Posted on 09/28/2005 1:00:53 PM PDT by crazyhorse691
Republican members of Congress haven't yet done enough to get to the bottom of problems surrounding the response to Hurricane Katrina. Only an independent inquiry can do that. But at least they recognize a fool when they see one.
Michael Brown, who quit as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Katrina, was back on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, defending his response to the hurricane that killed more than 1,000 people and left thousands more trapped in the floods, cesspools and crime that followed.
He blamed everyone in sight except, of course, himself. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The "hysteric" news media.
"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," Brown said in a display of arrogance and denial in Tuesday's House committee hearing that was nothing short of weird.
There are plenty of people to blame, including those at the state and local level, for the poor response. And Hurricane Katrina was an immense force of nature against which human efforts were bound to fall short.
But Brown and consequently his agency froze in the crisis. His biggest mistake -- aside from taking the job at FEMA in the first place -- was failing to lead the agency he was appointed to lead. That was certainly the case in the days immediately before the hurricane, during the storm and afterward. It was also true in the years before the storm, when FEMA's role was marginalized with little or no effective opposition from Brown.
To their credit, Republicans leading the hearing had no stomach for Brown's performance, either.
Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., told Brown: "I'm happy you left. That kind of look in the lights like a deer tells me you weren't capable of doing that job."
Shays spoke for the nation.
This just in... @700 New Orleans police officers out of 1700 were spectors, and not real people.. but only names on the books.. i.e. payroll, benefits, other graft..
The tip of the iceberg has been spotted... and the democrat party is in serious damage control mode.. maybe there WERE NO bus drivers at all.. except for names on the books..
What would have been an acceptable response? Have you given that any thought? If federal assets arrived "too slow", what would be fast enough? If federal relief was "too little", how much would be enough?
Katrina was a Cat 4 hurricane impacting 3 states and one major city. It was not just a simple 911 call for an ambulance. FEMA has approximately 2,600 employees nationwide. To my way of thinking, the federal response was normal. If "normal" is not good enough, please offer your specific measures of "good enough".
As a nation, we seem to have all fallen into the anti-administration canard that the response was "too slow", or "insufficient", or "failed". I won't buy that assumption just because the media says so. I would like to see some concrete and realistic definitions of what is "fast enough", or "sufficient", or "successful" response to a major disaster of these proportions. If the measure of success is to be "no inconvenience" then I'd call that asinine -- after all it's called a "disaster" for a reason.
The worst part of it is because of the media/idiot blitz in NOLA, the people who lost everything in MS, AL didn't get all of the help they needed. And now, people think that the "gubmint" is supposed to have everything fixed in less than 24 hours! The local stations are crawling in to East Texas to look for sad stories to boost the ratings and hammer FEMA and George more.
Excellent post!
susie
No one (on this blog, in Congress, or in the MSM) has mentioned that Brown lied in his testimony. When asked why the President's emergency declaration did not include New Orleans, Brown said it was based on the governor's request. When the follow-up question asked whether the governor's omission of New Orleans surprised him, Brown said it did. The governor deserves a lot of blame, but her request to the president DID include New Orleans. (It's still available at her website, if you want to check.)
Dems are losers, but Brown is not a Republican I'm prepared to support. Party loyalty does not extend to people who make the whole party look bad; Brown is an embarrassment.
If we had the same media during WWII, they would have been whining that we didn't defeat the Japanese in less than six months.
a tight hairline crack
Watch your language! (;^)
They are behaving like a$$cracks
America, we have a problem
Actually, Shays represents what is terribly wrong about the media department of the Republicans....to include the White House.
They whimper, they agree, they apologize, they buy knee pads -- they don't understand the battle or they're partly of the side of those who oppose them.
I doubt it, but even so, sometimes the nation can be wrong. The article is completely non specific in its accusations, which makes it worthless.
Just a couple of questions (I didn't see his entire testimony, and I'm not really sure what you're talking about or what it has to do with what I said).
1. Where is her webpage?
2. Why do you know this but no one else seems to?
3. Why would he lie when it seems to easy to prove otherwise?
susie
How he looked in the lights like a deer? Is that like Pass me through the window a beer? Or Throw Mamma From The Train A Kiss? Talk about your tortured usage. I think Brownie is gittin the shaft and I hope he takes some somebodies down with him.
YOU DON'T SPEAK FOR ME, SHAYS!
I know the media is going to take the easy way out, but I think a lot of people here have done the same thing.
He stole Hillary's tagline.
Brown may not be the best choice to run FEMA but he is being hung out to dry by elected officials who are worried that the rest of the country doesn't count votes the way they do in Louisiana
Hell Christopher Shays is my congressmen, unfortunately, and he didn't even speak for me!
My message to him yesterday was basically that I was upset with his performance during the hearing, and...
"Of course, because you're a democra... oh wait, you're a REPUBLICAN? -- so you should know what the role of FEMA actually was? You dolt!"
Every last one of them -- democrats and republicans -- should be drummed out of Washington and replaced with people who are working for us, not themselves.
Amen to that!
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