breach

Tom Raum of the Associated Press revisits the controversy over Bush's assertion to ABC's Diane Sawyer on Sept. 1 that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

Raum explains: "There is no specific mention of levees being breached at Bush's videoconference with federal, state and local disaster management officials on Aug. 28, the day before Katrina's landfall. . . .

"But there were dire warnings of a gigantic storm that could overflow the levees at that session and at other pre-landfall conferences. And specific mention of possible breaches was raised at an Aug. 29 teleconference that included Joe Hagin, deputy White House chief of staff.

"The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun, or water flowing over the top.