Brown: Horseshit in New Orleans
Would Bush have reacted to the disaster in New Orleans faster if someone had told him Terry Schiavo was there?
Have you considered that the New Orleans disaster may be politically good for Bush? Besides killing off thousands of Democrats, it took the news eye off a few embarrassments undeniably of Bush’s own making. Do you remember a certain little war, in which a thousand people were trampled or drowned last week while Katrina was lashing the Gulf Coast? Do you remember that Karl Rove revealed the identity of a CIA agent?
How about that empathy for the Gulf Coast victims, though? As Bush was quick to point out, Trent Lott’s mansion was destroyed, and Bush himself used to party in The Big Easy. I think he’d look good staggering down Bourbon Street, hurricane (the drink) in hand right about now.
And then there’s the quick appointment of John Roberts to Rehnquist’s spot. Distracted us for an hour or so. How come he can react to Rehnquist’s death in one day but his people don’t even know that there are people dying in the New Orleans Convention Center? Turn on CNN instead of Fox at least once in a while, guys.
Then there’s Mike Brown, head of FEMA, who was fired from his last job overseeing of horse shows. Let’s see, this guy was incompetent at cleaning up horse shit, so let’s give him a job running an agency which has the responsibility of saving thousands of human lives. Now that’s Bush leadership.
Contrast this from FEMA’s own history: “In 1993, President Clinton nominated James L. Witt as the new FEMA director. Witt became the first agency director with experience as a state emergency manager. He initiated sweeping reforms that streamlined disaster relief and recovery operations, insisted on a new emphasis regarding preparedness and mitigation, and focused agency employees on customer service. The end of the Cold War also allowed Witt to redirect more of FEMA’s limited resources from civil defense into disaster relief, recovery and mitigation programs.”
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