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You can't blame this on "paperwork" - any necessary documentation could be handled in good time, as circumstances permitted. All that was necessary was for Governor Blanco to call President Bush and say: "Mr. President, as Governor of Louisiana I hereby authorize and request that you provide federal National Guard assistance to Louisiana." That's it.

Lets not get stuck on semantics. What I meant with 'paperwork', apart from physical documents, is that the White House had the option of being the active communicator to acquire oral authorization when the call from Blanco never came!

The problem is that we are arguing here about legal responsibilities like a bunch of lawyers. The ultimate moral responsibility (in the eyes of the general public) in the face of natural disaster falls on the national government when those legally responsible don't act. Now, I don't necessarily agree with this notion that we should always except the government to come and save us. Individual initiative can do wonders. Look at the young man commandeering a school bus out of New Orleans and saving 70 people in the act!

The ultimate moral responsibility (in the eyes of the general public) in the face of natural disaster falls on the national government when those legally responsible don't act.

Uh huh......and just who in the general public gets to decide when that is?

Oh, and how long will that take -- you know, for the general public to come to agreement that the governors and mayors are in over their heads and the president needs to step in?

Do you think that would have been accomplished by TODAY?

Lets not get stuck on semantics. What I meant with 'paperwork', apart from physical documents, is that the White House had the option of being the active communicator to acquire oral authorization when the call from Blanco never came! The problem is that we are arguing here about legal responsibilities like a bunch of lawyers.

You're arguing semantics; I'm explaining the law. It is absolutely necessary to be clear about where the legal responsibilities lie in dealing with life and death scenarios such as thing, or even discussing them intelligently.

That said, we don't know how much "active communication" from the White House has occurred this week with Gov. Blanco. You don't know that President Bush hasn't called her repeatedly and urged her to step up and act in her official capacity, to "pull the trigger" as Col. Hunt put it.

I suspect he has "strongly urged" her to act, but he does not have the authority to order her to act, whether you like it or not. Either way, we'll probably never know, first because even if he did President Bush has more class than to embarrass and smear others the way they are trying to smear him, and second, because if he didn't, Blanco and the others trying to CYA wouldn't hesitate to use it against him if they knew no evidence existed to disprove their accusations. Unfortunately for them, I'm certain any conversations between President Bush and Governor Blanco were recorded.