Saturday, April 22, 2006

Dean says Bush "cut and run" on Katrina

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Democratic Party chief Howard Dean said on Saturday the Bush administration had "cut and run" on Gulf Coast hurricane recovery and created a political legacy of deficits, divisiveness and deceit.

Dean, speaking at the Democratic National Committee's spring meeting, said November's congressional elections would be a choice between real change from Democrats or more of the same from Republicans. "There has been enough of fear, incompetence and corruption," Dean told DNC members. He said voters would judge President George W. Bush's administration and the Republicans on their slow response to Hurricane Katrina and failure to develop a suitable recovery plan.

"Republicans have cut and run when it comes to rebuilding the Gulf Coast, and we will not do that," he said. The Democrats chose New Orleans for their spring meeting in part to highlight the administration's heavily criticized handling of Katrina, which killed more than 1,300 people, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and shattered New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Dean said Democrats offered values based on community and opportunity and a more inclusive vision for the future. "I think Americans are tired of being lectured to by Republicans who have brought a culture of corruption, cronyism and incompetence to Washington," he said. "They offer a legacy of more of the same -- deficits, divisiveness and deceit."

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