Bush was warned about Katrina

The AP has just released video and an article proving that Bush's advisers were desperately concerned about potential damage from Hurricane Katrina, and that they warned him repeatedly:

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In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

The footage -- along with seven days of transcripts of briefings 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 expressed a confidence on Aug. 28 that starkly contrasted with the dire warnings his disaster chief and numerous federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.

It's a curious thing, this story, because even the AP calls Bush out on his earlier statements -- or more accurately, lies -- that no one could have predicted the disaster:

Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans. He later clarified, saying officials believed, wrongly, after the storm passed that the levees had survived. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility even before the storm -- and Bush was worried too.

Here's John at AmericaBlog's take on it:

George Bush is not competent enough to be president of the United States. If another September 11 is being planned right now, we are dead as a nation with this man in charge. It is seriously time that Republicans joined Democrats in figuring out what to do about this man, because he is putting all of our lives in danger.

I don't for a moment believe that this latest revelation alone is going to lead to Bush's impeachment. But considering all the heaps of damning evidence proving his deception and incompetence, as well as the polls showing a downhill spiral of approval among not only Republicans, but even the troops that he so often uses as political props, it seems more and more likely that it's lurking just a little ways down the pike.