Fox Interview
John Breaux: There needs to be somebody in charge, coordinating everything..
My comment -- Mr. Breaux, that person that needs to be in charge is, by LAW and CONSTITUTION, your Governor!!
(sorry -- just had to vent that, after listening to days of blaming the feds.)
bump
Nah, she's too busy attending to the vitally important task of giving simpering interviews on TV news. She must draw national attention to the suffering of the people of her state, instead of getting on the phone and trying to actually DO something about alleviating that suffering.
There was a classic moment on O'Reilly last night - he was interviewing the judge in Houston who was coordinating setting up the Astrodome. Basically, O'Reilly asked him how long it would take to get things set up. The judge said it was already mostly done in 48 hours. O'Reilly asked him how they were able to get it done so quickly. The judge replied that they had contingency planning just for such an event. O'Reilly was speechless for a couple of seconds - a rare positive amidst all the scenes of disaster.
That is the difference here - Texas has a LOCAL JUDGE capable of understanding the need to plan in advance, and capable of overseeing the execution of that plan - and Texas probably has hundreds of other officials just as capable. Louisiana apparently has a governor and a mayor of its largest city who did not understand that. And if they are incapable of planning in advance, they are therefore even MORE incapable of reacting after the fact.
But it'll be Bush's fault that FEMA and the military has to make up for the shortcomings of state and local officials. FEMA and the military should take over the secondary placement of refugees - not be responsible for the primary initial care and rescue. What happened in Louisiana in the way of disaster planning is criminal - but what do you expect from the most corrupt state in the country?