Posted on 02/13/2006 8:13:54 AM PST by presidio9
WHAT DID THE President know and when did he know it? That Watergate-era phrase may be a cliche from overuse, but it's worth asking of this White House and its prime occupant.
The topic this time is the Katrina disaster, or more precisely, what President Bush and his inner circle knew as the water and wind swept across the Gulf Coast.
Clearly, nothing was done as the storm hit New Orleans, causing the greatest natural disaster in modern times with at least 1,300 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. The hurricane slammed a famously vulnerable city, yet preparations and later responses never clicked.
The blame game has consumed both Louisiana and Washington since last August, and the White House has deftly minimized its minute-to-minute role. It has swaddled itself in executive privilege in denying most congressional inquiries.
Until now. Coming out swinging at a Senate hearing, of all people, was former emergency chief Michael Brown, the symbol of federal ineptitude. His zinger: He alerted the White House about flooding the day Katrina hit. That undercuts the Bush team's stance that it didn't know of the rising water until the next day.
Brown gave a salty, free-spoken analysis of White House dysfunction. The Homeland Security apparatus, which included Brown's Federal Emergency Management Agency, bottled up requests and initiative, he said. Half-jokingly, Brown suggested that if he'd warned of a bomb on New Orleans levees, help would have arrived instantly, not days later as it did. This vast new bureaucracy turned in a dismal performance.
Since then, the White House has wrapped its role in the robes of an imperial presidency that needn't reveal its inner workings. On lesser issues, this stance might make for a diverting history seminar on Oval Office privileges.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Katrina, the new 'Iran-Contra".
Only if you measure "performance" in how many hours it took to get moving.
That's how bureaucracies work, dontcha know.
Which is EXACTLY why primary responsibility for high-speed response is on the LOCAL government. After that, it's the STATE government.
If Bush walked on water, these clymers would complain about him not swimming.
That's right you idiot...what can you do during a category 5 except hunker down?,
Of course Bush knew, he steered the storm right at NO, Duh!
No-no-NO, You fool, It was ALL the Mindwork & Brain function of That Evil Corrupt yet Siniterly-Brilliant Politicall-Mad Advisor Karl Rove!!! [osmium-grade heavy sarcasm]
Homeland security dept was a Dem idea that they pushed on us, remember, Bush didn't want it.
Was that the midnight email I read about the other day? They email the Prez (vs. maybe calling direct) in the last munutes of the day, and then find it hard to believe that the Prez didn't know about it until the next day. The whole thing would be moot if Louisiana had good plans in effect and implemented them instead of refusing evacuation offers and such. If they expect the Feds to be first responders, they need to do away with local governments.
Excellent point! The next time some lib claims that the government should manage health care, ask, "You mean like they managed Katrina?".
Katrina Health Care!
Clearly, Bush should have personally held a little parasol over the city, as he would have done if NO had been a rich white city.
I distinctly remember AFTER the hurricane passed, Shep Smith, and all the other on-scene reporters breathing a sigh of relief that the levees had held and that NO had "dodged a bullet".
This person has been reading too much of pat buchanan's BS.
As somebody said on here yesterday, after demanding Michael Brown's head on a platter in September, the press is now trying to sew it back on.
It's time the VP pay him a visit...
That's a good one. All that's missing is for Howard Dean to say "You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie" ... and mean it.
ROFLMAO......exactly!
Timewarp complete!
Quick post now, more complete one later. Brown was head of FEMA, the FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY. As such, he was the federal official charged with MANAGING THE EMERGENCY. He had the authority to take action, not just toss it upstairs. I'll post a longer and even more boring post on this later tonight.
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