April 29, 2007, Protecting Us from Foreign Threats...
That would be the Bush Administration's protecting us from foreign threats of aid, offered after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to this account from WaPo.
The offered aid appears in the range of just under a billion dollars; total Katrina clean-up and recovery is at $125 billion and counting, and quite frankly, much remains to be done. It's not as if the foreign aid could have completely alleviated suffering of Americans-- but it sure as hell could have helped alleviate some of it, especially if the Bush Administration permitted its timely delivery. But, of course, there are people in this country whose suffering is just a tad less important than the suffering of others. Better that the foreign nations "be thanked" for their concern, while their actual physical and monetary aid be kept from those who might need it, lest they realize that their own government wasn't able to provide assistance on its own.
Note the article's use of the term "echo chamber" by Karen Hughes:
As the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina were receding, presidential confidante Karen Hughes sent a cable from her State Department office to U.S. ambassadors worldwide.Titled "Echo-Chamber Message" -- a public relations term for talking points designed to be repeated again and again -- the Sept. 7, 2005, directive was unmistakable: Assure the scores of countries that had pledged or donated aid at the height of the disaster that their largesse had provided Americans "practical help and moral support" and "highlight the concrete benefits hurricane victims are receiving."
In other words, even Karen Hughes calls the echo chamber technique (mastered by the right wing after years and billions of dollars in research demonstrating that just having enough government officials repeat things consistently in the media would get people in general to believe things, whether true or not) by its name.
In this case, the Bush Administration preferred the illusion that the United States did not need the aid offered in some cases by key allies... as with Iraq, death [of ordinary Americans] before dishonor [of George W. Bush, personally].
The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. This does, of course, also apply to any observation whatsoever of the operation of the Bush Administration, in any category.