They're After Chertoff Now

Thanks to Flo -

I'm not suggesting Chertoff isn't culpable here. I'm not that up on Federal emergency response planning, or how things played out along the chain of command. But I did predict to one political source I was in touch with that they were going to go up from Brown to Chertoff and eventually try to lay it all off on Bush.

Don't be surprised if Hillary doesn't make another run at forming an Independent commission to investigate the Federal response to Katrina. The Dems waited and pushed for a year for the 9/11 commission - what a political fiasco that turned out to be.

So, when is that Presidential Election year?

But Chertoff - not Brown - was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government's blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents.

An order issued by President Bush in 2003 also assigned that responsibility to the homeland security director. But according to a memo obtained by Knight Ridder, Chertoff didn't shift that power to Brown until late afternoon or evening on Aug. 30, about 36 hours after Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi. That same memo suggests that Chertoff may have been confused about his lead role in disaster response and that of his department.

pdf file of memo here

Comments

[!]

NEXT.....

When are we gonna here some more about the Governor of the state of NEW ORLEANS. I supose she was just an innocent bystander.
"The govenor (and that would be me)" statement she made did it for me. !!

[letsbefair]

The (Democrat) Governor wouldn't turn over control to the feds. That's what caused the FEMA delay. You would have had to shoot a lot of those people to get them to evacuate anyway. Now they all blame Bush. No big surprise.

[DeeDee]

Kathleen Babineaux Blanco..........ummm hummm all I hear from Louisiana friends is they are waiting for her resignation and blame her more than anyone else above or below. Thats the word from the locals there. She didn't use the maiden name for a long time, then that celebrity status feeling rose up.

[Captain Joe]

I'm not surprised they're after Chertoff. Look at all the amateur campaign lawyer/bimbo types they put in that organization. The org needs to have more ex-Mil/firefighter types there.

I love to smoke cigars when I adjust artillery fire.

[Thought]

A few thoughts:

1) Of course the media won't lay off of Bush...they are as biased as one can imagine, a veritable recreation of Pravda. I'm so grateful that alternative media such as blogs is exposing the liberal media as well as replacing it. However, so much more remains to be done in toppling the liberal media, especially before 2008 when Darth Hillary makes her presidential run. You know the MSM will be in overdrive for her.

2) Bush and his team by and large suffer not from problems of execution...they really have done a pretty darn good job if you examine the facts. They face a problem of communication. I really hope Bush starts to give regular addresses to the American public, kind of like FDR and his fireside chats. We've been through so much as a nation in such a short time that this would be good. Bush needs to fulfill the role of a father figure for the nation. He has the attributes...but of course he has to actually do it. I appreciate the fact that Bush focuses more on actions and results than words and images, but any leader needs to be an effective communicator as well. All great presidents were great communicators. It's no coincidence that the most successful Republican president in the last 50 years, Reagan, was also known as the great communicator.

3) in 2008 it is essential that Republicans nominate another great communicator to run against Darth Hillary. It will take that to circumvent the MSM. It would also be nice to go into the debates not sweating how your candidate will come off. It will also be amazingly useful if the Republican candidate wins in 08.

[!]

We should all email the whitehouse and tell our President that we woudl enjoy some of those "fireside chats" from him . I am sure he would be delighted to do so.

God bless PRESIDENT BUSH !

A decent and moral man. :O)

[ManWith2Dogs]

Dan, You comment that the 911 commision was a fiasco makes little sense to me, referencing you post: "Don't be surprised if Hillary doesn't make another run at forming an Independent commission to investigate the Federal response to Katrina. The Dems waited and pushed for a year for the 9/11 commission - what a political fiasco that turned out to be."

Apparently it would also make little sense to many other Americans:

"A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that... 76 percent of the public favors an investigation of federal storm response efforts by an independent commission similar to the one that probed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks." - WAPO 09-13-05

"In fact, according to the same poll, Americans of all stripes, Republicans and Democrats, are united behind their support for such a commission (64% of all Republicans and 83% of all Democrats want a commission) even though they were aware that the Republicans in Congress are doing their own biased and partisan investigation." - http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/

But your lock step 54 GOP Senators voted against it.

[ManWith2Dogs]

Dan, Your comment that the 911 commision was a fiasco makes little sense to me. I'm referencing your post: "Don't be surprised if Hillary doesn't make another run at forming an Independent commission to investigate the Federal response to Katrina. The Dems waited and pushed for a year for the 9/11 commission - what a political fiasco that turned out to be."

Apparently it would also make little sense to many other Americans:

"A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that... 76 percent of the public favors an investigation of federal storm response efforts by an independent commission similar to the one that probed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks." - WAPO 09-13-05

"In fact, according to the same poll, Americans of all stripes, Republicans and Democrats, are united behind their support for such a commission (64% of all Republicans and 83% of all Democrats want a commission) even though they were aware that the Republicans in Congress are doing their own biased and partisan investigation." - http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/

But your lock step 54 GOP Senators voted against it.

[FloridaPatty]

Your post yesterday was so telling Dan. The email one. Something this seasoned Floridian could conclude on her own. FEMA didn't show up for four days. Red Cross about five.

what part of "bring enough food and water for two to three days" don't people understand.

Yes, Brown was the first lamb, they are still hunting.

[DeeDee]

Lest we forget it was the Governor's call. This was in a previous link:

http://www.jasoncoleman.com/BlogArchives/2005/09/blancos_insurre.html

Blanco held Red Cross and others at bay. When will she be on the chopping block? Not soon enough in my opinion.

[usmcmom]

But your lock step 54 GOP Senators voted against it.

Posted by: ManWith2Dogs | Sep 15, 2005 3:53:00 AM

Please note that Hillary, et.al. wanted a commission to study ONLY Federal response.... News Flash for the mental-giants of the Senate...what possible good is studying Federal response when it was the Local/State response that so totally screwed up the "lawful" initiation of the Feds and their agencies. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. If you have massive bungling on the lower tiers of the government food chain, there is no "legal" way that the Feds can efficiently respond to any disaster. (See NY 9/11/01 for a clue on proper leadership) So, at this time, please don't waste my federal tax dollars on studying this disaster response until the Lousiana state/local government are put under the microscope and they come clean with their total mismanagement.... Don't forget it is the LOUISIANA National Guard and the LOUISIANA Dept of Homeland Security under the legal/lawful direction of Governor Blanco that are and will always be the first responders. Until Hillary and her Senate/Congressional possee acknowledge that most BASIC fact of American government, anything they do will just be a dog and pony show; and personally, I'm just not in the mood anymore for their incessant whining.

As far as Chertoff under fire... have at it... this is one guy will not go quietly into the night.

[punkingale]

Impeach them all!!!!!!!!

[TheAlamo]

Impeach them all!!!!!!!!

Posted by: punkingale | Sep 15, 2005 2:04:28 PM

The most sensible statement in this whole thread.

[ManWith2Dogs]

"Senate Republicans on Wednesday scuttled an attempt by Sen. Hillary Clinton to establish an independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate what went wrong with federal, state and local governments' response to Hurricane Katrina." - By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 14, 3:36 PM ET

[ManWith2Dogs]

USMCmom: please note in the previous post: "...federal, state and local governments' response to Hurricane Katrina." I hope this clears this up for you.