Posted on 12/03/2005 5:40:31 AM PST by abb
E-mails detail effort to ensure feds took blame for slow response Saturday, December 03, 2005 By Jan Moller Capital bureau
BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco and the Bush administration were locked in a pitched political battle to shape public opinion about the response to Hurricane Katrina at the same time they were trying to manage the rescue operation, documents released late Friday by the governor's office show.
E-mails turned over by the state to the congressional committees investigating the hurricane response show that the governor's senior staff was deeply involved in trying to preserve the governor's political standing and make sure that the White House was blamed for the slow pace of the initial response.
"We need to keep working to get our national surrogates to explain the facts -- that the federal response was anemic and had been shortchanged by budget cuts and avoiding responsibilities like protecting Louisiana levees and wetlands," Chief of Staff Andy Kopplin wrote to senior staff on the morning of Sept. 4, six days after Katrina made landfall.
At the same time, however, the governor's staff was sensitive to any notion that the federal government was taking control of the response from state officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Typical Dems - screw up everything and then point the finger at the Republicans for the mess you're in. At least they can be 100 percent certain that the press will carry the ball for them.
"national surrogates "
Guess that would be the MSM?
LOL
The State loses its main city. Riots and looting in the streets. People still in danger and the senior staff of the Governor are just working on ways to blame Bush.
I'm willing to bet Blanco made more calls to DNC headquarters to get the "script" than working with FEMA and the President in the line of duty.
It's the same with Iraq, Democrats first...Americans second.
True - and sadly enough the press couldn't wait to pin the blame on the Feds since blaming either local or state government would have meant blaming a Democrat. The most disgusting part of the whole thing is that up until the travesty in New Orleans, hurricanes were considered a part of nature. Now we are to believe that they are an "act of the Republicans against the poor."
I permanently wrote off Krauthammer, Gingrich, Cal Thomas, and some others, because they kept repeating the mantra that "Bush was slow to respond" or "bungled the handling of Katrina" with not a word about the absolute incompetence og Nagin and Blanco.
You're right - the one thing the Dems have that the Republicans don't is that fact that they recognize the power in putting up a united front. The Republicans try so hard to be even-handed that they turn on their own in ways that the Dems have NEVER done.
Notoice how they segued from the attacks on Katrina to the attacks on intelligence on Iraq to pulling out of Iraq.
They were too ready with the criticism on the hurricane. I was immediately suspicious, and I will bet that if we could get access to the e-mails from the DNC to Blanco, I would be proven right.
Imagine that a dirty bomb had hit Chicago. I think the responses would have been identical.
"national surrogates", wow. It is like the media are their employees. It is just taken for granted that the media will do the Democrats' bidding. I hate the arrogance of corrupt or incompetent officials (often Democrats) who act like they are royalty and how dare anyone question them.
"The most infuriating thing about this whole episode was the number of conservative pundits who bought Blanco's spin, with never a word about separation of powers or how FEMA was designed to respond."
No, even more infuriating is knowing that your hard earned tax dollars are paying MeeMaw BLANK-O, Ramblin' Ray and the rest of of their corrupt fellow travelers in Baton Rouge and NOLA
Your logic is undeniable. Those "power at all cost" office holders at all levels throughout this country have effectively taken our freedoms from us. An individual has no recourse, not even a president. Those actions cost him dearly.
Undoubtedly it will be on page one, above the fold, in tomorrow's NY Times.
Gotta love the timing of this "revelation." Saturday edition, the least-read paper of the week. Let me guess, it was at the very bottom of Page A-38 as well. And of course this is the last we'll hear of these e-mails. The Dims in Congress will conveniently forget to mention them in the hearings, and the GOP will be too "genteel" to bring them up themselves.
Blanco need not have worried. The media would carry the lie to every corner of the earth.
No takers here.
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