Posted on 09/06/2005 1:49:06 PM PDT by HAL9000
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour got a hug. Gov. Kathleen Blanco was lucky to get a hello.The friction between state and federal officials has been brewing for the past few days and bubbled to the surface with President Bush's visit to Baton Rouge on Monday.
In fact, Blanco did not learn Bush was coming to Louisiana for the second time in three days until informed by an Advocate reporter late Sunday night.
The news prompted Blanco to scrap her plans to visit Houston on Monday with former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, her spokeswoman, Denise Bottcher, said. Blanco asked three of her daughters to fill in for her.
Meanwhile, the governor's staff spent much of the early morning hours securing an invitation from the White House for Blanco to accompany the president and his wife, Bottcher said. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan told The Associated Press that the White House reached out to Blanco's office Sunday, but didn't hear back, and White House staff in Louisiana spoke with Blanco early Monday.
Blanco met the presidential party at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, carrying a letter to Bush which showed she's not budging on the issue of federalizing local law enforcement and the state's National Guard, which the president had attempted to do Friday.
"I write to ask you to work with me in developing a long-term plan for the rebuilding of the Louisiana economy," Blanco says in the letter.
From the airport, Bush and Blanco went to visit hurricane evacuees at Bethany World Prayer Center in Baker, where the two leaders kept their distance.
Later that day, Bush flew to Mississippi, where he warmly greeted Barbour.
Waves of National Guard soldiers from other states help quell widespread looting in New Orleans and evacuate thousands stranded by rising flood waters. Their arrival also prompted debate over whether Bush or Blanco should coordinate their efforts, three elected officials said.
The Bush administration on Friday asked Blanco to give the president control of local law enforcement and the Louisiana National Guard that now answer to the governor. Blanco refused.
Blanco said, when asked about the issue of federalizing state troops, that the issue involves the hurricane recovery organizational structure, not how rescuers are deployed.
Blanco said she needs flexibility to run the Louisiana National Guard.
More National Guard soldiers are needed in "Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Shreveport ... all the parishes receiving people," she said.
U.S. Rep. Richard Baker said he didn't want to do any "Monday morning quarterbacking." That includes not weighing in on whether or not Blanco should relinquish more control to the federal government, he said.
Baker said the Bush administration's goal isn't malicious, but to facilitate a more immediate response on resources, such as getting planes loaded and landed.
State and local officials last week complained that the federal help didn't come fast enough, with bipartisan criticism leveled at Bush himself.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-Metairie, said that during Bush's visit to New Orleans on Friday, Mayor Ray Nagin asked Bush and Blanco to hash out their differences. While on Air Force One, the president's plane, Bush and Blanco spoke privately.
"The rest of the delegation waited," Jindal said.
Later that day, Bush administration officials sent Blanco a legal memo seeking to federalize Louisiana law enforcement under the Insurrection Act, which is used to suppress civil disobedience that threatens to turn into anarchy. The act would clarify the chains of command of local, state and federal agencies with the president in charge.
Rather than cede control, Blanco on Saturday morning named James Lee Witt, who ran the Federal Emergency Management Agency under Clinton, to help run relief efforts.
In Bush's weekly radio address Saturday afternoon, he said the hurricane strained local and state capabilities, leading to people in New Orleans not getting the help they needed.
The next day, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu threatened to get violent.
"If one person criticizes them (local and state government) or says one more thing -- including the president of the United States -- he will hear from me," Landrieu said on the ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him. Literally."
After Bush's visit to Baton Rouge on Monday, Landrieu said that state, local and federal officials are now essentially on the same page, working as a team.
"The governor's leadership and the president's leadership, pulling these things together is excellent," Landrieu said.
Bottcher, Blanco's spokeswoman, refused to make a copy of the memo public. Blanco's team spent much of the day detailing the events that unfolded during the weekend, provided that their names were not used.
Asked directly and on the record, Bottcher refused comment.
After Monday's meeting, Blanco said Bush is satisfied with the organizational structure. "We are partners in this effort," the governor said. "We are a team. I want to say it again. We are a team."
OMG...To call her utterly incompetent is to say that 9/11 was a bonfire.
I have been keeping up with this whole Katrina ordeal since 5 days before the storm made landfall,and I have to say that I have never in my life,with the exception of Clinton/Gore,have I ever witnessed such gross incompetence.And then....days later,for that idiot mayor of Jeff county to ALLOW PEOPLE TO GO BACK IN "for a little while,to get a few things & get out"...GRRRRR! NOW there are traffic jams of folks trying to get back in and utility trucks are locked in that traffic,so they can't get in and do their jobs...Oh,good grief!!!
Bad part about it-the constituency will reelect these "leaders" to "lead" them some more. Un-frickin'-real.
How long does a person need to live in a state to become a permanent resident? 90 Days? 6 months? Some may be so incensed that they refuse to vote as residents of Louisiana. 'Course that won't matter 'cause ole Jesse just make 'em up.
Hmmmph! If that photo was taken in LA...They look like tourists from another state-like,say,Boston.They just don't look like they even belong there.
Today is Tuesday, September 6, and so far, the person least seen on tv news is Governor Blanco. Why is that? Oh, wait a minute! Yes, of course, she's hiding! And why wouldn't she be hiding? She stonewalled the efforts to bring in the national guard, to jump start the recovery and rescue, and hoped that she could prevent anything that looked like a George Bush success. When will the media start to report the truth here???
And the organization skills of the Democrats in busing voters to the polls will be prodigious on those crucial days when their votes are needed. As I am sure they have been on past election days.
But when a mandatory evacuation is ordered, and lives could be saved, it becomes "every man for himself," and the Democrats suddenly become inept at transporting the "disenfranchised" to safety.
Blanco is utterly incompetent.
She is incompetent and should be relieved of duty.
"Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour got a hug. Gov. Kathleen Blanco was lucky to get a hello."
What she should have gotten from Bush was a terse "Ms.Blanco, i'd like to have a word with you...NOW, please,"
as he takes her arm and guides her to a quiet spot and proceeds to hammer the hell outta her for being such an irretrievable dolt....But,instead,he acted in the way that one would expect a true leader to act.He cares about people,and he put his feelings about her on hold in order to address the issue at hand-saving lives and restoring order.
(Still,i'd like to have seen him light into her butt real good-her and that moronic mayor Nagin!)
And heaven forbid we stop the ongoing looting that it called the "estate tax." If we abolish it now, the crats will have a rallying cry that might actually resonate a bit, yet if we do not kill the death tax, we are letting looting continue.
15 percent could be called a tax. 45-55 percent is confiscation or looting.
"...I might likely have to punch him. Literally."
And Laura and Barbara might have to stomp your stupid a$$
through the mud....LITERALLY.
Watta dumb b*tch.
Baker is a city, as in Baker, Louisiana, home of the Bethany World Prayer Center. It is more R than D, however.
Landrieau should remember not to pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel.
Asked directly and on the record, Bottcher refused comment.
Now why would they not want their names used?
I am sincerely tired of this myth.
Rush does not get to only a limited amount of people. If he were that ineffective, only 'preaching to the choir', the Dems wouldn't have tried to take him out since he went on air. Daschle wouldn't have blamed Rush for death threats. Clinton wouldn't have blamed him for Oklahoma. He reaches more than you think.
Further, the American people GET IT. While even some "conservative" outlets joined on the blame Bush madness, Americans watched it on their screesn and even a polster I have NO respect for, ABC, ended up with results stating 3/4ths blamed local/state goverment and a majority, over 50% didn't hold the President accountable. The 'idiots' got it loud and clear before many "conservative" voices.
Blanco=RAT leadership=dead people!
I thought she was claiming she only learned Monday? Can't even keep lies straight.
Meanwhile, the governor's staff spent much of the early morning hours securing an invitation from the White House for Blanco to accompany the President and his wife, Bottcher said.
I'm SO Glad their time was so well spent, rather than getting their hands dirty helping people on the ground directly.
Oh, and Barbour got a smile and a hug because he earned it. If LA politicians want a hug, stop pointing fingers and SERVE the people!
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/9/5/234033.shtml
But Nagin had harsh words for his state's leaders, telling CNN: "What the state was doing, I don't frigging know. But I tell you, I am pissed. It wasn't adequate."
The New Orleans Democrat said he urged Bush to meet privately with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco during the visit. The meeting took place aboard Air Force One, he said.
After reviewing the crisis with Gov. Blanco, Bush summoned Nagin for a private chat - where, according to Nagin, Bush explained: "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor. I said . . . I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision."
Reacting to the governor's footdragging, Nagin lamented: "It would have been great if we could have left Air Force One, walked outside, and told the world that we had this all worked out."
"It didn't happen, and more people died."
"She's a bumbling fool who cost lives. "
Can you say 'RECALL VOTE' Jindal for Gov.
Blanco should be hanging her head in shame.
Good point. That should be part of the Republican's campaign - "The Democrats can bus their voters to the polls but can't bus them out of danger."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.