Posted on 09/06/2005 3:38:52 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
BATON ROUGE - Even as teams of engineers worked to patch ruptured levees in New Orleans, a political breach opened between Gov. Kathleen Blanco and President Bush over who is in charge of the post-Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.
One flashpoint came over the weekend, when Blanco said she rebuffed an attempt by the White House to seize control of the mounting military presence in Louisiana, including thousands of state National Guard forces under her authority. Then Bush made an unusual return visit to the state Monday, just days after surveying the damage - a trip that members of Blanco's staff said caught them by surprise and caused a certain level of consternation.
"We had no idea the president was coming," said Blanco's communications director, Robert Mann, adding that the governor was forced to cancel a trip to visit evacuees in Houston so she could meet with Bush.
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In the game of political maneuvering for control between Blanco, a Democrat, and Bush, a Republican, the biggest chess pieces are the 13,268 National Guard troops from 29 states under the governor's command - with another 7,845 on the way - and the 7,000 active-duty troops who began arriving Monday under command of the regular Army and the president.
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Blanco said that when the plain-spoken, cigar-chomping Honore showed up in New Orleans late last week, she thought that her worries about a lack of federal troops and resource were over. Honore quickly became a media darling and the take-charge face of the federal government in New Orleans, barking out orders to surprised National Guards members who aren't even under his control.
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(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
The DNC is pulling the Governor's strings...
The silly bitch is a string puppet with an empty head...
She should LEAD, FOLLOW or get the hell OUT OF THE WAY...
Folks who elect Democrats are self destuctive.......
Semper Fi
Translation: Blame anything and everything on FEMA.
THEY DIDN'T KNOW 'W' WAS COMING? B___SH__!!! I KNEW IT AND I LIVE IN A LITTLE PLACE IN VA. IT WAS ALL OVER THE NEWS BROADCASTS. DON'T THESE "PEOPLE IN POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY" EVER WATCH THE NEWS BROADCASTS ABOUT THEIR REGION?????? IDIOTS!!!!
This is how I view it as well.
Before the disaster hit, she and ESPECIALLY THE MAYOR OF NO seemed to tuck tail and hide rather than doing what was necessary to prepare and evacuate.
After the disaster hit, she wants full control over the operations, and blame Bush for her and the mayor's lack of forsight and action.
LA, I hope you are paying attention.
On a side note, I heard yesterday that those levees that were suposedly substandard and the Feds cut the budget to improve were NOT what failed in NO. The portions that failed were not on the list of proposed improvements. Any truth to this?
Oh, so now Blanco knows that the state controls the National Gurd and is supposed to co=ordinate those and any Federal forces?
Why didn't she know that BEFORE the hurricane and levee breach?
I thought it was all Bush's fault for NOT acting fast enough? How can that be if Blanco is in charge of everything? I'm confused.... Or maybe the media is...
I don't think its race, I think its party. Nagin and Blanco get a free pass because they are democrats...if they were republicans, their heads would have been called for by the DNC/Media.
The NYT wins. In case of disaster in your area do absolutely nothing to save lives, protect property or relieve suffering. Your new assignment is to blame Bush, blame Bush and blame Bush. Got that? Good, together we will build a better America.
YEP! I guess those were imaginary helos we saw flying people out of the hell-hole! And I guess we just imagined that food/water drops were being made.
TRUTH IS - IF THE FED HAD BEEN IN CHARGE FROM THE BEGINNING THOSE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN GOTTEN OUT OF THE BIG EASY LONG BEFORE THE STORM GOT THERE. ONE THING THIS PRESIDENT DOESN'T DO AND THAT IS FOOL AROUND - WHEN HE HAS SOMETHING TO DO HE DOES IT. THIS GOVERNOR BLANCO GIVES WOMEN EXECUTIVES A BAD NAME!!!!!
I would place on caveat on that...if he were a Republican white man (or black, latino, etc. man). Its the party affiliation that makes the difference.
I read these articles and it is no wonder why I hear residents saying the things they are saying, just look at their Gov. and her leadership.
First, she wants and INSISTS on federal help...now she COMPLAINS about too MUCH federal help...
I suppose she has a right to change her mind? NOT!
That, is the story between the lines. The crooks want that money.
But BECAUSE he is black, he can say the truth without being called a racist. Believe me, after he basically took him to the woodshed, the journalists don't REALLY like him...but they can't show that.
Yes, a CoE spokesman said that the section that breached was"as good as it was going to get" - of course, given all the corruption that is coming into the light of day, we may learn that the contractors also cheated, and the inspectors also cheated, etc...
LOL...I'd like that sick chick to tell Gen. Honore that in a news conference and see her slapped down. She is disgraced in front of the nation, yet her widdle feewings are hurt that the Army didn't wait and wait and wait to take orders from her.
By the way, when watching Fox's coverage of the Pres. and Gov. Blanko arriving in Baton Rouge yesterday, when he got off Marine I and saluted the military men there, Blanko "saluted" them too, in a limp-wristed way. I had no idea being a governor made you a commander-in-chief. She is pitiful.
Or lack of same. Governor Blame-Co hasn't seen the end of this disaster. Wait until the Congress ramps up their hearings on the matter of state funding.
You said it, thanks for the smile, friend.
FYI.....Babineaux is French for "Boy, I really f****d that one up, didn't I"
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