I actually believe that Brown was in a no-win situation during Katrina. Chertoff was/is a hack, TSA was/is more concerned about its procedures than employing common sense, and the state and local first response was indeed pitifully incompetent. And Bush and Rove refused to fight back against Blanco and Nagin’s media finger pointing.
Agree. Brown became the scapegoat that made Bush look bad and the media ran with it. FEMA was not designed, nor did it function, to be the first responder agency prior to Katrina. The media attacked Brown to drag Bush down in the hysterical news coverage of Katrina. That was their first goal - attack Bush. By attacking FEMA and then the Corps of Engineers they also diverted analysis of the incompetent/corrupt local leadership (all Dem) in Louisiana as well as the failure of the welfare state to create citizens who could help themselves.