Presidents Say the Darndest Things

Stupidity is caused, not by brain failure, but by a wicked heart. Insensitiveness, opacity, inability to make connection, often accompanied by low animal cunning...this mental oblivion is chosen, by the heart or the moral will.
Mary McCarthy (1912 - 1989), U.S. writer

Here is a glimpse of our compassionate president, his honest staff, and caring mother in action during a national emergency:

A grasp on the facts: “… nobody anticipated the breach of the levees in a serious storm,” said Bush on Good Morning America.

Compassion: "Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house — he's lost his entire house — there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch," Bush said with a laugh from an airplane hangar in Mobile, Ala.

Praising employees: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," Bush said praising the FEMA head Michael Brown.

Providing good direction: in Biloxi, Miss., Bush tried to comfort two stunned women wandering their neighborhood clutching Hefty bags, looking in vain for something to salvage from the rubble of their home. He kept insisting they could find help at a Salvation Army center down the street, even after another bystander had informed him it had been destroyed.

Empathy: at the airport outside of New Orleans, Bush lauded the increasingly desperate city as a great town because he used go there and "enjoy myself — occasionally too much."

Sincerity: We really don't have time to play the political game right now," White House counselor Dan Bartlett said. (I wonder if that was said before or after Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld visited the affected areas for show)

It's in the DNA: Barbara Bush said today, referring to the
poor who had lost everything back home and evacuated, "This is working very well for them."

Returning favors: Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said the administration is "getting a bad rap" for the emergency response. "People have to understand this is a big, big problem." (He’s hoping people overlook his $50 million Alaskan bridge to nowhere)

You've got the brain of a four-year-old boy, and I bet he was glad to get rid of it.
Groucho Marx (1895 - 1977), comedian and film actor