Posted on 09/04/2005 10:12:30 AM PDT by MNJohnnie
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 sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.
A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.
Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.
"The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. "The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Blanco made two moves Saturday that protected her independence from the federal government: She created a philanthropic fund for the state's victims and hired James Lee Witt, Federal Emergency Management Agency director in the Clinton administration, to advise her on the relief effort.
Yeah, but notice how the headline is written. The headline is contructed to make the administration look bad.
Thank you for finding the proof that most of us have been looking for. Confirmation of what we have been telling all the Bush Haters all along. The LINE of authority for this mess is City of NO to State of Lousiana to the Feds. To freak at the Feds while ignoring who is REALLY in charge this week is intellectually dishonest.
Isn't that exactly backwards? If the locals didn't control it, they couldn't be blamed.
So a lot of the article. These people are even too stupid to realize what their artical says completely contridicts the spin they are putting on it. Point is, here is the proof, written in one of the pillars of the Diansour Media of JUST who is in charge down at NO all this week
ping
Exactly. I saw that two and thought the exact same thing. Even the lies told by the Democrat spin machine are breaking down.
Please help me get this out to as many on our side as possible
"Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly."
Yes, while if the locals screw things up on their own it will clearly be Bush's fault.
The title is, of course, a lie. Not until the fourth paragraph does the Post admit that Governor Blanco delayed in calling on the Guard until Wednesday. The article does not bother to mention that under the US Constitution and the Louisiana Constitution, authority over the Guard remained with the Governor until she said otherwise.
The lede for this story implies that central fact. Why would the President have had to negotiate with the Governor, unless the Governor had the initial authority? However, to state the central fact that the Governor had to act first, would have undercut the political bigotry of the Post. And we can't have facts getting in the way of a good story, now can we?
Congressman Billybob
Latest column: "Tide of Lies Swamps NY Times: Employees Riot and Steal Office Supplies"
Don't you think alot of the change in opinion is the people are now out of the mess and are being housed in shelters, ie; and they are reading newspapers and watching t.v. and listening to radio....and they were there, they more than anyone, knows who to blame...
The thing that has impressed me with the flood victims is they are so polite, when a rescurer comes up to them, they smile and say thank you and shake their hands....when they were given water, food, baby food, diapers, wet, cold towels, they smiled and said thank you and God Bless You....I wonder how many of us would be that patient????
I know I wouldn't be, they would be taking me away in a straight jacket with tape over my potty mouth....lolol
A few years ago a conservative magazine (I forget which one) published an article entitled "Democracy: The God that Failed." The point was that with the old monarchies you had rulers who had a reason to think about the country, since they were going to leave it to their ancestors. In countries with elected governments the only thing that seems to matter is short term electoral benefit.
Sometimes I wonder if we wouldn't be better off without elections. (That's just my frustration speaking. Please don't take me too literally.)
Not enought resources for evacuation or levee improvements, but apparently enought to build:
The Louisiana Superdome Cost $163 million to build in 1975. The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, a state entity, was built in 1985. It was expanded in 1999, and the state just completed negotiations for a new 500,000 square foot expansion. The state signed a contract for the new expansion on Aug. 17, just 12 days before Katrina hit. The price: $315 million. Construction would have begun years ago, for a cost of $275 million, but for some delays. There was a legal dispute over the contract in 2003, then in 2004 Gov. Kathleen Blanco tried to combine the expansion with a new stadium to replace the Superdome.
Bump and thanks for finding this
BTTT!
Yep, traditional Democrat leadership. Create a NEW philanthropic organization and hold a committee meeting. They are so, so compassionate.
Right! The entire focus is on making the Bush Admin. look bad. When you read it, you find this weak gov. doing nothing much that needed to be done. Freaking suspicious Dems--no matter how bad the situation, their power and control is the most important thing. Notice that Barbour and Riley declared a stae of emergency BEFORE the storm hit, and are doing everything possible to maximize the relief effort..
vaudine
My gosh, she waited until SATURDAY to hire someone to "advise" her! Even then, it sounds more like "window dressing" to cover her wide as$ and consolidate her power! The level of ineptitude is staggering!
Ah but it confirms in one of their OWN pillars everything we have been telling them about how this words. Confirmation that the DNC attack lie "It's all Bush's fault" is just that, a lie.
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