FEMA

The Boston Herald is reporting that FEMA director Michael Brown was fired from his last job of overseeing horse shows. He was bad at organizing and supervising HORSE SHOWS! But was hired as deputy director at FEMA by his old college buddy (from Oklahoma, unfortunately). That college buddy was appointed by Bush based on his great experience at, oh right, running part of Bush's 2000 campaign. Hmm. If you appointed a car salesman in charge of your fire department, would you be surprised if there were problems?

Now this:

"As reports continued of famished and dehydrated people isolated across the Gulf Coast, angry questions were pressed about why the military has not been dropping food packets for them -- as was done in Afghanistan, Bosnia and in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami.

Bill Wattenburg, a consultant for the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and one of the designers of the earlier food drop programs, said that he has lobbied the administration and the military to immediately begin something similar. He said he was told that the military was prepared to begin, but that it was awaiting a request from FEMA."

And this:

"Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck -- a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard on Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday."

Unfortunately, this is shaping up more and more like Michael Brown is going to bear the brunt of this--and it appears that he deserves much of it.

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Just found this (emphasis mine): KRT Wire | 09/02/2005 | FEMA director struggles to defend Katrina response:

"Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican who chairs the Senate Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security Subcommittee, declared Friday he would hold hearings on 'the inadequate federal and state governments' level of preparedness.'

President Bush, however, gave Brown a vote of confidence Friday, telling him he was 'doing a heck of a job.' [maybe he should get the Presidential Medal of Freedom or an appointment to the Supreme Court?]

--snip--

. . . Brown hasn't spent much of his career in the public eye or on TV. He isn't a politician, one friend said, but a 'nitty gritty manager, a guy who wants to see all the flow charts and how things fit together.' 'Mike is more of a manager who drives the process,' he said. 'He's not a big-picture thinker.'

--snip--

In 2001, however, his old friend Joseph Allbaugh - who managed President Bush's 2000 campaign for president - took over FEMA and hired Brown as his general counsel. And when Allbaugh left FEMA in 2003, Brown succeeded him.

'It was not a patronage job in any way,' said Marc Lampkin, who was Allbaugh's deputy in the Bush campaign of 2000."

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Funny moment. Remember that Dennis Hastert raised questions the other day about rebuilding New Orleans. He is trying to backpeddle, but someone had a strong response to his comment.

"In Syracuse, N.Y., former president Bill Clinton was discussing New Orleans's dilemma when someone described the speaker's comments. Had they been in the same place when the remarks were made, Clinton said, 'I'm afraid I would have assaulted him.'"

I miss him.