The FEMA half of the plan was great. The state/local part is what didn't work. They just collapsed without ANY resistance after making many stupid decisions and filing the plan in the back of some dusty file cabinets, leaving FEMA wondering what the hell happened.
This is absolutely true and there's no excuse. Major municipalities all should be drilling their emergency/disaster plans on a regular basis, particularly after 9/11. But these folks couldn't even get out of the gate right.
Irresponsible prigs like Scarborough, who I read here is bashing Bush, make me ill. He, who has criticized Bush endlessly about spending in Washington, is now screaming about how the Federal Government was slow to respond? Does he have any idea at what it would cost for the Federal Government to become responsible for these local plans?