White House shifts blame for Katrina response

Washington Post MSNBC ^ | Sept. 4, 2005 | Manuel Roig-Franzia and Spencer Hsu

[onyx eyes]

If I get this pasted go to the near bottom of the Washington Post article and see how K. Blanco thought it better to avoid Martial Law declared in her state than to save the lives of her people.

and - she is advised by the law firm of Clintoon's ex, former director Witt in how to avoid a "takeover"

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9189916

[sonofatpatcher2]

Send to Russert via http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152/

You tried to unfairly blame the President but read this from MSNBC's own website:
Updated: 9:48 a.m. ET Sept. 4, 2005 (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9189916) 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. "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 is an adviser and does not have the authority to speak publicly.

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.

You showed your true liberal colors, Tim, and if you do not offer a full apology to President Bush and his administration, I will do everything in my power to have NBC remove you or I will not watch any NBC program and will not buy any product advertised on NBC. I will let these advertisers know of this.

Let's flood NBC and their advertisers with like messages...

[eyedigress]

You tried to unfairly blame the President

He Understands... Period.

By the way,, Thanks

[jonrick46]

If the feds had moved in without the permission from Gov. Blancho, the President would have violated the Constitution and federal law. It would be impeachment time; especially if Katrina had fizzeled out or gone elsewhere (as some were expecting to do). I suspect a game of gotcha was in play here.

[Pajamajan]

I think we've all been on edge for the last week. Hopefully this week will be a bit better.

[eyedigress]

Everyone needs to keep the Gulfport/Biloxi area in their prayers.....

[eyedigress]

Thanks for a sound voice......Good Night

[Pajamajan]

"Everyone needs to keep the Gulfport/Biloxi area in thier prayers"

Amen to that. I can't believe all the damage there- the whole place is just rubble-so sad. Normal must feel very far away, to all the survivors of the storm, right now. Thanks for the reminder that they need our prayers.

[Pajamajan]

Nite, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite, yadda, yadda, sorry.. I need to go to sleep too :-)

[eyedigress]

I used to party at the TIVOLI Hotel with the Seabees, and hell I'm Air Force. That place survived everything from the roaring 20's till NOW! Hell! It survived us.
It did not survive Katrina! ......:)

[Pajamajan]

I think senator Lott lost his house in Katrina, it was 150 yrs old, and survived all the storms before that one.

I thought it was kind of strange how much damage it did in Florida, (before it hit NOLA) though it was only a category 1 storm there. I wonder if there was something about it that was different from other storms?- Something that shows up different in the storm tracker's data, as compared to other storms?

Or, maybe it was spawned in Hell, who knows?

[eyedigress]

Educated Response... Baby!

New Orleans was missed by 35 miles, Gulport and Waverly got Rocked. Storm Surge Gulfport = 22 ft , That's all I can present now! Everything is guided at this juncture. :)

[driftless]

"incompetent public officials" ditto.

As my wife and I were watching the disaster unfold, we kept asking ourselves questions like where were all the seemingly obvious emergency actions? The truth is you or I could have handled that emergency better than the numbskulls in charge in La. They knew that a big hurricane could wreck their city, and still had NO!!! plan. Few emergency workers, no food and water stockpiles, not enough security, no boats (incredible as it sounds). The mayor even ignored the opportunity to use school buses and public transportation vehicles to evacuate the citizens. It was if they reacting to events as they happened rather than having a coordinated plan of action. Gross, shameful incompetence bordering on criminality.

This episode proves that stupidity and incompetence account for a significant percentage of deaths in disasters of this magnitude.

[mewzilla]

she is advised by the law firm of Clintoon's ex, former director Witt in how to avoid a "takeover"

Bend over and grab your ankles, Louisiana. Again. Gov. Blanco has spoken.

[Laverne]

Here are some appropriate phone numbers:

MTP: 202 885 4598
NBC News: 212 664-4444

I called both yesterday after watching MTP. MTP's message box was full; I did leave a message at the 212 number and requested that they immediately remove Russert. His "performance" yesterday was truly shameful. NBC and MSNBC have gone off the deep end. CNN is outrageous (Wolf Blitzer yesterday was putrid), and I sent them a gazillion emails, but didn't bother to try to find a number for them.

[Sidebar Moderator]

Articles which require excerpting need to be excerpted to 300 words or less.

Thanks.

[sonofatpatcher2]

I have never seen the MSM go nuts like they have this past week. Facts don't matter, they want W's scalp and will do anything to get it.

[KavMan]

Ugh, I'm so sick of the media this past week. Everything is Bush's fault. FR needs to hold a rally with signs putting the heat on the foul mouthed Mayor and crocodile tears Governor.

[BILL_C]

Gross, shameful incompetence bordering on criminality

One of the casualties of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS is that we don't call a spade a spade.

It wasn't bordering on criminality, it WAS criminal behavior.

[George Oh Well]

Does anyone here actually think that regardless of the mountain of empirical evidence pointing to their culpability for this disaster, that any Louisiana Democratic Party politician is going to come forward and say "I take responsibility"?

Democrats don't do that. Taking individual responsibility for our actions in life is anathema to the Democratic Party's fundamental tenets. They're cowards and shirkers who subscribe to a religion of blame (and of mass corruption).

[XHogPilot]

bump