Posted on 09/04/2005 8:38:30 AM PDT by wildwood
MEMO TO BUSH: FIRE MICHAEL BROWN
By Michelle Malkin · September 04, 2005 08:17 AM During his visit to Mobile, Ala., on Friday, President Bush singled out Michael D. Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for praise:
"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Really? "Brownie's" job is to direct the federal response to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Let's review his public statements during the past week:
- He admitted that he didn't act more aggressively because as late as last Sunday he expected Katrina to be a "standard hurricane" even though the National Weather Service in New Orleans was already predicting "human suffering incredible by modern standards."
- He proved himself utterly clueless about the disaster unfolding in New Orleans. He claimed that the federal relief effort was "going relatively well" and that the security situation in New Orleans was "pretty darn good."
- He blamed the flood victims in New Orleans for failing to evacuate on time, even though local authorities failed to make municipal vehicles available to residents who could not drive or did not own their own cars.
READ MORE!!
(Excerpt) Read more at michellemalkin.com ...
PD, want to comment on this thread, please?
Make "I'm certain" "I'm not certain" and my comment makes a little more sense.
i don't agree with you. this guys seems to me to lack the ability required to make efforts like this work. time and leadership are important in evacuation, but also essential long term in the rebuilding efforts. look at norm mineta...shoulda been fired long ago.
And reason enough to look for new management of the nations polictical systems that allow/reward our criminal subculture.
The only legitimate hurricane plan for a city that lies below sea level and is surrounded by water is: everyone get the hell out!
Everything else is t**s on a boar. So the question is, who should be ultimately responsible for getting the people out (at least those unable to move themselves)?
Unfortunately she is wrong. She is not competant to make the request she made.
She would have done better to keep silent.
You're absolutely right, and we have to make sure the truth on that gets out. The media sure as hell won't do it for us. But right now, the thing that FEMA needs do is keep soldiering on getting the relief out to the folks who need it. They sure as hell don't need to get dragged into the political war that will surely erupt if Bush fires Michael Brown.
Brown showed up on television claiming that FEMA was taking care of the people in the Convention Center while thousands of people were shoved in like so much cordwood.
Brown claimed in subsequent interviews that they didn't "bring the right equipment" because the locals didn't tell them what to bring -- and while this points back at Nagin and Blanco, this does not exonerate Brown. His agency should know the basic equipment to bring.
Chertoff's agency is supposed to coordinate what's what in a disaster; his agency should have been in touch with locals in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama even before landfall in order to begin to marshal resources. DHS didn't.
Had this been a terrorist-driven disaster, DHS still wouldn't have been able to handle themselves.
As I said, there is plenty of blame to go around.
The locals didn't even look at their own disaster manuals and resources.
Blanco looks like she's been sitting on the couch eating cookie dough ice cream with her deer-in-headlights face. Give her a remote control and that picture would be complete.
BUMP
Abject negligence and leadership failure on the part of Louisiana and New Orleans officials. President Bush had to practically force Blanco and the mayor to act. By the time they did, it was too little, too late. Now they're attempting to play CYA by deflecting blame back on the President.
Also, in our (FL's) case I seem to remember FEMA worked through the City/State officials, which makes me wonder when you have the collapse of the local government (NO), how long does it take to actually figure that out, what do you do in that case and how long does it take to happen?
According to the OFFICIAL PLAN posted on the State of Louisiana website (unless they've taken it off--not impossible), the MAYOR was responsible for moving people out of the city. Not that everyone would have wanted to go (some wanted to protect homes from looters; others wanted to loot), and some couldn't, because they were expected to stay and help with the aftermath, emergency responders etc.
Hardly. No where in my post did I indicate any such thing. I'm pretty certain that I understand the difficulties involved in the relief effort (background in military logistics), have never said this was going to be quick or easy, and I don't think I have ever used the term "quagmire".
I merely point out that as the situation unfolds, even Bush supporters must not have blinders on when it comes to problems at the federal level.
This does not excuse incompetence at the state and local levels, nor does it imply any impatience at the pace of the recovery/rescue effort.
Absolutely! One of the worst WH spokesmen I have ever seen. ZERO SPINE and ZERO originality.
I agree with you, and I will bet that Michael Brown will end up resigning over this.
But just not right now - the timing is completely wrong.
Just shows you how incompetant the NO govt. was.
I'm sorry but this is not a case where lemonade can be made out of lemons, since the lemons in the NO and LA govt were rotten to begin with, but of course to michelle malkin that is Bush's fault.
Sounds like one of those statements that could mean more than one thing. Maybe it means something like "for now I'll help you save face."
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