Decision Points, the book by former President George W. Bush comes out Tuesday, but the web has been abuzz with some of its poignant, eye-opening and frank revelations for a while now. In a taped interview with Matt Lauer that aired Monday and concludes tonight, the ex-President hits some of the high points of the book.
Bush said the widely published photograph of him peering through a window at the hurricane damage in 2005 make him look "detached and uncaring, no question about it," The Hill reported.
Bush was widely criticized for his administration's response to the hurricane's devastation in New Orleans, and critics said he was slow to see and respond to the damage on the Gulf Coast.
"In retrospect, however, I should have touched down in Baton Rouge, met with the governor and walked out and said, 'I hear you. We understand. And we're going to help the state and help the local governments with as much resources as needed,'" Bush said. "And then got back on a flight up to Washington. I did not do that. And paid a price for it."
Bush also says he was disgusted when hip-hop star Kanye West accused him of not caring about black people.
West made his statement on television shortly after the disaster as a means of criticizing the way Bush immediately handled the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.
"I didn't appreciate it then. I don't appreciate it now," Bush told NBC. "It's one thing to say, 'I don't appreciate the way he's handled his business.' It's another thing to say, 'This man's a racist.' I resent it. It's not true. And it was one of the most disgusting moments in my presidency."
