Who do we blame? Frankly, it's obvious (GUESS WHO MOLLY IVINS BLAMES?)

Chicago Tribune ^ | 9-8-05 | Molly Ivins

[GianniV]

AUSTIN, Texas -- President Bush has come up with his worst idea since he decided to have the military investigate torture by the military at Abu Ghraib prison. He, George W. personally, plans to investigate to "find out what went right and what went wrong" in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

It's hard to guess where Bush will look first, but maybe he should start with the appointment of "Brownie" to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Brownie is Michael Brown, who was appointed by some president.

At the time, Brownie was deputy director of the federal disaster relief agency under Joseph Allbaugh--because he was Allbaugh's college roommate, you see, and Allbaugh was Bush's campaign manager in 2000, you see, which made both of them qualified to manage disasters.

The FEMA news release announcing Brownie's appointment started with his other obvious qualification, "From 1991 to 2001, Brown was the commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association." It's unclear whether Brownie was fired or resigned from the organization in the wake of financial disarray and lawsuits.

Hours after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Brownie wrote his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, to ask permission to send 1,000 FEMA employees to the scene to support rescuers and to "convey a positive image" about the government's response. Brownie said he expected the workers to be there two days later. This apparently inspired Bush's comment, "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job."

FEMA was once considered one of our better federal agencies. Exactly why the right-wing Republicans chose to make FEMA a political football was never clear, unless you subscribe to the theory that they particularly dislike any government agency that helps people.

[Soliton]

I emailed Molly:

"I was impressed by the willful ignorance of your article regarding the New Orleans disaster. The mayor is black. The chief of police is black. The head of the national guard in Louisiana is black. They are all democrats. The governor is white. She's a democrat too.

As someone who is not now or ever a republican, I say suck my nuts. It's liberating."

Suck my nuts,

Sincerely,

Frank King

[RoseofTexas]

Hey Molly, STOP your yapping and open your HOME to those loyal democrat refugee voters, you Schmuck!!!

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Honestly, if Bush didn't exist Liberals would have to invent him, because otherwise they wouldn't have anyone on whom to blame their own failures.

[GianniV]

Frank - nice e-mail, but do you really want Molly "Harry Caray" Ivins anywhere near your nuts?

[zlala]

This is her 2nd "blame Bush" article since Katrina.

[ravingnutter]

Let's see, Brown was head of FEMA last year when Florida was bashed by multiple hurricanes. Brown was head of FEMA when NO and MS get bashed by a hurricane. What's changed? Only the location. So maybe, just maybe, the folks in Florida were better prepared by their state and local governments, the state/locals had plans and they executed their plans -- and the quality of FEMA leadership (top, middle or bottom) had little to do with it.

According to his bio, he has covered 164 prior disasters without incident. What bugs me is they keep citing the "private sector job", all the while failing to note that, perhaps with the exception of a policeman or fireman, there are very few private sector jobs dealing with the issues that FEMA has to deal with. If you will check his bio at the link below, it states that he also served as FEMA's Deputy Director and the agency's General Counsel prior to this position. He also served as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight while attending law school.

Michael D. Brown

Assistant city manager is not a private sector job, but did involve dealing with emergency services oversight, so to say that he had no experience at all seems a little disingenuous.

[Pete]

Today, FEMA is one of four major branches of DHS. About 2,500 full-time employees in the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate are supplemented by more than 5,000 stand-by disaster reservists.

The source for my claim is from Fox News last night - Bill Sammon from the Washington Times quoting Major Garrett. Clearly, according to your information, Garrett is either wrong or reporting on a relevant subset.

[falcon1966]

MOLLY IVINS CAN'T EAT THAT, CAN SHE ?????????

[wmileo]

"FEMA was once considered one of our better federal agencies. Exactly why the right-wing Republicans chose to make FEMA a political football was never clear, unless you subscribe to the theory that they particularly dislike any government agency that helps people."

Clinton once appointed a former State trooper to head FEMA. His qualification: He was the only Trooper in Arkansas who sided with Clinton when the other Troopers were telling us what a scum bucket he was. Do not tell me, Molly, that FEMA was not a political football back then.

[Cecily]

Agreed. She is like a female version of Mikey Moore, although there are a few more of those around (Eleanor Rodham Clift, MoDo the DoDo, Helen Thomas, Ellen Goodman, Cynthia Tucker, Jill Nelson, ad nauseum).

[tom h]

Good line! I sputtered my coffee! I can wipe my screen but now I need a new keyboard.
;)

[Corin Stormhands]

ROFLMAO! I'm stealing that!

[tom h]

"GUESS WHO MOLLY IVINS BLAMES?"

Molly Ivins ... ah yes ... proving once again that Rush was right about ugly women being the primary fodder for leftist radicals and feminists. To wit:

[GianniV]

Wow - she's getting uglier by the minute.

Take a good look at those pictures - that is Hillary in about 10 years. Ugh.

[SpinyNorman]

Molly, drunk, desperate and ignorant is no way to go through life.

Get sobered up, get laid, and get a fact or two. You are embarassing yourself. Again.

[PhilipFreneau]

>> "Brownie was deputy director of the federal disaster relief agency under Joseph Allbaugh--because he was Allbaugh's college roommate" <<

Allbaugh and Brown did NOT attend the same college. That makes it highly unlikely they were college roommates. Does anyone know the truth about this?

[scouse]

Molly Ivins earns a living writing garbage like this because she is too ferkin ugly to make any cash as a hooker.

[Doc Savage]

Her head looks like a dart board!

[DallasMike]

Fellow Freepers:

At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.

Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, medicine, and shelter. We need help taking care of their pets, too.

If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you. Believe me, there are a lot of organizations who need your help.

Right now the site mostly covers Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas but I'm adding more every night. My wife was down at Reunion Arena in Dallas Tuesday handing out care packages and spiritually ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer. She says that the situation is tragic and that there's a lot of work to be done. There are so many children who don't know where their parents are or even if their parents are still alive.

There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would appreciate it if you would get the word out.

Many thanks,

Michael McCullough

Stingray blogsite