
The Former First Lady
Barbara
Bush Calls Evacuees
Better Off
By
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published:
September 7, 2005
WASHINGTON,
September 6 - As President Bush battled
criticism over
the response to Hurricane Katrina, his
mother declared it a success for evacuees who "were underprivileged
anyway," saying on Monday that many of the poor people
she had seen while touring a Houston relocation site were
faring better than before the storm hit.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all
want to stay in Texas," Barbara Bush said in an
interview on Monday with the radio program "Marketplace."
"Everyone is so overwhelmed by
the hospitality."
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know,
were underprivileged anyway," she said, "so
this is working very well for them."
Mrs. Bush toured the Astrodome complex with her husband, former
President George Bush, as part of an administration campaign
throughout the Gulf Coast region to counter criticism of the
response to the storm. Former President Bush and former President
Bill Clinton are helping raise money for the rebuilding effort.
White House officials did not respond on Mrs. Bush's remarks.