[Prime Choice]

The hearings will be partisan and vicious.

You don't say!

Personally, I think the Democrat Mayor of New Orleans and the Democrat Governor of Louisiana should be getting all the heat. It was their supreme and unbridled idiocy that killed thousands (if not tens of thousands) of Americans.

FEMA did its job. This is evident in Mississippi and Alabama. The only breakdown was due entirely to the sheer and utter incompetence of the Louisiana governor and the idiot mayor. Until the Democrats acknowledge it, they'd best be prepared for a major butt-kicking.

[Oldexpat]

It seems to me that Clinton appointed one of his State Police body guards to head FEMA. Isn't that correct?

[Anti-Bubba182]

The problem with Brown is that he did not look good on TV and that leaves an opening the media and Dems are all too happy to exploit.

They will have to play that card to take pressure off the Governor and Mayor who have a lot to answer for.

[kms61]

There are problems in MS and AL as well. Let's don't whitewhash FEMA just because a Republican happens to be in the whitehouse. GWB himself has said things need to improve. So--let's identify what has to be fixed and fix it. Just because the Democrats are being partisan is no excuse for the GOP to play the same game. The people are smart enough to know who's serious about this and who's playing politics as usual. Thereis a stellar opportunity here for the GOP to cement its place as the party of competence. But If the Katrina aftermath devolves into a finger pointing orgy, the public is going to go into "a pox on both your houses" mode.

[kublia khan]

They only had the final act in a play that was opened 40 years ago when a welfare state was first envisioned and embraced by LBJ. The people who remained in NO after the evac order had been given were mostly poor innercity blacks who had grown up depending on the Govt. to subsidize their housing, provide them with food assistance (food stamps), USDA food, heating and cooling assistance, general relief funds etc. When the Government didn't show up to evacuate them it was the first time in many of their lives that they had ever faced a crisis and the Govt failed to rescue them. Sure noogin and Blaaaaaanco shoulder a great deal of the responsibility for what happened in that wretched city but when you look deeper each and every politician who has ever voted for a social program that did not have as its core goal a proactive move towards independence by the recipient is also responsible. Disasters like the one in NO will not be avoided by building taller Levees they will be ended when we tear down a system of governance and one party in particular who have made their mark on the world by creating ever increasing numbers of dependants.

[Marauder]

Until the Democrats acknowledge it, they'd best be prepared for a major butt-kicking.

Don't hold your breath, if you're looking for honorable behavior from a dim-bulb lib.

[Chi-townChief]

I was thinking the same thing myself; Jeb Bush, Bob Riley, Haley Barbour, and, now, Rick Perry all managed to maintain control and order in their states in a truly catastrophic situation. Only in LA, and NO, in particukar, were things really entirely out of hand. It brings up a good question, though: does FEMA have the right to go down there and smack Blanco and Nagin out into the street and take over themselves or not?