Michelle Malkin's Fit of Vapors

It's not often I disagree with the first lady of the blogospere but Michelle Malkins rantings concerning the firing of FEMA director Michael Brown couldn't be further of the mark. Her arguments:

-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.

Granted he made some ill advised statements that may actually be accurate but would be better left unsaid. Does she suggest that everyone in beltway who has done the same also be fired? That would leave Washington pretty much a ghost town.

I have yet to see Michelle or anyone for that matter actually point to a legitimate bonafide screw up by anyone in the Bush administration that adversely effected the NO operation. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but to date I have seen no one produce it.

It's human nature to asign blame whenever sonmething doesn't idealy go as it should. Sometime blame is warranted as it appears to be with both Nagin, Blanco and some other local authorities (for which evidence of bonafide screw ups do exist) sometimes it is not. If anyone needs to be fired it's several people in Bush's press and PR office. Their performance is dismal and has been for the better part of Bush's entire Presidency. That however, I'll leave for another day.

This sort of half cocked, knee jerk reactionism is usually reserved for the likes of the MSM and the Ted Kennedy wing of the Democrat party. To see it exhibited by the usual right thinking Michelle Malkin is both disturbing and perplexing. Conservatives are known for giving people (of either party) the benefit of the doubt. Why she has suddenly donned her cheerleading outfit and jumped on the blame Bush bandwagon has this humble blogster bewildered.

Assuming that Michelle isn't suffering from Arianna Huffington Syndrome, my advice to her and all clear thinking conservatives.....take a long deep breath and think with your brain not your adrenal glands. If anyone in the Bush administration is culpable for less than acceptable performance it will come out in due time and thoughtful appropriate action can be taken. Untill that time let's remain coherent and leave the hyper emotional breast beating to the crackpot left.

I don't see any big screwup on the part of the feds, either. Disaster planning has long been a 4-tiered process in this country. The feds are the 4th tier, and it does seem that they have brought the personnel and resources needed at this time, and that it came, for most, within the 3 to 14 day timeframe that the disaster managers have long advertized.

The state is the 3rd tier, and it does appear that the state failed to effectively plan for what has long been known to be a worst-case natural fiasco for the country. For two days after the storm all I heard from the governor was how overwhelmed she was--she also failed as a leader at a time when leadership was most needed.

The local government is the 2nd tier, and planning and leadership at this level, in New Orleans, failed even more than it did on the state level. I heard that today New Orleans police finally iced some armed hoodlums interfering with relief efforts. Such action needed to be taken on Wednesday when looting first started. Failure to ruthlessly control looting from the outset helped foster a widespread sense of hopelessness throughout the city.

The 1st tier of responsibility for disaster planning--that of the individual citizen--failed the most. First, these people have aided and abetted failed local and state governments by putting them into place. You get the leadership that you vote for--now deal with the consequences. Second, it seems that most of these people didn't do the most basic of preparations. We now hear that the Superdome had laid in a good supply of food and water before the storm--enough for about 20,000 people for three days. I know there were a lot more than 20,000 people, but why can't most folks survive on light rations for a few days? Because these people--the vast majority of them--have no principles. Listen to the stories of the foreigners who were trapped in the Dome--they claim up to 98% of the people inside were subhuman.

We can't afford a national disaster response program that eliminates the need for personal responsibility and accountability. Those persons not willing to do their part should be sacrificed for the greater good of the nation. I'm beginning to think that we screwed up by not allowing the Darwinian consequences of this disaster to fully manifest themselves.

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Malkin ping!