FEMA is not a first responder - Don't be so quick to pillory the federal response in New Orleans

Pittsburgh Post Gazette ^ | Tuesday, September 06, 2005 | Craig Martelle

[pittsburgh gop guy]

HA-BANG! - That is the sound of the nail being hit on the head! I think what he wrote was dead-on.

[YCTHouston]

I thought Willie Green had rights to all Pitsburg Post content...

[hflynn]

Femma Naz1 Blanco isn't a 1st responder either.

[satchmodog9]

big truth bump

[Right_in_Virginia]

BTTT

[InvisibleChurch]

Didn't there used to be posts on FR that FEMA is going to take control of the United States?

[pittsburgh gop guy]

I slip some in every now and then.

They usually have nothing worth posting - especially op-eds (Except for Jack Kelly). I don't know how these words of wisdom were slipped into the Post Gazette. Look for an editorial tomorrow that blames Bush for everything.

[Alia]

bookmark.

[michaelt]

bump.

[isthisnickcool]

I'm listening to Blanco on FOX right now. She is not directly answering some questions by slightly changing the subject. When asked if Bush called her and asked her to evacuate she sais "that plan wds already in place" and did not directly answer the question.

In my opinion her days are numbered.

[OXENinFLA]

Ping..

[dawn53]

Probably after they saw the X-Files movie, LOL!

[kabar]

This is all well and good. However, the American people and the victims of Katrina don't care about bureaucratic turf battles, organizational charts, and legalisms. The Federal government should have taken over as soon as the Red Cross was turned back due to security concerns. The situations at the Convention Center and Superdome should have been addressed immediately by sending in the 82nd airborne or Marines.

Chertoff and Brown are lawyers with little real executive experience directing large organizations. They were busy drafting up documents so that Bush could negotiate with Blanco. This is a lawyers' response not a leaders' reaction to a crisis. Initially, the Feds should have been more concerned about operational effectiveness assisting the victims than the regulations.

Several days into the crisis, GWB realized that there was a leadership vacuum. LtGen Honore also understood the need for leadership and seized the day. The Mayor and the Gov deserve the lion's share of the blame, but the Feds also dropped the ball initially.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Immediate emergency management is primarily a local and state responsibility

According to the mayor of NOLA, mayor's get their evacuation orders from the President.

[Shery]

WOW! Who could've stated it any better than this? If they contrive a Katerina Commission, as the CLintons are adamnant to do, I hope that this is read daily to all members so they can keep their bearings!

[BigSkyFreeper]

It's not Bush's fault she issued a voluntary evacuation order, and the mayor of NOLA wondered if he had such authority to issue an order, or if that authority came from the White House.

[defconw]

The Mayor is wrong, in the Constitution of the United States, the Federal Government can not enter and take over anything unless the Governor allows it. She did not! Barbour and Riley asked the Feds in BEFORE the storm hit.

[Jaxter]

Wow! This from the P-G? Who'da thunk it?

[Loud Mime]

BTTT = a sixteen inch round just hit the target.

[kellynla]

BTTT