And if you are feeling this way--a conservative activist on a conservative message board--just imagine how Joe Voter is feeling right about now.
This thing is going to torpedo Bush's presidency.
" I've been a big Bush supporter, but who are the nitwits he's hired to run FEMA?"
But don't forget...the Bush Administration created the Homeland Security dept which is over FEMA. Just another layer of government to screw up and they are screwing up BIG TIME!
Remember his second and third Kerry debate performances? That's the confidence and fire we need.
Being an avid reader of history, especially WW II history, one thing I have noticed about the US in times of war - the first months are full of general incompentancy and ineptitude. Why? Because we had many years of peace and those in the military are not the warriors we need or the warriors we need are of low rank yet their star and rank grows as the war goes on. Incompetants get demoted and shuffled out. Same thing with FEMA. They have not had to answer to something like this before and now they are in the crosshairs. People will be fired and more compentant people will take their place. Even though the s**t hits the fan in times of crisis, the cream rises to the top.
I've been a big Bush supporter, but who are the nitwits he's hired to run FEMA?
Can you give us YOUR PLAN so we can tell the NITWITS at FEMA what to do?
Relief should have begun locally, but it apparently didn't. They know the needs of their city better than the feds and our federal system of government has laws that enforces that division of power and responsibility. Law enforcement is a local and state function. I've not seen it operating at all in NO. Gangs broke into stores, took guns and used them against rescuers, whose actions had to be stopped. Just think how this entire crisis would have worked differently had local and state law enforcement done their job. Yes, they needed help from the National Guard, but they should have been doing their job until the NG got there. FEMA has a huge role to play, but local and state efforts should have gotten relief efforts started.
And the local government officials like the Mayor of NO and Governor of Louisiana are doing a bang-up job!
FEMA did alright last year in FL, but this is an incredible challenge. It should be done better, no doubt, but this is really unprecidented, and the situation has deteriorated from the first day. Monday, it was looking like a bad flood that would go away, be very expensive, and cost some lives. Now, it looks a like a massive catastrophy that not only is going to cost many more lives, but has developed into pure anarchy, and probably change the course of this city forever.
FEMA has challenges it could not have really imagined just four days ago. Yes, their execution HAS to be better, but the main problem is that the people on the ground...the local leaders that are in charge are absolutely worthless. The lawlessness is a result of limp-wristed governing.
That is preventing any progress now. Police are sent in to do something, and are kicked out by gangs....helicopters at a hospital are being shot at while trying to move the sick. Unless FEMA has bullet-proof vests, they are in a real challenging situation right now.
Anybody with an ounce of clarity can see that the admin looks awful in this. Clarity is in short supply on FR this week.
I keep having to give this civics lesson on most of these idiotic threads:
Louisiana is a sovereign state. It has an executive, the Governor. She's sort of the President down there.
The feds can't do a whole lot until the Governor of that state does what is legally necessary for the feds to act as they need to. For example, it is not legal for the federal government to use the Army in a law enforcement capacity - Posse Comitatus. It's a good law, and there for a reason.
The state can deputize the national guard as state police so that they can restore order.
For the record, Mississippi was hit harder by the storm and we aren't hearing much about that. Alabama lost Mobile and Biloxi. They've lost the bridges, refineries, ports, etc.
The reason is that the other two governors actually took advantages of ALL THE PREPARATIONS THAT THE FEDS set up prior to the storm hitting them.
All the docs that needed signing were signed. Alabama declared martial law about 15 minutes into the first night after the storm had passed. The governor had coordinated with FEMA to have supplies and manpower available and pre-staged toward the northern end of the state.
This thing is happening for one reason - Blanco. She should step down and let the adults handle this.
So apparently when then-Mayor Guiliani put words into action after 9/11, it wasn't a screw-up?
If there is any blame, it should be on the Governor of LA and the Mayor of NO for not going into action from the word "go". They both spent days dilly-dallying around.