Posted on 09/04/2005 8:38:30 AM PDT by wildwood
MEMO TO BUSH: FIRE MICHAEL BROWN
By Michelle Malkin · September 04, 2005 08:17 AM During his visit to Mobile, Ala., on Friday, President Bush singled out Michael D. Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for praise:
"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Really? "Brownie's" job is to direct the federal response to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Let's review his public statements during the past week:
- 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.
READ MORE!!
(Excerpt) Read more at michellemalkin.com ...
You're projecting again aren't you? His comments should be taken within the context they were given, that is, the worst disaster within memory of any of us. I'm sure you would have held up a lot better, eh? Consider, if the man was bobbing and weaving and trying to cover up something he felt was a bad decision, would he have been as up front as he was? You should cut him some slack until you've had a chance to review what actually happened. I know I will.
Call me old-fashioned, but when someone admits to flubbing his job...
He admitted to nothing that I can see. Twist his words like a typical liberal; you can't say with any certainty exactly what he meant, nor can anyone else, including Ms. Malkin.
I can bet some sweet money that you'd be taking it seriously if this was an official in a Democrat administration making that statement.
You'd lose that bet, but you'll just have to take my word for it. You will won't you?
FGS
On c'mon guys.....how hard would it have been for Bush to have landed in those Southern States on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning....met with the pols....kicked some butt...and ordered a bunch of Chinook Helo's from one of the bases either in LA or TX to help evac operations?
Criticizing the Feds for their response doesn't excuse the incompetence of the LA gov. or Mayor Nagin or many of the people in NOLA who were too dumb or poor to think for themselves....but it boggles my mind at how we play political blame games where only one side is 100% accountable.
Some of you guys trying to absolve the Feds and Bush of any blame here sound just as bad as Libs do in blaming others for 100% of their problems.....C'mon GOP'ers...lets take some personal responsibility for the screw-ups of our own guy....and then let's try to fix the problem so we don't have this bad a response in the future....
Maybe out of this Bush or Congress needs to get created a "Delta Force" type team for domestic terror or disasters, with doctors, snipers, helos, medical equipment, etc....it might cost some bucks, but I'd feel better if such a dedicated team were in place if/when AQ strikes here in a major urban area.
With every post you show your ignorance.
The United States military doesn't just SHOW up during a hurricane; they have to be ASKED for if they are needed.
And LA didn't ask for them.
I have a feeling if Bush had sent them in before the hurricane, you'd be here bitching because he did that.
You're just looking for somebody to blame, a very liberal trait.
Well Howlin, that's a little difficult without phone or power ehhhh? Or I could drive to the local FEMA office and beg with my hat in hand for a loan....thanks but no thanks.
"Time for michelle to put down her poison pen and poitn fingers at the true incompetants, nagin and blanco."
Exactly. I'm finding Malkin very tiresome in this finger pointing. The entire fault rests with the Dummycrats whose gross incompetence has greatly exacerbated this situation.
OMG, you really ARE a screaming liberal, aren't you?
You never got power back on? Ever?
The money was avaiable to you; if you chose not to ask for some of your tax dollars back, that's YOUR fault, not the government's.
MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry. The cavalry's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs, and we're almost a week out. Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.Pretty appalling. They commandeer local fuel supplies and cut working emergency phone lines. But then they keep telling us that the local officials won't ask for help. Maybe they don't ask for help because FEMA cut their freakin' phone lines!
But I want to thank Governor Blanco for all she's done and all her leadership. She sent in the National Guard. I just repaired a breach on my side of the 17th Street canal that the secretary didn't foresee, a 300-foot breach. I just completed it yesterday with convoys of National Guard and local parish workers and levee board people. It took us two and a half days working 24/7. I just closed it.
MR. RUSSERT: All right.
MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees...
MR. RUSSERT: All right.
MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.
The only ignorance on this thread are those defending federal government bureaucracies....that would be you. Keep it up, I have all day.
i don't believe it is a matter of scapegoating. this is a POLITICAL appointment that requires political acumen. that's the problem.
Move to the head of the class!
You are SO right!
You think the president of the United States should have landed in the middle of a hurricane?
"My only question is what has happened in the DHS? We have spent BILLIONS and regardless of whose fault the response to Katrina was, it was a complete failure."
NO IT WASNT. Coast Guard saved thousands of lives since monday. hundreds of thousands of people evacuated, millions of meals and other supplies. A HUGE effort for one of the largest disasters in history.
Governor Haley Barbour made an excellent point today. He was told before the storm that this would as bad as Camille. He said he told the authorities to get the word out that this will be as bad as Camille. Well, it turned out it was worse than Camille It has destroyed property across a swath of the gulf coast hundreds of miles long, with damage going 200 miles inland.
Gov Barbour said that without a doubt this was the largest natural disaster in our history. The scale of damage is not just unprecedented, it is unimaginable.
You cannot make the aftermath look pretty. You cannot get through this without hardship, privation, death and destruction.
Yet despite this, there has been a large and coordinated response that has been saving lives since the hurricane.
There has been no recriminations on the Mississippi side, because they are not interested in finger-pointing, they want to rebuild. In New Orleans, there is a toxic stew of irresponsibility and political finger-pointing attempting to deflect from local and state government getting overwhelmed and failing to lead.
Do you think Brown operates within a vacuum? And do you also believe his decisions weren't vetted along the way. I can't honestly tell you what he meant by his wording, but he's at least honest enough to level with us, which is a lot more than can be said for far too many of our hired help. He and his advisors may in fact believe they made no critical mistakes. Wouldn't he/they have try to hide it???
FGS
No, I'm independent. I don't ask for people in other states to come save my butt because I have problems with weather, like you. Who's the liberal, Mrs. Howlin? You think those FEMA loans just appear put of thin air?
You know, I have to wonder why it is that the ONLY people on TV saying stuff like that are in Louisiana.
"Firing the FEMA director would be an empty political maneuver. It accomplishes nothing, fixes nothing, and accelerates nothing"
Dittos.
Shooting the wounded never helps you win a war.
But you're more than willing to come and whine about it anyway, huh?
like you.
How about posting where I ever did that. Since you have all day and all.
Who's the liberal, Mrs. Howlin?
You.
You think those FEMA loans just appear put of thin air?
No, they come from our tax dollars; and you're certainly entitled to ask for your share in a time of need -- and the dollars WERE there.
Apparently, just like a liberal, you'd much rather have the issue though.
LOL. You've already proven you don't know crap about the military, disaster preparedness nor relief or where taxes come from....and your insults are lame. Keep posting please, it's very entertaining.
Bush flew over the area on WEDNESDAY....48 hours after the storm had passed...there are TON's of AFB's in the affected states....you mean to tell me he couldn't have ordered Air Force One to land in Baton Rouge for an hour or two...or is Air Force One not allowed to land unless "Lousiana requests it do so"
Also, the other states fared better because:
A)There are more competent people living in those areas.....again, a major part of this problem is a city full of people who have been coddled by the govt. with our destructive welfare state the last 40-years.
B)Those other areas weren't a major city of one million people living in a bathtub that was 8 feet below sea level...water could drain out from the surge in most of Biloxi...it had nowhere to go in NOLA.
Show me the evidence. Michelle's wordsmithing yields nothing in the way of evidence to claim a bungled operation. Bungled speech maybe; nothing more. The proof will be forthcoming, but we haven't got it yet.
Maybe out of this Bush or Congress needs to get created a "Delta Force" type team for domestic terror or disasters, with doctors, snipers, helos, medical equipment, etc....it might cost some bucks, but I'd feel better if such a dedicated team were in place if/when AQ strikes here in a major urban area.
I can only speak for myself, but I don't want any more feral gummint. A terrorist attack might present a similar scenario, but who does what first? The state is the first responder in any case. I don't think you want the federales to send in the paratroopers every time the greenies burn some SUV's in California do you???
FGS
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