You Can't Make This Stuff Up ... (Katrina Blame Edition)

[JABBS]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's lack of planning, not the failures of state and local officials, was to blame for much of what went wrong with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told members of Congress today.

The sheer scope of the damage inflicted by Katrina overwhelmed FEMA and exposed underlying flaws in the structure and management of the agency, Chertoff said. The agency's problems stemmed from a failure to restructure and modernize itself, not from a lack of funding, he said.

The assessment contrasted sharply with testimony offered earlier by former FEMA Director Michael Brown. Brown had blamed the "dysfunction" of Louisiana state and local officials for the problems that hobbled the relief effort.

"From my own experience, I don't endorse those views," Chertoff said.

-- Los Angeles Times, Oct. 19

Now can compare the above admission with the Bush Administration's spin effort from last month:

Under the command of President Bush’s two senior political advisers (Karl Rove and Dan Bartlett), the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina

In a reflection of what has long been a hallmark of Mr. Rove’s tough political style, the administration is also working to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana who, as it happens, are Democrats.

“The way that emergency operations act under the law is the responsibility and the power, the authority, to order an evacuation rests with state and local officials,” Mr. Chertoff said in his (Meet the Press) interview. “The federal government comes in and supports those officials.”

That line of argument was echoed throughout the day, in harsher language, by Republicans reflecting the White House line.

-- New York Times, Sept. 5

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This item first appeared at Journalists Against Bush's B.S.