Posted on 09/05/2005 10:26:53 AM PDT by nj26
As one who has seen these hurricanes up close as a Gulf Coast resident, news reporter and member of Congress where I got a behind the scenes look at how to run relief operations I have been trying to connect the dots for those of you who have not been so intimately involved in hurricane recovery efforts.
With so many trying to figure out why so few acted professionally in the first days of this epic crisis, I offer an insider's view of who is to blame for this national disgrace.
We begin with Harry Truman who famously declared that the buck always stops at the president's desk. For those who now define the term conservative as unwavering support for George W. Bush, even this suggestion is maddening.
But the bottom line is that despite the fact the president was strapped with two governors who bungled this crisis badly, in the end it is the president who sends in the National Guard and FEMA relief.
The president's suggestion that the size of this storm caught all by surprise just doesn't get it. His administration was 48 hours late sending in the National Guard and poor Americans got raped and killed because of those mistakes....
Secondly, the first responders in any hurricane are local and state officials. When Florida was struck by four hurricanes last year, Governor Jeb Bush was nothing short of spectacular. Louisiana Governor Blanco was breathtakingly clueless as were other Louisiana officials. The deaths of many lay on their doorsteps.
FEMAs Michael Brown also shoulders the burden for the suffering in New Orleans. His claim that no one knew of the suffering on the ground until Thursday defies logic. America knew the crescent city was drifting toward chaos on well before Tuesday....
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Sounds pretty full of himself. Exposure to camera turned him into a bloviator.
"I'm just trying to get more ratings, Mr. President, OK?"
(1). Its the Gov's job to call out the National Guard.
(2). If the Mayor of NO thought the Guard should be out, why didn't he call the Gov?
(3). Since when do we fly our troops and emergency personnel in high winds, such as a hurricane?
(4). Why did so many NO police officers quit and run?
(5). If the Gov and Mayor couldn't handle the situation, why didn't they call the feds to take over?
(6). Is that enough to start with scarbougho? If your so smart then why don't you volunteer to go down there and take over, I'm sure along with the Gov and Mayor you could really mess it up big time!
The decision by NOLA local government (Mayot Nagin) to save the buses instead of deploying them to evacuate the "poor", the infirm, those needing help, etc. with a category 5 hurricane approaching, has been a a major factor contributing to the chaos and has lead to many unnecessary deaths. The pgotos of the undeployed buses sitting in 4 feet of water a half mile from the Superdome tells a terrible story. Why do we not see these photos on the media and why are reporters not questioning this? Someone obviously made a decision that keeping the buses safe by not deploying BEFORE the hurricane
would not risk damaging them so they could be used AFTER the storm hit, to ecacuate those who weren't dead. New Orleans has NEVER deployed their buses to evacuate the "poor" and helpless before any hurricane. Criminal. And everyone is blaming Bush.
http://sj.blacksteel.com/
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The man needs restraints! I used to think I liked this guy.... he's lost his senses!
I'm beginning to think that it was the GOP that didn't want to run Joe again instead of Joe turning them down with all his drama queen moves. Sour grapes from a quitter!
He was never a senator.
I'm sorry. Is he talking about Barbour? Look, despite what people think, W could not have stopped the hurricane from hitting. He could not have stopped the levees from breaking. This is a gigantic crisis beyond anyone's ability to deal with it. Why do people think that there should be FEMA officials at every town along hundreds of miles of devastated coastline?
Scarborough is one of these purist creeps who looks for every opportunity to bash Republicans in order to bolster his "independent" bona fides. Oh, well, MSNBC will never learn.
Obviously, "Joltin' Joe" is unfamiliar with the law which says that the president CANNOT "send in the National Guard and FEMA relief" until the local authorities authorize it, and has forgotten (if he ever knew it) that it was BUSH who pushed the "da mayor" and "da governator" to implement the MANDATORY evacation----without which things would have been EVEN WORSE.
I think Joe's been hanging out in a news studio full of libs way too long....
You hit the nail on the head. Joe's ratings suck and he is trying to go hard left for an audience.
I hope I live long enough to see this SOB again -- I'm going to tell him exactly what I think of him; he's been OUTRAGEOUS this week; simply outrageous.
I meant if he had decided to run against Katherine Harris in FL GOP Senate primary for 2006...
LOL! Yeh they will........ after all, they picked up the great and "breathy" Rita Cosby!
;-)
He's been trashing Bush 24/7 on MSNBC. All last week.
Not ONE good thing to say about Bush. Not one.
Actually, I did see them on Fox News
Bingo!
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