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State Rebuffed Security Bid to Put Louisiana Troops Under U.S. Command Amid New Orleans Chaos
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ^ | September 9, 2005 | JOHN D. MCKINNON

Posted on 09/09/2005 5:03:06 AM PDT by Brilliant

Parts of New Orleans became so dangerous ... the Bush administration briefly sought to take control of local law enforcement...

The administration sent Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco a proposed memorandum...last Friday, raising the possibility that the federal government would take command... In a series of telephone conversations...the governor's office refused.

The memorandum amounted to a White House request for a federal takeover of local law enforcement, said Denise Bottcher, the governor's spokeswoman.

Gov. Blanco, in a letter to the White House..., said she would retain control of her state's National Guard... "Our response was 'no' to federalization..." said Ms. Bottcher.

As the White House and state officials were discussing alternatives...the violence in New Orleans began to subside...

The Bush administration ultimately dropped the idea of a federal takeover of law enforcement.

By invoking the Insurrection Act, a president can use the military -- including federalized National Guard troops -- to quell civil disturbances. Under normal circumstances, regular military forces aren't allowed to engage in such law-enforcement activities...

In a tense meeting with Mr. Bush at the New Orleans airport..., Gov. Blanco resisted the idea of federalizing the National Guard. When the president emerged from the meeting, Mr. Bush told New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin that the governor "needed 24 hours to decide," Mr. Nagin said...

Later on Friday, the White House formalized the offer in a memo to the governor's office, suggesting ... a military takeover of the security...

The tense and ultimately fruitless negotiations last week apparently contributed to chilly relations between the White House and the governor's office. When Mr. Bush returned to Louisiana for a second visit on Monday, Gov. Blanco's staff learned of the visit from a newspaper reporter; the White House said it had trouble reaching the governor on Sunday to let her know.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: blanco; hurricane; incompetence; insurrectionact; katrina; katrinafailures; louisiana; neworleans; possecomitatus
I can't understand why the Lousiana newspapers are defending Blanco. Her actions seem incomprehensible to me.
1 posted on 09/09/2005 5:03:10 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Brilliant
How about now, does this make more sense? --- I can't understand why the Lousiana newspapers are defending Blanco. Her actions seem incomprehensible to me.
2 posted on 09/09/2005 5:13:09 AM PDT by BlackRain
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To: BlackRain

Just think of it. If the President had gorilla'd his way into the situation down there. The NOLA citizens and the media would be calling him a dictator and worse. That the President continued to defer at all to their Gov. of LA is a testament to his respect for the rule in that situation. For the LA gov. to now say that the Fed. was delinquent in its response it really TOOOO MUCH!!! How many different ways can those guys have it???


3 posted on 09/09/2005 5:17:43 AM PDT by SMARTY ("Stay together, pay the soldiers and forget everything else." Lucius Septimus Severus)
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To: Brilliant
Retaining full control = Retaining full responsibility and full accountability!

Case closed.

4 posted on 09/09/2005 5:20:24 AM PDT by Zacs Mom (Proud wife of a Marine! ... and purveyor of "rampant, unedited dialogue")
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To: Brilliant
I can't understand why the Lousiana newspapers are defending Blanco. Her actions seem incomprehensible to me.

Because you can't get nothing done in LA without political connections. Politics here is allegence to a party. Politics there is allegence to the Mob. And the Mob is controlled and operated by the DNC. Any paper that attacks the political party, does so at its own risk!

5 posted on 09/09/2005 5:23:19 AM PDT by Bommer
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To: Brilliant
When Mr. Bush returned to Louisiana for a second visit on Monday, Gov. Blanco's staff learned of the visit from a newspaper reporter; the White House said it had trouble reaching the governor on Sunday to let her know.

Don't call us. We'll call you...

6 posted on 09/09/2005 5:23:47 AM PDT by pageonetoo (You'll spot their posts soon enough!)
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To: Brilliant

Easy peasy!! Once the LA poliyicians and thieves lose control of their resources to the feds, they can no longer be sure of the flows of revenue that result from the passage of do-gooders into the state. They assumes there would be as much in grafts and in kick backs as there always has been after a hurricane. Every thing the locals did was rational in the context of their filthy corruption. Whether they are incompetent or not isn't the point; that they are crooks is.


7 posted on 09/09/2005 5:27:58 AM PDT by Tacis ("Democrats - The Party of Traitors, Treachery and Treason!")
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To: SMARTY

they already call him a dictator....they would've just said, "see- this is proof"...I assume the complete story is pay?


8 posted on 09/09/2005 5:50:33 AM PDT by God luvs America (When the silent majority speaks the earth trembles!)
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To: Brilliant

I wonder who Gov. Blanc's "puppetmaster" is. Judging from her total lack of composure in the midst of the crisis, it would seem likely that there is someone behind the scenes making decisions for her.


9 posted on 09/09/2005 5:59:42 AM PDT by randita
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To: randita
I wonder who Gov. Blanc's "puppetmaster" is. Judging from her total lack of composure in the midst of the crisis, it would seem likely that there is someone behind the scenes making decisions for her.

That is a given

She is being advised ( told ) on her every move by the democrat power structure nationalty
Bank on it
10 posted on 09/09/2005 6:19:10 AM PDT by uncbob
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To: uncbob
She is being advised ( told ) on her every move by the democrat power structure nationalty

Bank on it

I have thought that since the first day of the hurricane when she began to look like the fool she is--in plain sight for all to see.

Hiring James Lee dimWitt just confirmed it.

The game is one big demonRAT effort to slam the Bush administration.

11 posted on 09/09/2005 6:23:29 AM PDT by twntaipan (Leadership: Rudy has it! W has it! Ray Nagin (mayor of New Orleans) can't spell it!)
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To: randita

It may be the DNC or it may not. The whole state is corrupt. My husband grew up there and we both attended a university in Lake Charles. Corruption is rampant even in the small towns. Its a way of life. Its a "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine" mindset and everyone looks the other way and jokes among themselves about the corruption. The dad of one of my husbands high school friends owned a high end men's clothing store in the small town where he grew up and ran a bookie operation out of the back of the store. In the same town, the local taxi service fronted a prostitution ring.

Blanco could be pressured by the DNC or she may be pressured by the NO mafia chiefs or she may owe someone big time. Who knows; maybe she's just an idiot.


12 posted on 09/09/2005 6:47:35 AM PDT by TX Conservative
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To: twntaipan
I have thought that since the first day of the hurricane when she began to look like the fool she is--in plain sight for all to see.

I thought she looked like a fool days before that when she and Nagin were worring about liability and not evacuating the city

13 posted on 09/09/2005 6:55:10 AM PDT by Elyse
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To: uncbob
"She is being advised ( told ) on her every move by the democrat power structure nationalty"

Yep. Haven't seen much of her on TV either the past few days, have we? I guess not good for the party. I would love that fact to out...

14 posted on 09/09/2005 7:06:15 AM PDT by eureka! (Hey Lefties: Only 3 and 1/4 more years of W. Hehehehe....)
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: BlackRain

Good Ole Boy Network. Corruption, politics, etc. The papers probably own her.


16 posted on 09/10/2005 10:57:26 AM PDT by Virginia Queen (Virginia Queen)
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To: Brilliant

I do not have a subscription to get this whole story, is there someone who has the article in the Wall Stree Journal that I can get it from.
Thank you


17 posted on 09/10/2005 12:43:04 PM PDT by darroy
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To: Brilliant

she's a Dem, a woman, and the newspapers down there are part of the corrupt power structure - of course they are going to defend her.


18 posted on 09/10/2005 12:49:38 PM PDT by oceanview
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