Surprise, Surprise: White House Shifts Blame to State and Local Officials

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Many Evacuated, but Thousands Still Waiting
White House Shifts Blame to State and Local Officials

By Manuel Roig-Franzia and Spencer Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 4, 2005

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301680_pf.html

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 3 -- 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.

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 sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state 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 does not have the authority to speak publicly. A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.

Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said. "The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. "The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana."

[whistle]

1. I've noticed that Bush is wearing brown suits now.....

[ltfranklin]

10. Well, they started out as blue suits...

But even the dry cleaners can't get the B*llsh*t stains out now...it's soaked completely through the garment.

[joey93turbo]

2. ...

You aren't suprised, are you? :)

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

5. I'd like to say that I am, but what the heck...

NO!

:evilgrin:

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Gee, the Bush Administration has become awfully bureaucratic.

[lebkuchen]

4. How many of the LA state and local officials are democrats?

in dem voting districts?

I'm sure class and racism were part of the holdup, but what about retribution, which Bush is famous for?

[Hubert Flottz]

6. Bush wants to declare war in New Orleans.

Like the War in Baghdad.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. This is the part that grabbed me...

"The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana."

The "President" is above the law.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

8. Well. he's a protective kind of guy, always protecting and stuff.

[FuzzyDicePHL]

9. Weird

Today, ironically, I thought the poster behind him said, "Readiness makes a country great," instead of, "reading" -- regardless of having seen pics of him in the classroom on 9/11 plenty of times before.

[Lefty48197]

11. Interesting how some in DU are doing the exact same thing

Mostly, it seems like the nuts from the gun dungeon, who continually claim to be Democrats, but prove otherwise with their words. "Why didn't the MAYOR evacuate the city"? "Why didn't the GOvernor call out the civilian militia"? and other nutty questions have been asked by them.