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Fault Lines - Hillary Clinton says FEMA was more effective during Rodham-Clinton administration
Investor's Business Daily via Yahoo ^ | 9/09/05

Posted on 09/09/2005 10:21:38 AM PDT by Libloather

Fault Lines
Ibd
Thu Sep 8, 7:00 PM ET

Katrina: Hillary Clinton says FEMA was more effective when her husband was president. The victims of Hurricane Floyd might venture a different opinion, and it wasn't FEMA that kept supplies from the Superdome.

During a post-Katrina conference call with reporters, Sen. Clinton said, "Helping localities do what they needed to do to mitigate damage -- that philosophy governed FEMA during the Clinton administration. It obviously was rejected by this administration."

Does that mean Clinton's FEMA was the model of government efficiency and effectiveness? Or was it closer to the DMV and post office? Just ask the tens of thousands of people left stranded up and down the Eastern Seaboard by Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

"We're starting to move the trailers in," said then-FEMA director and current Hillary favorite James Lee Witt, nearly a month after Floyd first hit. "It's been so wet, it's been difficult to get things in there" -- an explanation that sounds familiar.

Witt was also a guest on Jesse Jackson's CNN show, "Both Sides Now," in Floyd's aftermath. Jackson complained then that "bridges are overwhelmed, levees are overwhelmed, whole towns underwater. ... (It's) an awesome scene of tragedy."

Gee, where have we heard that recently?

Many have called for the head of FEMA Director Mike Brown. But Bill Clinton's choice to be Southwest Regional FEMA director in 1993 was even less qualified, earning his job handling disaster recovery of a different sort.

Raymond "Buddy" Young, a former Arkansas state trooper, got his choice assignment after leading efforts to discredit other state troopers in the infamous Troopergate scandal. If a storm like Katrina struck the Big Easy back then, Young would've been in charge.

Former House Speaker Tip O'Neill used to say all politics is local. Forgotten in the Katrina disaster and its aftermath is that so is most law enforcement and disaster preparedness.

Why does Hillary think Houston's Astrodome was all set up to receive thousands of refugees? It was because Houston and Texas authorities planned for it to take thousands of refugees from Galveston, where a hurricane in 1900 killed 8,000 people.

Totally clueless about their duties were officials at Louisiana's -- not Washington's -- Homeland Security Department. They blocked a convoy of Red Cross trucks filled with water, food, blankets and hygiene items to the New Orleans Superdome after Katrina struck because it would have encouraged refugees to stay there.

The Red Cross Web site says: "The state Homeland Security Department had requested -- and continues to request -- that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane." The ARC was told its "presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."

On Aug. 27, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco was asked at a press conference what could be done to avert disaster. Her pathetic answer was, "We can pray hard that the intensity will weaken." That was Louisiana's disaster-recovery plan.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: administration; clinton; effective; fault; fema; fraud; hillary; katrinafacts; lines; more; rats; rodham
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The looting of New Orleans and the truth is worse than we thought...

1 posted on 09/09/2005 10:21:43 AM PDT by Libloather
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To: Libloather

What disaster on this scale could Hillary compare with to make her stupid statement?

I think they had more mild issues during their time.
Just a stupid pollitical statement by Ms. Thighmaster!


2 posted on 09/09/2005 10:23:46 AM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: A CA Guy

Refresh Hitllary's memory with the name of Craig Livingstone? Talk about incompetency!


3 posted on 09/09/2005 10:26:11 AM PDT by Mr. D (Here is the announcement of the (fraud) forum)
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To: Libloather

someone should muzzle her......what a whiner.......


4 posted on 09/09/2005 10:27:05 AM PDT by scottdeus12
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To: A CA Guy

Guess she could compare it to the destruction she did to the US vaccine industry.


5 posted on 09/09/2005 10:27:46 AM PDT by Proud_USA_Republican
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To: Libloather

What is going on here? Every single Democrat has "suggested" that Jamie Lee Watt be put over FEMA?

Is this some kind of power play?

BTW, won't the people of North Carolina be surprised to hear how "effective" FEMA was during Hurricane Floyd and Fran?


6 posted on 09/09/2005 10:28:14 AM PDT by Howlin (Have you check in on this thread: FYI: Hurricane Katrina Freeper SIGN IN Thread)
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To: Libloather

Did anyone expect anything different from this Marxist batch?? And where are her comments about the performance of the thug mayor and incompetent governor (both scumbag liberals, of course) of LA ???

Hmmm, Hitlery?? Your politics Hitlery, are totally transparent. And so is your desperation and sleazy chicanery...


7 posted on 09/09/2005 10:29:24 AM PDT by EagleUSA
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To: Libloather
She was also named after Sir Edmund Hillary.

(Did she ever find Louisiana on that globe?)

8 posted on 09/09/2005 10:30:39 AM PDT by Ed_in_NJ (Who killed Suzanne Coleman?)
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To: Libloather
Hillary is such a slimebucket!
She is relying totally on the certain ignorance of her constituency.

FEMA was totally restructured after 911.
Since she was in Congress, I assume she knew all about it.

What's that? I presume too much?
Yeah.

9 posted on 09/09/2005 10:31:01 AM PDT by Publius6961 (Liberal level playing field: If the Islamics win we are their slaves..if we win they are our equals.)
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To: Mr. D

Did she and Reno send Fema in after their debacle at Waco?

I don't get her stupid remarks at all. It seems to be she just had to say ANYTHING to get press.


10 posted on 09/09/2005 10:31:16 AM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: EagleUSA

PIAPS is a "Political Looter".........


11 posted on 09/09/2005 10:31:45 AM PDT by LaYardDog
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To: Libloather

Uhhhhh, Hillary. 1999?? Your personal pickee, James Witt, took over a month to get what was needed into Florida. My, my... how short the memories these days.


12 posted on 09/09/2005 10:32:34 AM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Libloather

"1999 Hurricane Swamped Clinton's FEMA"
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/9/7/134914.shtml

Democrats led by Sen. Hillary Clinton are blaming the Federal Emergency Management Agency for failing to respond adequately to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

But FEMA didn't do much better under much less taxing conditions, when the floods that followed Hurricane Floyd left tens of thousands stranded up and down the Eastern seaboard, wondering what happened to federal rescuers.

New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida were hit hard when Floyd slammed the coast on Sept. 16, 1999. It was the worst storm to hit the U.S. in 25 years - yet it killed only 61 people. That death toll expected to be dwarfed by Katrina.
Clinton FEMA Director James Lee Witt won high marks for hurricane preparation, but the flood that followed swamped his agency.

A full three weeks after the storm had passed, Rev. Jesse Jackson interviewed Witt on his CNN show "Both Sides Now" - and complained that flood victims were still suffering from a "misery index."

"It seemed there was preparation for Hurricane Floyd, but then came Flood Floyd," Jackson began. "Bridges are overwhelmed, levees are overwhelmed, whole town's under water . . . [it's] an awesome scene of tragedy. So there's a great misery index in North Carolina."

Witt explained that the storm's devastation was unparalleled, prompting Jackson to ask what was being done for the thousands of families left homeless by Floyd.

Though nearly a month had passed since the storm first hit, Witt said his agency was just beginning to address the problem.

"We're starting to move the camper trailers in," he explained. "It's been so wet it's been difficult to get things in there, but now it's going to be moving very quickly. And I think you're going to see a -- I think the people there will see a big difference over within this next weekend."

The Clinton FEMA Director came in for more criticism during another CNN interview - this time for failing to do a better job with Hurricane Floyd evacuation efforts.

"I hate to do this to you so early in the morning," host Carol Lin began apologetically.

"But I want to show you some video of Hurricane Floyd. This was the evacuation scene out of Florida last year. And you can recall, some three-million people in three different states were hitting the highways, jammed back-to-back trying to get away from the danger. And much of the local as well as the federal government was criticized for this backup. What is being done this year to prevent something like this from happening again, keeping people out of harm's way?"

Witt explained that evacuation problems were to be expected under such dire conditions. "It was very unusual when you had multiple states all evacuating at the same time," he told CNN. "It was the first time that that has happened that way and it did clog the highways."

While Witt's reputation remained largely intact after the Floyd fiasco, more than a few of the storm's thousands of flood victims complained that the agency had failed them.

"I had heard FEMA was going to be downtown, so I got up early to get down there and get in line," one North Carolina woman told the Associated Press, recounting her ordeal months after Floyd had passed. "The time came and nobody was there, just all these people waiting in line."

FEMA's sorry performance left her overwrought.

"I had been let down so many times, I just lost it," the flood victim said. "A friend of mine came walking up, and I just started toward her. She said, 'Robin, what in the world is wrong?' I was just standing there in the middle of the street crying, totally disoriented, practically hysterical."

Weeks after Floyd's floodwaters subsided, the suffering for many had yet to be addressed.

"We passed hundreds of families sitting outside their now-uninhabitable homes, with their water-soaked possessions spread out on their lawns," the Raleigh's News & Observer noted on Oct. 3, 1999.

"Desperately picking through the mess for anything to salvage, most people - particularly the elderly - seemed to be in a state of shock."

And where was FEMA?

"The larger towns had a visible FEMA and Red Cross presence," the paper said. "But in smaller towns it looked like utter confusion and despair - no one in charge, no one knowing what to do or where to go for help."

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/9/7/134914.shtml


13 posted on 09/09/2005 10:33:21 AM PDT by silverleaf (Fasten your seat belts- it's going to be a BUMPY ride.)
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To: A CA Guy

Also, FEMA under the Clintons was a different animal, an agency unto itself. Today it has a higher level of beauracracy to report to, Homeland Security. Comparisons between then and now make no sense.


14 posted on 09/09/2005 10:34:31 AM PDT by Roccus (Able Danger? What's an Able Danger?)
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To: Libloather

Interesting, Femma-Nazi attacks FEMA.


15 posted on 09/09/2005 10:39:49 AM PDT by hflynn ( Soros wouldn't make any sense even if he spelled his name backwards)
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To: Roccus

Yes, and Hillary voted to put it under Homeland Security herself. DING DING DING


16 posted on 09/09/2005 10:39:49 AM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: Libloather

Haven't these kids suffered enough?


17 posted on 09/09/2005 10:41:17 AM PDT by NotSoFreeStater
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To: NotSoFreeStater

Osama also faired better under the Clinton administration.


18 posted on 09/09/2005 10:47:12 AM PDT by Lets Roll NOW
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To: Libloather
Hillary Clinton says FEMA was more effective when her husband was president. The victims of Hurricane Floyd might venture a different opinion, and it wasn't FEMA that kept supplies from the Superdome.

Many have called for the head of FEMA Director Mike Brown. But Bill Clinton's choice to be Southwest Regional FEMA director in 1993 was even less qualified, earning his job handling disaster recovery of a different sort.

Raymond "Buddy" Young, a former Arkansas state trooper, got his choice assignment after leading efforts to discredit other state troopers in the infamous Troopergate scandal. If a storm like Katrina struck the Big Easy back then, Young would've been in charge.

Hmm...Godd 'ol Buddy Young....the one who publicly "Questioned the health" of State Troopers that were talking about X-42 Krintong's peccodillos! Yeah, Buddy was EMINENTLY qualified to be a FEMA manager!

Raymond Lloyd "Buddy" Young was appointed Director, Region VI by President Clinton in 1993. As Regional Director, he coordinated FEMA mitigation, preparedness and disaster response and recovery activities in: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. In 1997, he served as Acting Deputy Director for the agency.

(note: I guess that the Louisiana "preparedness" wasn't such a feather in Buddy's cap, now was it?)

Mr. Young is a veteran of 26 years of service for the Arkansas State Police. He joined FEMA after serving as director of security for then-Governor Bill Clinton, a post he had held since 1983. During the 1992 presidential campaign, Mr. Young coordinated state security matters for the governor's office, working with federal law officers responsible for protecting presidential candidates. As Director of Security for the Office of the Governor, Mr. Young formed a close professional relationship with President Clinton and FEMA Director James Lee Witt, serving as a vital link to the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services and the state's emergency management community.

(Note: Yup, no cronyism or corruption there...nothing to see Mrxiststream Media...move along!)

Earlier in his career, Mr. Young served in the Highway Patrol and Criminal Investigation Division of the Arkansas State Police, where he was Commander of the Organized Crime Unit.

(Note: I'm sure that "organized crime" was REAL scared of these clowns...hell, X-42 was up to his EYEBALLS in Mafia "relatives" (I still believe his real daddy was one of the Mafia Capos that used to hide out in Little Rock when the heat got too hot!) and "friends of Bill!)

A native of Dardanelle, Arkansas, Mr. Young holds a Certificate in Public Administration from the University of Arkansas and has trained in police work at various federal and state law enforcement academies. He is a graduate of the National FBI Academy, Quantico, VA, and a graduate of the Keeler Polygraph Institute, Chicago, IL. He is active in local civic work and has served on the advisory board of the Capital City Business College Security and Law Enforcement School. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the School of Public Administration and Emergency Management at the University of North Texas. From 1965 to 1971, he served as a member of the Arkansas National Guard.

YUP! I guess ol X-42 could REALLY pic 'em!

19 posted on 09/09/2005 10:48:07 AM PDT by Itzlzha ("The avalanche has already started...it is too late for the pebbles to vote")
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To: Libloather
"Hillary Clinton says FornicatingEverydayMonica'sAround was more effective when her husband was president."
20 posted on 09/09/2005 10:52:28 AM PDT by SeaBiscuit (God Bless all who defend America and Friends, the rest can go to hell.)
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