[gov_bean_ counter]

But Mr. Brown's account, in which he described making "a blur of calls" all week to Mr. Chertoff, Mr. Card and Mr. Hagin, suggested that Mr. Bush, or at least his top aides, were informed early and repeatedly by the top federal official at the scene that state and local authorities were overwhelmed and that the overall response was going badly.

And what pray tell were they supposed to do about it?

[Pikamax]

"A spokesman for Ms. Blanco denied Mr. Brown's description of disarray in Louisiana's emergency response operation. "That is just totally inaccurate," Bob Mann, the governor's communications director, said. "Everything that Mr. Brown needed in terms of resources or information from the state, he had those available to him.""

If that was true, there would not have been chaos.

[DoughtyOne]

I thing Brown hit all the right points. Wow, how the NY Times spun the meaning of Brown's comments. Instead of recognizing how different the Louisiana was from Mississippi, Alabama and Florida's responses over the last few years, the NY Times instead says Brown's comments mean the blame goes higher up.

Wow! Just damn... the NYT hasn't a clue.

[Shermy]

"But Mr. Brown's account, in which he described making "a blur of calls" all week to Mr. Chertoff, Mr. Card and Mr. Hagin, suggested that Mr. Bush, or at least his top aides, were informed early and repeatedly by the top federal official at the scene that state and local authorities were overwhelmed and that the overall response was going badly."


Bush's fault. Interesting revisionist spin, casting as special and private governmental communication what anyone watching on TV from dayone can tell was happening.

In fact, that Brown didn't seem to know at a stage about the convention center refugees undermines the spin.

[oceanview]

Bush should not have "accepted blame" - then maybe Brown's comments could have actually helped get out the truth about the locals.

[WOSG]

Mr. Brown, then director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said he told the officials in Washington that the Louisiana governor, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, and her staff were proving incapable of organizing a coherent state effort and that his field officers in the city were reporting an "out of control" situation.

"I am having a horrible time," Mr. Brown said he told Mr. Chertoff and a White House official - either Mr. Card or his deputy, Joe Hagin - in a status report that evening. "I can't get a unified command established."

By the time of that call, he added, "I was beginning to realize things were going to hell in a handbasket" in Louisiana. A day later, Mr. Brown said, he asked the White House to take over the response effort.

He said he felt the subsequent appointment of Army Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré as the Pentagon's commander of active-duty forces met the need for more federal help.

In his first extensive interview since resigning as FEMA director on Monday under intense criticism, Mr. Brown declined to blame President Bush or the White House for his removal or for the flawed response.

"I truly believed the White House was not at fault here," he said.

He focused much of his criticism on Governor Blanco, contrasting what he described as her confused response with far more agile mobilizations in Mississippi and Alabama, as well as in Florida during last year's hurricanes.

---

It's become more and more obvious:

FEMA head Brown was the fall guy for the incompetence and poor leadership from Gov Blanco and Louisiana.


oh yeah and this:

"Mr. Brown said that in one much-publicized gaffe - his repeated statement on live television on Thursday night, Sept. 1, that he had just learned that day of thousands of people at New Orleans's convention center without food or water - "I just absolutely misspoke." In fact, he said, he learned about the evacuees there from the first media reports more than 24 hours earlier, but the reports conflicted with information from local authorities and he had no staff on the site until Thursday."

Apparently, Brown's one mis-statement is a firing offense, but we get to stick with Gov Blanco and her incompetence, and even pay her administration billions for it.

Brownie, you did a heck of a job.

[Waco]

Locals overwhelmed?? No, Monica, it's called "stalling". The "spin" changes this to overwhelmed.

[NautiNurse]

This excerpt is interesting:

"The most responsive person he could find, Mr. Brown said, was Governor Blanco's husband, Raymond. "He would try to go find stuff out for me," Mr. Brown said.

Governor Blanco's communications director, Mr. Mann, said that she was frustrated that Mr. Brown and others at FEMA wanted itemized requests before acting. "It was like walking into an emergency room bleeding profusely and being expected to instruct the doctors how to treat you," he said."

[Texas Eagle]

In his first extensive interview since resigning as FEMA director on Monday under intense criticism, Mr. Brown declined to blame President Bush or the White House for his removal or for the flawed response.

And believe you me, we tried our damnedest to get him to.

[SittinYonder]

Some people won't be satisfied until there is no existence beyond the federal government. The response to Katrina, while hampered by Blanco, was just what it should have been. I feel sorry for Brown having to take the kicks to the groin on this.

Nagin should have mobilized the buses to evacuate - that was the plan, after all. Blanco should have mobilized the National Guard and requested help earlier. But all in all, the response to Katrina wasn't that bad considering the massive and widespread destruction.

[t2buckeye]

"The account also suggests that responsibility for the failure may go well beyond Mr. Brown, who has been widely pilloried as an inexperienced manager who previously oversaw horse show judges"

Typical NY Slimes...First they hound this man as an idiot...now they try to suggest it wasn't REALLY his fault, but those higher up , i.e. President Bush..their target all along.

[Zacs Mom]

Just how dishonest have Blanco and Landrieu been about their expectations of FEMA?
Did they railroad FEMA Undersecretary Mike Brown??

Check out these images from FEMA's web site of Blanco and Landrieu meeting with Brown in Baton Rouge, Monday, August 29, 2005:

Baton Rouge, La., 8/29/05 -- FEMA Undersecretary Michael Brown talks with Governor Blanco, right and Senator Landrieu at the Office of Emergency Management about Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans is being evacuated as a result of flooding caused by hurricane Katrina. Photo by Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA

Baton Rouge, La., 8/29/05 -- FEMA Undersecretary Michael Brown sits in a briefing with Governor Blanco, members of her staff and FEMA staff at the Office of Emergency Management about Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans is being evacuated. Photo by Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA

Baton Rouge, La. 8/29/05 -- FEMA's Under Secretary Michael Brown speaks at a press briefing at the Office of Emergency Management about Hurricane Katrina. He is joined by Governor Blanco, (center) and Senator Landrieu (l). New Orleans is being evacuated following hurricane Katrina. Photo by Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA

Baton Rouge, La., 8/29/05 - Governor Blanco speaks at a press briefing at the Office of Emergency Management about hurricane Katrina. FEMA Undersecretary Michael Brown looks on. New Orleans is being evacuated due to flooding. Photo by Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA

[StAnDeliver]

"that state and local authorities were overwhelmed"

No excuse. Bury it all you want, Pinch, there is no excuse for Blanco and Nagin's failures of leadership in the critical early moments of this crisis.

[Boundless]

> In his first extensive interview ...

But why with the Gray Whore of Liberaland (the NYT)?

The obvious answers to that include:
1. More evidence of cluelessness by Brown
2. He wanted to strike back at the Admin,
and knew the NYT would bias, spin and smear

[Arizona Carolyn]

While I suspect Brown needed to knock some heads together, I think there needs to be a long hard look at this from the perspective of dealing with an inept State Government.

If Scarborough is to be even slightly believed there is some serious problems in Mississippi with FEMA right now and people are very frustrated... putting it into Homeland was a mistake.... were they in Homeland last year when they paid out $30 million in Hurricane claims to Miami Dade area when it hadn't been affected by any hurricanes.

[pollyannaish]

Good for Michael Brown. He was cut loose ostensibly proving the Bush administration FEMA a disaster...but what those "the GOP won't see us coming because we're so much smarter than they" dems didn't realize is that his resignation frees him up to tell the truth.

Once again...dems, be careful what you ask for...because when you actually get what you're screaming for...you ain't gonna like it.

[citizencon]

No chaos in MS and AL because of efficient leadership.
Disaster after another in LA because of incompetent and clueless leadership. Very elementary, my dear... Democrats.

[Mike Darancette]

I trust questions about where Mr. sits on the matter have been cleared up to the satisfaction of the members.

[woofie]

one word: voodoo

[logician2u]

FEMA = Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency

Too big, too important, too full of frustration for Mike Brown -- or any other human.

Give the function back to the states and private agencies where it belongs. They will do a better job, and won't get that false impression the federal government will bail them out if they don't perform (it doesn't anyway).

Hurricane Andrew should have been enough to convince even die-hard FEMA boosters that it can't manage its way out of a paper bag. It's gotten worse since.