Posted on 09/03/2005 7:52:14 PM PDT by jmc1969
Bush administration officials blame state and local authorities for what leaders at all levels have called a failure of the country's emergency management.
Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.
The administration had sought control over National Guard units, normally under control of the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request, noting that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. State authorities suspected a political motive behind the request.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Weren't these people attacking Bush for not getting National Guard units out there, and it is their own responsiblity? I say again, incredible dishonesty.
I don't think that mayor has any balls at all...all he could do is cuss cuss cuss...sounds really smart...now he's got NO town to rule over...
"It's not 100% clear what is going on. If you think about it, Bush sent in active duty troops today. That's is a federal assignment. It wasn't ordered by the state. In effect he has federalized it to a certain extent."
True and I've been a bit confused. Sect'y of HS said this a.m. they had 'control'. Then a while later Blanco announces she's hired James Witt as adviser. - My guess is Witt is advising Blanko (gosh knows she needs it) and is apparently acting as a 'liaison' to FEMA, but it seem the Feds have control (thank the Lord) for everything else (though I'm not sure of everything). But, in all I've read, I'm not sure that's true legally speaking (though the S of HS said this a.m. they were cutting though or bypassing bureaucracy.
Thanks for the post. In instances like this I prefer to let the powers that be do their thing and not second guess them. In this instance it appears the governor and the mayor are both a couple of complete dufuses. This must be very demoralizing for the citizens of LA.
Hey you know how I feel, the size and scope of this operation can only be handled efficiently by the one arm of government that is efficient, the US Military. ENd of story. I think anybody arguing otherwise went to bed drunk with the pretty gal and woke up with the not so pretty gal.
Bush/Cheney '08
;o)
The suit's real pretty, along with the nice makeup and stylish high heels. Not much of a governor in the middle of one of our worst natural disasters.
Friday before.
What strikes me about this mess is just how short of a time that it took for the finger pointing and blame game to start. Truly disgusting.
Sure, after 9-11, we had the 911 Commission and loads of finger pointing - but that happened long after the rescue efforts had ended.
Were the state authorities worried that the President wouldn't give LA back to them afterwards? I doubt that NO is his kind of town.
Yeah, I about threw up when I read that one. This is a succinct statement of the utter lack of self sufficiency, personal responsibility and morality of the welfare class.
The N O's mayor has been caught and is being exposed to the entire world as the poster boy of PC incompetence.
Right.
This is unreal. She is sitting there doing nothing worthwhile in getting them out and painting the picture that it is the federal government that is not doing anything. The mayor lambasts the Bush administration, the media blasts them as not good enough.
Now, we see that the governor WOULD NOT grant the needed authority, would not call in the feds, wanted to retain control - all the while having the dems use this to paint it as Bush's fault.
So, somehow Bush has taken control based on the press conference today where the director indicated that someway they have determined that in major multi-state catastrophes there must be federal administration of the crisis.
I'm confused. Now, we see the governor has hired the ex-FEMA official as her voice at the table. And we see that the mayor mentioned during the Bush survey that the two of them must work out their differences and get the job done.
At midnight - Bush did send her the request to turn over control to them. She declined. But, somehow Saturday the calvary showed up. I'm confused but assume that the feds are doing all except the security/National Guard (which may be the best because who wants that mess.
What we can't figure out is if this was Friday a few days ago, or a week ago Friday.
The paragraph that doesn't make sense is there a NO official says they didn't want to federalize it because if things went wrong the New Orleans officials would get blamed.
Which is ridiculous. If it was federalized and it went wrong, then the feds would get blamed.
But more importantly, why would a New Orleans official be worried post hurricane that if it got federalized that NO would be blamed? NO officials so messed this up, they ARE going to be blamed.
Wouldn't they only be worried about this pre-hurricane. The Friday before the hurricane?
I think we should all send e-mails to the reporter of this story and to Brit Hume, etc., to get clarification.
PING!
Do you think this article is referring to Friday the 26th or Friday the 2nd?
Oh, I forget.....the administration PR staff peeples still have 14 more years of slumber in the Catskills before they wake up choking on their long beards.
Leni
So, IF Bush is not legally covered, he is still safe because IF she tries impeachment on his, all of her incompetency will be revealed in detail. Therefore, she won't do anything. Yet, we know Hillary will use it.
No matter how many times I read that, I can't make it make any sense. The simple truth is, if the feds had been able to take control, then the feds would have to take the blame for screw-ups.
The statement IS revealing, though. I believe it is a clear case of the common dem malady of "accusing your enemy of thinking like you."
It's clear that the dem state gov't. was looking at this from a political, rather than humanitarian, perspective. I believe they saw a chance to keep control, and blame the feds for screw-ups - exactly what they're trying to pin on the Bush admin.
That, IMO, means Friday, the 26th. I call what's happening now, rescue & recovery, not evacuation.
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