Two headlines at the NY Times:
Former FEMA Chief Blames Local Officials for Failures
Leader of New Orleans Police Resigns
A partial transcript of Brown’s testimony can be found here. It is hard to decide on the high point or the low point, but I think I will settle on the exchange in which Brown was taken to task for not providing enough ice so that hamburger meat won’t spoil or so that bodies would not rot.
Blanco testifies tomorrow.
yet another jeff
Is that exchange the high point or the low point? I think it might be both.
Lines
At least the Arabian horses didn’t suffer.
ppGaz
The thing is a circus.
The Circus News covers it. We report, you deride.
Another Jeff
Ya know, I’ve said before that I supported hearings because i feel all three levels of gov’t screwed the pooch during Katrina.
but, seeing as how New Orleans and most of the rest of the Gulf is still FUBAR, and a lot of the people who have testimony that might be useful are still down there actually helping and really don’t have time to go to Washington and sit in front of a bunch of grandstanding congress-critters, couldn’t they have waited a bit to hold these hearings?
That being said, I thought Brownie did a heck of a job. (Wow, left-wing humor is fun sometimes, theraputic even.)
TallDave
Honestly? I thought the Plame Game was more fun than the Blame Game.
Frank
I see so John thinks it is too early to start blaming people until someone employed by the administration kicks off the blame game, nice.
rilkefan
Umm, are you in the pro salmonella/rotting-body camp?
John Cole
I am in the pro-nonperishable foods category.
And if you think people were using FEMA ice to keep bodies from rotting, well, I got a bridge to sell you.
Frank- Hunh? Seems to me hearings are the place people are supposed to be blaming people. Not a day into the tragedy when no one knows well, anything.
Krista
Didn’t the mothers of all these people ever tell them not to point?
Narvy
I heard a fragment of Brown’s testimony on NPR today. He became angry and defensive (not that he didn’t have cause), but the Reader’s Digest version of what he said is Yes, his job was to coordinate the evacuation, and he called Nagin and Blanco, and what more was he expected to do? He’s not a super-hero. (He really said that.)
Sorry if everybody already already knows this from the transcript, which I haven’t looked at yet, but I thought it was worth posting.
Narvy
And all the clowns wear business suits. I can hardly wait for the performing Arabian horses.
jg
He’s just repeating the same blame everyone else talking points that have been sown in the blogosphere the past 4 weeeks. Rovacity at work.
Narvy
jg —
Yes, but the whining and complete lack of understanding that maybe action is required in additon to phone calls are what caught my attention. Heckuva job, Brownie, especially considering you’re not a super hero.
Jack Lindahl
My summary of Brown’s testimony:
Democratic governor – bad.
Republican governor – good.
(And he is whisked off stage right to collect his next FEMA paycheck.)
The Comish (sic)
John Cole:
I won’t hold my breath on my opinion getting too much traction around here, but I’m kind of inclined to blame the hurricane.
Yes, some things were screwed up (at all levels) and some things could have been done better (at all levels), but we’re dealing with a natural disaster that covered an area the size of Great Britain. I personally don’t expect the government to be able to provide personal pick-up service before a disaster, and pillows and blankeys and comforting backrubs to all its citizens after a disaster, over an area that large. Nor do I expect them to be anything other than human in their response.
If a hurricane/earthquake/tsunami/tornado hits your town (along with 3 other states), then you’re going to have to deal with some hardship. People are going to die. Stores and restaraunts aren’t going to be open. Telephones won’t work. The police, firefighters, and ambulance drivers are probably going to be too busy with other things — like pulling their own homes and families out from under rubble — to come to your aid. It’s going to suck.
But guess what? That’s life. Sometimes, Mother Nature throws you a bitchslap. And that’s not the government’s fault.
I’m saying this as someone whose family lives up and down the Gulf Coast, in all 4 of those states, and almost all of them are very poor. Life sucks sometimes, and bad stuff happens. It’s not the government’s job to fix everything in our lives. And when things go wrong, blaming the government’s response for our misfortune is ridiculous.
jobiuspublius
I heard a clip where Drownie says his mistake was in not doing a better job informing the media. ……
CaseyL
But I thought Brown was extra special proud of his ability to make phone calls!
This “everyone to blame” excuse-making is just ridiculous.
The man’s job was Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response.
Not “Assistant to Whoever is Really Supposed to Do That.”
Not “Telephone Operator in Charge of Making Conference Calls.”
He was the “Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response.”
Aren’t there some specific skills and responsibilities associated with that job title? Like, oh, actually knowing how to prepare for emergencies and responses to emergencies?
Ya think?
Geek, Esq.
Brown perjured himself in front of Congress. He’s now a criminal, in addition to being an incompetent crony.
Sworn testimony before Congress.
Liar, liar, LIAR!!!!!!!
Did I mention that Brownie is a pathological LIAR?
Get that fucking pig a jail cell already.
DougJ
I just want to check with everyone: *now* it is okay to play the blame game? Is that right?
Narvy
You’re right (which is shorthand for I agree with your untestable hypothesis). But everything depends on the public’s perception. If FEMA had swung into action, or at least put on appearance of acting quickly and decisively, Brownie would be crushed under the weight of the rose petals that would shower upon him. But what we saw was a laggardly bureacracy with its thumb in its mouth making phone calls with its free hand. This does not play well. It’s likely that had FEMA jumped on it the damage would have been the same, but the public would be talking about how even our terrific disaster relief people were just overwhelmed by a storm beyond anyone’s capacity to mitigate.
Oh, and Geek, don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel.
Narvy
Nope. Bush doesn’t believe in doing that.
rayabacus
Hear! Hear! I am in complete agreement. Not only that but I don’t think you can have a hearing to determine what went right and what went wrong until the task is complete. If all the committee is concerned about is the timeline from just before the hurricane up to the evacuees being removed from the Dome and Civic Center then I suppose this is OK. Just rather short sighted.
Wait until the operation is over and people are available, then do an extensive forensic analysis of everything
Defense Guy
Yes, now is the time. I spun a 6… and landed on a freakin chute. Oh well, back to the beginning.
Well at least no one panicked, our leaders on all levels kept calm heads and showed leadership and the press gave us inspiring tales of hope and heroism. Oh wait, that was another thing, farther north in a bigger city.
Birkel
I thought the high point was when Brown stated he had trouble coordinating with state officials because the person formerly in the post (who would’ve handled the state’s end) was under indictment.
Charges of corruption or some such.
Dave
Geek, not purgery.
Brown confused the request for aid from the damage due to the earlier tropical storm Charley(?) with that of Katrina.
Not purgery, just plain old stupidity.
BillS
Yes, that should put the hearings sometime in 2015.
Perfect timing for the “run-out-the-clock” Rove stategy.
Lines
Brown should have just stayed out of it, taken his licks in the public forum, nodded his head and gently wept for the destruction of his political future and been able to go home. Now he has to worry about federal prison time.
He can keep Delay company, at least.
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
I’ll ask again: Does anyone still want these people — the Govt. at all levels — to run the Health Care system of this country?
Oh, and didn’t Brown handle dozens of disasters during his tenure at FEMA? Not that I’m defending him, because FEMA has NO right to exist in the first place.
DougJ
They already do.
Jack Lindahl
“Does anyone still want these people—the Govt. at all levels—to run the Health Care system of this country?”
I’ll tell you, if it ever comes to that, I sure don’t want to see a horse trainer’s lawyer running it.