First up, the NY Times, discussing the problems between federal and state coordination:
While combat troops can conduct relief missions without the legal authority of the Insurrection Act, Pentagon and military officials say that no active-duty forces could have been sent into the chaos of New Orleans on Wednesday or Thursday without confronting law-and-order challenges.
But just as important to the administration were worries about the message that would have been sent by a president ousting a Southern governor of another party from command of her National Guard, according to administration, Pentagon and Justice Department officials.
“Can you imagine how it would have been perceived if a president of the United States of one party had pre-emptively taken from the female governor of another party the command and control of her forces, unless the security situation made it completely clear that she was unable to effectively execute her command authority and that lawlessness was the inevitable result?” asked one senior administration official, who spoke anonymously because the talks were confidential.
Officials in Louisiana agree that the governor would not have given up control over National Guard troops in her state as would have been required to send large numbers of active-duty soldiers into the area. But they also say they were desperate and would have welcomed assistance by active-duty soldiers.
“I need everything you have got,” Ms. Blanco said she told Mr. Bush last Monday, after the storm hit.
In an interview, she acknowledged that she did not specify what sorts of soldiers. “Nobody told me that I had to request that,” Ms. Blanco said. “I thought that I had requested everything they had. We were living in a war zone by then.”
I simply find it hard to believe that these sorts of legal issues have not been resolved post 9/11. Maybe they will be now. In addition, the WaPo has another piece about the backgrounds of top FEMA officials:
Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters and now lead an agency whose ranks of seasoned crisis managers have thinned dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
FEMA’s top three leaders — Director Michael D. Brown, Chief of Staff Patrick J. Rhode and Deputy Chief of Staff Brooks D. Altshuler — arrived with ties to President Bush’s 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation, according to the agency. Two other senior operational jobs are filled by a former Republican lieutenant governor of Nebraska and a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official who was once a political operative.
Meanwhile, veterans such as U.S. hurricane specialist Eric Tolbert and World Trade Center disaster managers Laurence W. Zensinger and Bruce P. Baughman — who led FEMA’s offices of response, recovery and preparedness, respectively — have left since 2003, taking jobs as consultants or state emergency managers, according to current and former officials.
Because of the turnover, three of the five FEMA chiefs for natural-disaster-related operations and nine of 10 regional directors are working in an acting capacity, agency officials said.
Discuss.
More here from a different angle. And just bonus points for Andrew Sullivan’s brass balls for claiming Instapundit misquoted Blanco. I like Sully and have defended him in the past, but it would be a full-time job counting all the things he has just gotten wrong or quotes he has taken out of context this week .
gratefulcub
I am not trying to ‘flame’ or bash. I am really asking a question.
Perceived? Are they admitting that politics played a role in their decision making? The rest of the article makes it sound as if they are saying that, even though it is ‘off the record’ so there is deniability if it plays wrong in the media.
They sound as if they managed the situation with politics in mind, and now don’t want anyone to play politics.
I realize that there could have been a political backlash from the left if they came in like cowboys gettin’ shit done. But, should they have actually cared about politics when lives needed saving?
Vladi G
You missed NYT’s take on the backgrounds of top FEMA officials:
Zing!
Vladi G
Sorry. Link to the editorial.
gratefulcub
When the levee broke, who didn’t know that the governor of LA was in over her head?
TallDave
When the levee broke, who didn’t know that the governor of LA was in over her head?
The governor of LA, apparently.
TallDave
Perceived? Are they admitting that politics played a role in their decision making?
My God! Politicians make decisions based on political realities?
I am shocked and disillusioned.
Frank
Ah the “no controlling legal authority” defence. Well it might work for them, seems like about 38% of the country would support Bush if he kept a baby from getting water until it died on national TV.
Trent
When the levee broke, who didn’t know that the PResident was in over his head?
I can’t believe i’m saying this, but i was relieved to see Cheney surveying New Orleans yesterday.
Of course i know that there are dollar signs in his Halliburton lovin’ eyes, but at least he’s competent.
gratefulcub
When catastrophe strikes, I expect politics to be put aside in decision making. I don’t think that is too much to ask. I expect them to do everything possible to deal with the situation, if it costs them politically, they shouldn’t care.
“I need everything you’ve got.” That sounds like asking for help. But, that is beside the point. The federal government has to know that the governor is overwhelmed at that point. Bush had to know, Brown had to know, Chertoff had to know, Cheney had to know. Regardless of the political fallout, or the fact that Blanco thought she should be in charge, they have to step in.
Demdude
The sad thing was out of all of the elected public officials involved in New Orleans, there was not one leader among them
Nagin was unable to make a difference in the city. Blanco, agreed, so over her head and unable to admit it and get the hell out of the way. Bush was unwilling to step it when all the others failed.
When 9/11 occurred, it made people’s careers because of leadership during the crisis. The only one coming out positive from this that I can see is a General.
When you back at the previous Presidents this country has had, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, etc.., they all took tough stands as president. Not all were effective, but they were not afraid to act when the country needed them.
It shows how low we have gone that this is the best we can do.
Jack Lindahl
Cheney? Competent? Please. His hands are all over the conduct of the Iraq misadventure. Save us from more of that kind of competence!
Concerning the various elected officials … it’s hard for me to imagine how they could sit around and argue about legal authority while people were suffering and dying. Could none of them have said “Damn the law. We’re going in now! Let them sue me later!”
But I guess that would have taken a little courage. Oh well.
gratefulcub
I don’t believe they had to break the law.
Trent
Ok, maybe i should say, he looked like he was in control. I don’t know. He just looked a hell of a lot better than Bush did. He definitely didn’t have the deer-in-the-headlights that Bush did.
Then again, they can let Cheney walk around outside the confines of a strictly controlled photo op.
capelza
I have been asking muself how I would have reacted if Bush just came in and took over (which he could, I believe). How would I, as a Bush non-admirer (I don’t hate him, I just think he,s an idiot) respond? Possibly I would be pissed.
But you know what? The fact that he put MY THOUGHTS (as representing those who would possibly castigate him) ahead of the desperate need of these poor people tells me that leadership is not the deciding factor, but politics. I like to think I would have respected him more if he had the big balls folks like to think he has and just done it, rather than dither worrying about “but what will the opposistion say?”.
slide
I’ve been harping on the backgrounds of the political hacks appointed to FEMA for days now. It will be a very important issue when we get into the “investigation” phase of this. It is unconscionable that the whole top manangement of FEMA was staffed with likes of Brown and company. It shows a complete disdain for the important role FEMA should play after a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
policy decisons have consequences. Putting these bozo’s in charge of an agency responsible for dealing with Disasters tells me what Bush’s priorities are – he cares more about rewarding his loyal political pals than protecting the rest of us. And that he did this AFTER 911… when we are often told of the certainty of a terrorist attack, is almost criminal.
And can anyone really say with a straight face that having so many non-qualified people at the top of FEMA.. and having cut FEMA’s budget… and having taken it out of cabinet level status… has not impacted on the job they were able to do with Katrina? How many lives would have been saved if all of the above had not happened. I guess we will never know for sure.
Policy decisions have CONSEQUENCES. A common refrain from me but I will keep repeating it. The decisions this President has made time and time again benneift the very rich and powerful to the detriment of everyone else. Can’t fund the levee project the way the Army Corp of Engineers requests? But have plenty of money for a bridge to an islsand populated by 50 people. A decision. Not enough money to give to fund flood programs requested by louisiana? But plenty of money to do away with the 20 billion dollar a year inheritance tax so that 1% of our population can get even richer. Paris Hilton? 500,000 poor in NO? Policy decsions.
Wake up america. Wake up
Blue Neponset
I really don’t think the ‘blame the locals’ defense is going to work for the President. ‘Politics’ isn’t a very good answer to those asking why the President stood by and did nothing while state and local politicians made decisions that contributed to the deaths of thousands of people.
I was surprised that I reacted the same way. I can’t stand Cheney but at least he has the ability to get things accomplished.
gratefulcub
Whatever happened to ‘I don’t look at polls. I don’t make decisions based on polls. I make decisions based on what is right and wrong.’ BS?
I hear you. But, realistically I would have to think that the city and the people that I love and represent are underwater. I can let the leader of the most powerful nation in the world use all of the resources of the country, or I can try to do it with my national guard. I would like to believe that I would be easy to convince, and if I refused, I should be pushed aside. As president, I would like to think I wouldn’t then ask, ‘but how will that play?’ And I expect our president, from either party, to not worry about the politics in a situation like this.
Narvy
Maybe not:
I recommend reading the entire article.
.
MattD
First of all, if we’re talking about perception, then the perception now is that the President was unable or unwilling to motivate to do anything for three days, so I guess that backfired. Secondly, and I may be biased here (from NYC), but I just have a hard time seeing Rudy Giuliani paralyzed during a crisis because he’s busy worrying about how he might be perceived. One of the things I (maybe used to) like most about Bush (and that many of the inmates here can’t stand about him) is that he doesn’t wait around to make sure people’s feelings aren’t hurt before doing what he thinks is right. It’s called conviction, and it’s what leaders are supposed to have. If swift action to help the Katrina victims was held up by perception, then leadership failed. Finally, the Cheney bashing is so trite (yawn).
slide
Maybe America is slowly awakening:
This is a test for TRUE conservatives. Like when Watergate stained the Nixon presidency, it was the fact that Republicans turned against him that made the difference. Wonder of the “true cultists” will ever go against Bush? Or is their lust for power just too strong?
slide
The “perceptions” game isn’t over. Its NEVER about what is the right thing to do… its ALWAYS about image and poltics with this bunch:
.
Andrei
I’m not sure what’s more offensive, politicians worrying about perception instead of action in moments of crisis or people like TallDave who seem to imply it’s ok when politicians act like that in moments of crisis.
Narvy
Apparently there is one federal body that is not motivated by politics, is not ineptly managed, and actually behaves not only competently but heroically. From NPR (the audio is up):
slide
Every disaster is an OPPORTUNITY:
.
You know Allbaugh… Joe Allbaugh, the first incompetent Bush put into FEMA.. the same Joe Allbaugh that is making money on the reconstruction in Iraq… he NOW has a lot of experience with disasters as he is making money hand over fist with Bush’s twin disasters of Iraq and Katrina.
I hate these fuckers.
shark
I’m glad that in this post 9/11 world, the NYTimes, doing it’s duty to “speak truth to power” and watch out for us, is now jumping on this important story about the qualifications of FEMA personnell……….NOW.
If this was such a major scoop, why weren’t they hollering about this long ago?
Just asking is all….
shark
Well it might work for them, seems like about 38% of the country would support Bush if he kept a baby from getting water until it died on national TV.
Oh, you mean Gov. Blanco dehydrated that baby, since she told the REd Cross and Salvation Army to stay out…
kl
Ah, so you support the Patriot Act!
capelza
Thank you Narvy for pointing this out. The USCG is a wonderful organisation that has been rescuing folks for a very long time. I was proud to see them out there while seemingly everyone else had their thumbs up their collective rears. But that is what the CG does, they are first responders of the highest order and rarely ever get much credit except in the communities they serve.
Mike T
The reason it’s hard to believe is because it’s complete bullshit. Blanco was begging for help. Seriously, isn’t the lame excuse they’re offering up — that they let a crisis spiral out of control because they were worried about the public perception of a male Republican president usurping power from a female Democratic governor — isn’t that story worse than the far more likely scenario — that the political hacks running FEMA were in over their heads?
Of course it is. The WH is trying to excuse it’s behavior by saying it was less interested in getting food and water to starving Americans than it was in preventing some political fallout that really only existed in their heads. For them to even run that whopper up the flagpole tells me they’re still only interested in covering their asses.
DougJ
Don’t count on it. Remember, no one ever went bankrupt underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
gratefulcub
Twist the words harder.
Of course I don’t support the patriot act, or more accurately, I don’t support about 5% of it.
Just because a decision is made without thinking about political ramifications, doesn’t mean it is the right decision. But, no decision in the days after 9/11, or the days before and after Katrina should have been made with politics in mind. Not while lives needed to be saved.
farmgirl
kl: “Ah, so you support the Patriot Act!”
there’s a difference between politics and the Bill of Rights, last time I checked.
kl
You checked? Well then.
kl
No need, when they’re that saturated.
Frank
I said: Well it might work for them, seems like about 38% of the country would support Bush if he kept a baby from getting water until it died on national TV.
Shark said: Oh, you mean Gov. Blanco dehydrated that baby, since she told the REd Cross and Salvation Army to stay out…
Well that does seem to be the right wing talking point right now. It does represent a change in the story the Red Cross is telling though. You might want to check out who runs that organization. Unless you think it will spoil your Kool-aid buzz.
capelza
Brown has just been removed from the Katrina disaster and Vice Admiral Thad Allen (USCG) will be taking over relief efforts and operations. I don’t know if he is still head of FEMA..just heard it on the news.
gratefulcub
Kl,
Got a point to make, or just more one liners?
Trent
I think Bush is having his Britney Spears moment.
We all knew she was trashy, but we overlooked it because she was hot and had good songs and was fun to dance to.
And then it just became too much to overlook.
Narvy
Uh, shark, excuse me, but the NYT quote was about the local v. federal responsibility issue. The FEMA quote was from the Washington Post.
I have a problem with this kind of mistake, because it tends to set off screaming attacks on the erroneous target, which tend to become accepted fact, which propagates a false meme. There’s enough misinformation and ill-informed opinion out there to justify taking some care to avoid adding to it.
SeesThroughIt
That is one of the greatest truths ever spoken by man.
Also, I agree with the “true cultist” statements above. There’s definitely a segment of the population–and I agree that’s probably around 35 percent–that is absolutely married to Bush and will never, ever deviate from him. They will defend him to the bone, no matter how ludicrous. Hell, over at BlogsforBush (my favorite monkey house/cultist barometer), I saw one of the main writers say–with a completely straight face, mind you–that Bush is the only person who has done anything to help Katrina victims and that those damn dirty state and local Democrats should resign due to their failings but he doesn’t expect them to own up to their incompetence because they don’t have the integrity Bush has. Yeah. He said this without even a hint of satire–he actually believed it, word for word. This is not a guy who’s ever going to wake up, ya know?
slide
Governing is about setting priorities. In other words, what gets Federal money and what doesn’t. Lets look at Bush’s priorities.
Local levee and flood prevention officials, along with Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.), asked for $78 million in project funds. President Bush offered them less than half that — $30 million. Congress ended up authorizing $36.5 million. In other words we couldn’t come up with the additional $41.5 Million to protect the 500,000 citizens of New Orleans ($83.00 per person)
On what basis were the requests cut? There are only two I can think of 1) Bush doesn’t care about the citizens of New Orleans or 2) we don’t’ have enough money to fund such a project. Since nobody is going to admit to #1, we have to assume it’s a money issue. We are so strapped for money that we just can’t afford to spend the $41 Million
Ok but then why do we do this:
Bush signed the (bi-partisan) Transportation bill that contained $24 BILLION in 6,000 Special Projects. Pork. Favors to congressman. Largesse. Including my favorite one, $250 Million to build a bridge to an island with 50 people in Alaska. There are many such projects in the Transportation bill but this one is easy to quantify. Fifty citizens who will have increased convenience as a result of the spending of $500,000 per person.
REPEAT: HALF A FUCKING MILLION DOLLARS PER PERSON FOR INCREASED CONVENIENCE SPENT IN ALASKA BUT WE COULDN’T FIND THE CASH TO SPEND $83.00 PER PERSON FOR THE LIFE AND DEATH SAFETY OF THE CITIZENS NEW ORLEANS.
Priorities. Governing is about priorities.
kl
Doing both just fine, thanks.
Trent
I understand your anger. I’m frustrated with the media these past few years as well.
But your reaction makes me think of breaking up with a girlfriend who says, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Umm, i’m telling you now… If you want, i could wait another week.
Demdude
Brown removed from Katrina effort.
Replaced by Coast Guard Adm – MSNBC.COM
Vlad
“…seems like about 38% of the country would support Bush if he kept a baby from getting water until it died on national TV.”
You can lead a baby to water, but you can’t make it drink.
Trent
Good, i don’t want them to change their tune. Because at the end of this long PResidential ordeal, those people are going to be marginalized as they should be and will cease to matter.
Bush is costing a lot of his to-the-death supporters their credibility. I’ve always said, can you imagine how fucked we would be if he was halfway competent? He really WOULD get away with anything.
Their allegiance is going to tear down everything they’ve worked to build up.
Davebo
So Brown is still the Fed of FEMA.
Just no longer allowed to participate in
FEMA related activities?
demimondian
John, I don’t know the provenance of the Blanco quotation. If Reynolds was taking that particular quotation out of context — that is, if there isn’t some other source for it — then Sullivan is simply right. The reading of the quotation on the cited page is completely different from “I didn’t know I needed to ask”.
Davebo
Lt. Gen. Russel Honore should be appointed to replace Brown.
Krista
Honore should be appointed to replace Bush.
slide
demimondian I agree with you, dont’ quite know what John is getting at, seems like Sullivan just put the quote in a fuller context. Sullivan never said Instapundit MISQUOTED Blanco but he said this:
Now is John guilty of misquoting Sullivan who was misquoting Reynolds who was misquoting Blanco? Damn my head is spinning.
Andrei
John seems to be guilty of not reading what Sullivan wrote or not parsing it carefully enough, as Sullivan very clearely did not say Reynolds misquoted Blanco. Sullivan made a jab that Reynolds was being a bit more disingenuous by not providing the quote in its full context it appears.
John Cole
The context doesn’t matter really, and that isn’t what ‘dowdifying’ a quote is. Dowdifying a quote is when you Take a part of aquote out, so that the other parts of the quote are damning. IE:
I like giving ice cream to little girls
when dowdified, becomes:
I like… …little girls.
Andrei
So wait..
So when Reynolds quotes Blanco simply saying, “Nobody told me that I had to request that.”
When in fact the article from which Reynolds got the quote states, “In an interview, she acknowledged that she did not specify what sorts of soldiers. ‘Nobody told me that I had to request that,’ Ms. Blanco said. ‘I thought that I had requested everything they had. We were living in a war zone by then.'”
Those two things are equal? The context doesn’t matter…
Yeah… sure, whatever.
Why did Reynolds lop off the quote and not include everything Blanco said? How is Sullivan wrong on this point Cole?
Andrei
It seems clear to me that comparing two quotes:
“Nobody told me that I had to request that.”
versus:
“Nobody told me that I had to request that. I thought that I had requested everything they had. We were living in a war zone by then.”
Are two very different sentiments, comparable to the example Cole gives about liking little girls. The first one in the context of last week makes Blanco out to be ignorant and incompetent while the second shows that she thought she had done what was neccessary. (Even if she didn’t.)
rayabacus
slide,
Elections also have consequences. Even local and state elections. Look at the leadership the people of NOLA & LA put in office.
You know 2006 and 2008 are going to be interesting elections. The fringe elements of both parties, unfortunately, are going to control the debate. Mainstream America is going to decide the elections.
Trent
Dowdifying?
I thought it was called O’Reillifying?
Krista
Either way, it sounds creepy though, doesn’t it? :)
demimondian
John, you’re being disingenuous here. If the basis for Reynolds quote is the one that was published, then he (or his original source) changed the meaning of the comment completely. The governor had asked for “everything”…so it’s hard to imagine how she could have been asking for less than everything. (Not to mention, couldn’t the White House have, like, called her and *asked*?)
If the facts are as stated, Reynolds did dowdify.
TallDave
When catastrophe strikes, I expect politics to be put aside in decision making.
Ha!
SeesThroughIt
Oh my god! Our gracious host just admitted he likes little girls! Someone alert Bill O’Reilly, stat!
rayabacus
I would say that when she “thought” she had done what was necessary, when she didn’t – that would make her ignorant,i.e. bereft of the knowledge. The incompetence would be in not knowing she was ignorant.
John Cole
Nonsense. As a governor, you have specific duties. You don;t just say- SEND EVERYTHING, and then it is done. And the requests don;t go through the White House- they go to FEMA, whose job is to coordinate and supply.
Glenn didn’t dowdify anything. Blanco’s words speak for themselves, and even with the full quote, it doesn’t change my opinion of her actions.
Not to mention, to really dowdify something, you don;t provide the link. Dowd simply makes these selective edits, and never points to a source of the quotes or points out that other parts exist. Glenn highlighted one quopte, and directed you to the rest.
TallDave
I can’t believe people are really this naive. Decision-making is politics. That’s what policymaking is.
And we all know that Andrei and GratefulClub would have the first to scream if Bush have declared the atate authorities incompetent to handle the crisis and taken over against their will.
Kimmitt
That would require either leadership or interest in the welfare of the American people.
TallDave
Meanwhile, Glenn reported some good news:
far fewer bodies than expected or feared were found during the operation.
Andrei
Yes he did. There were two very different meanings in the quoted content.
At least you are admitting that what’s at play here is your opinion instead of fact, because the two quote are very different, even if that in being different they don’t change your personal opinion.
Stop attempting to move the goal posts.
TallDave
The quote is actually even more damning in context. She’s admitting she didn’t specify what she was requesting — and not only that, she expected to be told she had to specify it!
If Bush had screwed up that badly, there would be impeachment hearings.
Trent
This conversation belongs on the Daily Show’s “Great Moments in Punditry.”
Are we in a tree house?
Defense Guy
Reynolds, you can argue, cherry picked the sentence to meet his needs. To dowdify, he would have to lop words out of the middle of the sentence to change the meaning.
What can you expect from a man who blends puppies into a refreshing protein rich drink?
gratefulcub
TallDave,
My bad. You are correct, my expectations are too high. It is perfectly reasonable for a president to make a decision that could cause more deaths because to do otherwise would hurt his poll numbers.
And no Dave, I would not be the least bit upset if he had sent in marines on Wednesday with food and water. And even if I was that partisan, it shouldn’t matter. Save lives and piss off liberal partisan hacks. If it hurts you in the polls, so be it. I do expect that from a president. And you don’t have to tell me, I already know I have quite the idealist streak.
gratefulcub
Yes, I do know that most deaths were caused because of a hurricane, and they weren’t evacuated. A problem caused almost exclusively by the mayor and gov.
slide
John’s rationalizations get sillier by the day
scs
I feel like the NYT stole my line over the last few days. Finally I see in print what I’ve been guessing all along. All you people kill me. You see something in print in a reliable paper with facts and quotes and you pretend to know better without anything else to back it up. The NYT is detailing the conflict between local and Fed government, how its not clearly defined in the 2004 National Response Act, and you are acting like that isn’t true, and that the President should just override all constitutional legal considerations. He’s not dictator, he’s president. Okay, its arguable that he should have acted sooner. Fine. But this country shouldn’t be run on some cult of personality and the hope that some politician has some extra super leadership capabilites, because that’s a gamble and more often than not you’ll be disappointed. It should run on a good SYSTEM. We should iron out legally the responsibilites of local and Fed responsibilities so that this doesn’t happen again.
My personal opinion is that some of the most visible errors in N.O., to me on TV anyway, was the lack of evacuation plan, the lack of getting food and water to rescue areas, and the lack of National Guard in there earlier. Those are local and state affairs. Not getting the Feds in there earlier was a result of conflict with the State. I’m not talking about less visible errors like too much red-tape, etc, which I’m sure FEMA will have to answer for. As for the VISIBLE errors, let’s put the blame where the blame belongs, locally. State officials have the capacity to load up some trucks with some food and water in Baton Rouge and truck it down to the Convention Center. You don’t need Bush to get in a truck and do that himself.
In Florida, which gets hurricanes regularly, there has been praise for the response. That’s because the Governor, Jeb Bush, knew what he was doing. I guess he had lots of practice over there. So he didn’t NEED the Feds to bail him out. If you insist giving all the blame to the President for the response efforts, then forego the state system and give the Feds all the responsibility. That way they will have the power to go along with the blame.
Narvy
This keeps popping up on various threads. Would somebody please list all of the House members who would vote to approve articles of impeachment? And tally the number?
Wait. I know, it’s merely rhetoric. Okay, but rhetorical slogans are like fish. They don’t stay fresh for very long. Let’s retire this one, okay?
And I’m very glad to learn that small errors like not allowing the weapons inspectors to finish in Iraq, the “Mission accomplished” moment, allowing Rumsfeld to play the role of Brown, and [insert endless litany here] are not, even collectively, screw-ups that bad.
ppGaz
If only there were some Intelligent Design to it!
scs
Ha. Ha. Once again, I’m a science afficionado and I believe in evolution. Not relevant. But you’re right, a little intelligent design to the system would have been good.
ppGaz
What puzzles me is, they had the hurricane “Pam” simulation, the studies, the models, the years of advance warning ….. and this is the best they could do?
CNN had a story on their website a week before Katrina which pretty much described exactly what ended up happening, in detail!
The mind boggles ………
slide
Just an observation.
DEMOCRAT former FEMA director James Lee Witt:
REPUBLICAN former FEMA director Joseph Allbaugh:
Just an observation.
gratefulcub
Albaugh isn’t qualified to do that pro bono work, or I am sure he would have
tBone
scs, I’ve seen lots of people say that there is plenty of blame to go around on this; I have yet to see anyone say “ALL of the blame should go to the President!” I don’t think any reasonable person believes that – just like I don’t think any reasonable person believes that ALL of the blame should go to the state and locals.
demimondian
Aha. I didn’t realize that dowdification (gah, what an awful word) required radical surgery. In that case, I still think he distorted the meaning of request, but, as you say, he didn’t dowdify.
What other kind of man would shill for a president who eats babies, as even his supporters admit.
DougJ
I have a theory of intelligent design: I believe that a White House as incompetent as this one could not have evolved by chance and must have been guided by a higher power.
demimondian
DougJ — for extra credit, use “Blanco”, “Dowd”, and “Reynolds” in your trollery. And, while you’re at it, you should roll in New Orleans, Katrina, and “Brown”
jobiuspublius
Go easy on DougJ he’s still in recovery. We should take advantage of it before he looses his sense of humor. Carry on Sir DougJ.
jobiuspublius
IIRC, the States have a pact to help each other. What ever happened to that? Oh, FEMA. But, no, let’s not play the Blame Game, it’s all Blanco’s fault.
Narvy
Absolutely! There is no other explanation for Survival of the Unfittest.
Sojourner
Actually, his track record shows otherwise.
Sojourner
Since when do they care about the law? The reality is they didn’t really care about the hurricane disaster until it became a political disaster. How many actually returned from their vacations before the political shit hit?
Sojourner
What convictions might those be?
demimondian
Sojourner asks:
I don’t know — Cheney always managed to get them suppressed.
Narvy
conviction: n. unbudgeable adherence to an idea no matter how wrong-headed or out of touch with reality it might be. syn. narcissistic self-absorption.
scs
.Of course not TBone. Like I said in my post though, I think the most visible factors, the things that made people sit back from their TV sets and cringe, like no water at the convention center, was a state problem. They could have trucked the water down. It ain’t rocket science. But as I said, I’m sure Fema had many other red tape problems and screw ups and I’m sure they deserve a lot of blame for the general roughness of the response. My opinion is Fema needs better leadership, better middle management who can make decisions and a better IT department. They should learn from Wal-Mart, who has one of the best IT departments of any company.
DougL
MattD said:
I disagree with part of your definition of conviction as being about whether one is concerned about other people’s feelings being hurt. I think that’s maybe a bit imprecise. I would suggest that conviction is following through with a decision or course of action that one believes in AND proactively being willing to accept responsibility for the consequences — be it credit or blame — resulting from taking decisive action. Can we agree that that’s fair/reasonable?