[Slugman]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9350605/

Brown blames state for flawed Katrina response
Ex-FEMA chief tells New York Times he alerted White House to problems

Updated: 9:42 a.m. ET Sept. 15, 2005
NEW YORK - The former FEMA director who became a lightning rod for the sluggish federal response to Hurricane Katrina put the blame on state officials in an interview with the New York Times newspaper.

Within hours of Katrina’s attack on New Orleans Michael Brown said he told the White House that state officials couldn’t get their act together.

"I can't get a unified command established," he said he told Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and a White House official.

Brown said he called Chertoff and White House chief of staff Andrew Card to let them know the situation was out of control.

His account suggested the White House knew right away that the storm was leaving the coast in shambles.

A top administration official told the Times that White House officials remember Brown’s calls, but don’t think they had the urgency he recalls.

Brown resigned this week, days after being from the Katrina mission.

 

[H8R]

What a bitch.

 

[Reactor]

When there is an emergency you always need someone to throw under the bus. In this case I think he probably deserved it.

 

[sanjuro]

I read the NY Times piece. He makes himself look blameless. Blanco did not have her act together, Chertoff didn't help me, and The White House was suppose to take over. What a leader.

 

[reflux]

Umm, yeah. If a state doesn't have its chit together, isn't that one of the situations when FEMA should step in to help make sure chit gets done?



**Edit: Where's Mmike? A Brownie thread just isn't the same without him.**

 

[stinkyboy]

Umm, yeah. If a state doesn't have its chit together, isn't that one of the situations when FEMA should step in to help make sure chit gets done?

Yea, like turning back trucks of bottled water.

:mumble:

 

[sanjuro]

On a slightly different note, the last gubernatorial election the Republican was a very talented politician named Bobby Jindal, a Rhodes Scholar (despite being a product of the Louisiana Public School System!) who took over the health care administration of Louisiana before the age of 30 and did a great job.

Jindal lost in a narrow election, which considering this is a state which gave David Duke more votes than the Republican candidate in a runoff gubernatorial election about 15 years ago, did not surprise me considering he is Indian (as in India). I suspect Jindal would have done a better job than Blanco.

 

[MMike]

Umm, yeah. If a state doesn't have its chit together, isn't that one of the situations when FEMA should step in to help make sure chit gets done?



**Edit: Where's Mmike? A Brownie thread just isn't the same without him.**

BROWNIE!!