Michael Brown: Party politics played role in Katrina response
- Thread starter Phokus
- Start date
Lemon law
Lifer
- Nov 6, 2005
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I was on vacation with a long drive back when Katrina hit---it cost me an arm and a leg in increased gas prices to drive back. As the tragic news filtered back of the horrible conditions and the feeble response of the Federal Government, I kept asking myself---how will GWB&co. spin this to evade the blame. Making Brownie the scapegoat hardly surprised me, but from what I see, the other strategy was simply to do nothing, not even talk about it, and continue to do nothing effective. I sure hope some folks in Mississippi are getting a little bit of something because the folks in Louisiana are sure getting the pretend it never happened treatment.
And the folks in Iraq are getting far less--almost four years later, all they hear is that aid is on the way.
And the folks in Iraq are getting far less--almost four years later, all they hear is that aid is on the way.
You're right - everything written in any book involves an author trying to sell books, so it's all lies.
Siddhartha
Lifer
- Oct 17, 1999
- 12,502
- 1
- 81
Not if Lil'Georgie's buddy Joe "The World Revovles around MEMEME" Lieberman (CFL) has anything to say around it.
Lemon law
Lifer
- Nov 6, 2005
- 20,984
- 3
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Not if Lil'Georgie's buddy Joe "The World Revovles around MEMEME" Lieberman (CFL) has anything to say around it.
Well truth be told, smoking Joe Lieberman may be a powerful voice in the Senate, but he is a mute in the House. And all the
juicy investigations are going to come from the House side.
And speaking of investigations, there will be a pile of them, and the Katrina one may
seem minor in comparison to others.
Somehow I do not think GWB&co with be singing any Porgy&Bess in the summer of 07.
Y all know the line--"Summer time and the living is easy."
Well truth be told, smoking Joe Lieberman may be a powerful voice in the Senate, but he is a mute in the House. And all the
juicy investigations are going to come from the House side.
And speaking of investigations, there will be a pile of them, and the Katrina one may
seem minor in comparison to others.
Somehow I do not think GWB&co with be singing any Porgy&Bess in the summer of 07.
Y all know the line--"Summer time and the living is easy."
techs
Lifer
- Sep 26, 2000
- 28,561
- 4
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This certainly fits the Karl Rove style of putting politics into every governmental decision.
In fact I strongly believed that this was true even before Brownie said it. Person after person who has left the White House has spoken out about how Karl Rove puts Party before Country.
In fact I strongly believed that this was true even before Brownie said it. Person after person who has left the White House has spoken out about how Karl Rove puts Party before Country.
The State and local Government played a much larger role in the Katrina FUBAR then the Fed's did.
Heck, they are STILL screwing up the recovery. Do a google on the status of the LRA plan that Louisiana is running and has been funded by the Feds for quite a while now.
Heck, they are STILL screwing up the recovery. Do a google on the status of the LRA plan that Louisiana is running and has been funded by the Feds for quite a while now.
Lemon law
Lifer
- Nov 6, 2005
- 20,984
- 3
- 0
Brownie may be a legend in his own mind, but no question about it, when the chips were down, and people were counting on Brownie to deliver, he failed to answer that call.
And when it came time to pick a scapegoat, Brownie was it. But in my mind, much of the blame also should have fallen on Chertoff, and if the book fails to point this out, I
certainly hope investigations will.
No amount of revisionist history will rehabilitate Brownie. But Brownie can drag others also responsible into the mud to his level, and for the sake of this nation, I certainly hope
he does that.
And when it came time to pick a scapegoat, Brownie was it. But in my mind, much of the blame also should have fallen on Chertoff, and if the book fails to point this out, I
certainly hope investigations will.
No amount of revisionist history will rehabilitate Brownie. But Brownie can drag others also responsible into the mud to his level, and for the sake of this nation, I certainly hope
he does that.
Schadenfroh
Elite Member
- Mar 8, 2003
- 38,416
- 4
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Heh, wanna see government pork at the hands of Barbour and FEMA, pay a visit to the "FEMA trailer staging area" outside of Purvis, Mississippi. They have FEMA trailers as far as the eye can see just sitting there with no occupants, there are still people that cant get to them because of all the bureaucracy that one has to work through to acquire one. Next time I am heading down to Bay Saint Louis, I will take a few pictures of the place, it is unbelievable, and all it takes is a tornado to wipe all of them from the planet and send the cash down the drain.
And it's not just the bureaucracy, it's the stupidity of the bureaucracy. The rules for getting a trailer have been applied with many different standards.
When I was on my first church-affiliated trip to the area we gutted the house for a woman in Gulfport, MS. Her house was north of the interstate and had not suffered damage from rising water, but had significant damage due to her roof being damaged by the wind and then the rain coming in though the holes. Because the primary cause of her damage was the wind, her hurricane insurance wasliable to pay for the repairs to her house. But when she went to FEMA to get a trailer she was turned down BECAUSE she had insurance. I know this wasn't the standard, but that's my point. The standards weren't.
'Luckily' for her, she had a daughter that lived in an apartment in downtown Gulfport. The apartment complex was near the beach and as such lost it's lowest two floors to the storm surge like many of the motels, hotels and apartment buildings did. Since the building was condemned, her daughter had no place to live. FEMA was more than willing to give her a trailer and she ended up having it placed in her mother's front yard and living in it with her mother.
ProfJohn
Lifer
- Jul 28, 2006
- 18,251
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This is an explosive charge, and yet he refuses to give any details on who said what and when etc.
We know that many people already assume that the response was based on politics, many have said so right in this thread, but wishing that was the case does not make it the truth.
This whole thing seems to be based around the idea of federalizing Louisiana and not Mississippi. You could easily try to turn this into politics since LA is run by Democrats and MS by Republicans. But remember the situation on the ground post Katrina. Mississippi came out in decent shape, especially compared to Louisiana. The gulf coast of Mississippi was certainly beat to hell and suffered major damage, but it was no where near the life and death type situation that existed in New Orleans.
Add to that fact that Louisiana?s government was in total chaos then, as it still is today.
Now put yourself in the shoes of some mid-level government official in an office in Washington DC. You?re watching a TV news conference where the Blanco is stating that the levees are still holding while up in the corner is a box showing water flooding into New Orleans. And then you follow that up by watching the total inability of the LA government to function due to the disaster and I am sure you start to think that the federal government has to step in and take control of the situation.
While New Orleans is falling to chaos and we have stories of people shooting at helicopters, dead bodies and rapes gangs in the Superdome and mayhem in the streets we have Haley Barbour in Mississippi talking about how they are going to rebuild the gulf coast into something better than it has ever been. Now which parts of gulf coast would you want federal control over?
Also note that he claims to have learned of this effort from Blanco, a Democrat, could that mean that the charges are false or based on biased information?
We know that many people already assume that the response was based on politics, many have said so right in this thread, but wishing that was the case does not make it the truth.
This whole thing seems to be based around the idea of federalizing Louisiana and not Mississippi. You could easily try to turn this into politics since LA is run by Democrats and MS by Republicans. But remember the situation on the ground post Katrina. Mississippi came out in decent shape, especially compared to Louisiana. The gulf coast of Mississippi was certainly beat to hell and suffered major damage, but it was no where near the life and death type situation that existed in New Orleans.
Add to that fact that Louisiana?s government was in total chaos then, as it still is today.
Now put yourself in the shoes of some mid-level government official in an office in Washington DC. You?re watching a TV news conference where the Blanco is stating that the levees are still holding while up in the corner is a box showing water flooding into New Orleans. And then you follow that up by watching the total inability of the LA government to function due to the disaster and I am sure you start to think that the federal government has to step in and take control of the situation.
While New Orleans is falling to chaos and we have stories of people shooting at helicopters, dead bodies and rapes gangs in the Superdome and mayhem in the streets we have Haley Barbour in Mississippi talking about how they are going to rebuild the gulf coast into something better than it has ever been. Now which parts of gulf coast would you want federal control over?
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