The Bush regime doing what it does best: Peddle the blame elsewhere

[liberal N proud]

White House shifts blame for Katrina response

Administration, embattled FEMA chief point to state, local officials
By Manuel Roig-Franzia and Spencer Hsu
Washington Post
Updated: 9:48 a.m. ET Sept. 4, 2005
NEW ORLEANS - Tens of thousands of people spent a fifth day awaiting evacuation from this ruined city, as Bush administration officials blamed state and local authorities for what leaders at all levels have called a failure of the country's emergency management.

<snip>
Bush, who has been criticized, even by supporters, for the delayed response to the disaster, used his weekly radio address to put responsibility for the failure on lower levels of government. The magnitude of the crisis "has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities," he said. "The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans. And that is unacceptable."

In a Washington briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said one reason federal assets were not used more quickly was "because our constitutional system really places the primary authority in each state with the governor."

And FEMA Director Michael D. Brown, a frequent target of New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin's wrath, said Saturday that "the mayor can order an evacuation and try to evacuate the city, but if the mayor does not have the resources to get the poor, elderly, the disabled, those who cannot, out, or if he does not even have police capacity to enforce the mandatory evacuation, to make people leave, then you end up with the kind of situation we have right now in New Orleans."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9189916/

[snot]

1. We need to blast media re- Feds' UNUSUAL PUSH for control, etc.:

Bush admin sought control over Nat’l Guard, normally under control of governor:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1750979
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301680.html
WP, A01: White House Shifts Blame
Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.

The administration had sought control over National Guard units, normally under control of the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request, noting that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. State authorities suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who is an adviser and does not have the authority to speak publicly.

Blanco made two moves Saturday that protected her independence from the federal government: She created a philanthropic fund for the state's victims and hired James Lee Witt, Federal Emergency Management Agency director in the Clinton administration, to advise her on the relief effort.

See also, Gov. Blanco starts her own donation fund: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4627048

Posts to the effect that numerous states had offered their N.G. before Katrina hit and Blanco had accepted, but that no one could move until the feds had provided the required paperwork or order, which in at least some cases did not materialize until Thursday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1749337
See also http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2057771 ; http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_national_guard ; http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4610280 ; http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2058654 ; http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4605183&mesg_id=4605183

Displacing blame onto state officials: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4628630

Suspension of posse comatatus: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4628627 ; see also info in thread at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4624810

[snot]

2. ALSO, QUESTION

We may need to research a blow-by-blow comparison of how Feds reacted in this situation with other past--not only to how they reacted after hurricanes in FL when Jeb was Gov., but situations when Fed help was effective when the Pres. and Gov. weren't brothers.

[SoCalDem]

3. Blame away

[Cleita]

4. That's what good Nazis do.

Reichstag fire, blame the communists.
Bad economy, blame the Jews.
Too much crime, blame the gypsies.

BushCo are just being predictable fascists.