Why are no Democrats defending FEMA under Clinton?

[glarius]

It seems to me the Dems. could use this as pointing out just one more failure of Bush's administration!
On CNN I watched Republican Sen. Susan Collins and supposed Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman giving their report on FEMA. Apparently they have decided the only thing to do is to scrap it and start from scratch with a new agency. As I understand it, under Clinton FEMA was running smoothly and doing good work. Didn't the problems with FEMA arise from the fact that Bush replaced the knowledgable and trained people running it with his know-nothing party hacks?...Like for instance, Michael Brown. Not surprisingly, no one on CNN mentioned this fact.

P.S...I just saw Henry Champ on CBC Newsworld, doing a report on this and he says he remembers that in Clinton's day FEMA was considered a "crown jewel."

[bullimiami]

1. fema worked fine until bushco fixed it.

like everything under the bush sun, if you hear reform, grab your wallet and run.

[blm]

2. This typifies the way media has been slanting their coverage for a decade

against Democrats. They always FAIL to make the appropriate comparisons no matter what issue is involved. How many times did you hear Clinton's antiterror efforts discussed honestly in comparison with Bush's pre-9-11 antiterror efforts?

[KittyWampus]

11. DU'ers fail to make comparisons too, though. I posted info on Clinton

ad naseum and DU'ers mostly ignored it.

Too many others here just enjoy trashing Clinton too much to ever give him credit for anything.

[blm]

12. Heh - I go both ways on Clinton - I give him credit for alot of good, but

NAIL HIS BUTT relentlessly for not opening the books on IranContra, BCCI and CIA drugrunning.

[electropop]

3. Clinton whipped Fema into shape,

Clinton whipped Fema into shape, and it performed very well in several disasters. Now I hear Dems meekly going along with the GOP meme that "It's just inherently broken and needs to be abolished." The truth is, the GOP broke a good organization on purpose, because they didn't want to "waste" money to protect Americans. So what they are going to do is paper over their crimes, then do the usual: rename the failure and declare voctory.

[oc2002]

4. your surprised?

FEMA under Clinton worked for several catastophic disasters such as the Northridge Earthquake, flooding in the midwest states, and Oklahoma terrorist bombing.

But you expect the MSM to point that out?

Bush has destroyed FEMA, the faith of America in its elected officials, its governmrnt, and he is also destroying the GOP in the process.

[BlueCaliDem]

5. New Agency=Mo' Money for Special Interests, maybe?

You're right about FEMA working pretty well under Clinton.

The people who survived the Northridge earthquake in '93 here in SoCal all praised the quick response by FEMA that happened within three days after devastation!

States are required to offer at least three days of quick help after any catastrophe aftewhich FEMA takes over, right?

Well, the horrible earthquake of '93 ran quick, and smooth---but then again, we had a Democratic President, didn't we?

I just don't see why some Congresspeople want to do away with FEMA instead of working at improving it by finding out what exactly went wrong and holding those responsible for it's failures, unless, of course, they can pass yet another bill for millions we can't afford, to make their special interests happy with taxpayer dollars.

And yes, I don't know why Democratic Senators are keeping silent about the success of FEMA under the Clinton Administration, when no one is in any doubt, that had the tables been turned, every Repub politician would be out pounding their chests bragging 'they did better'!

[tularetom]

6. I'm gonna get flamed for this

but I had extensive dealings with FEMA in the mid and late 90's and I have to say that in my opinion it sucked even then. While I didn't see the negligencce and incompetence so evident during and after Katrina, their procedures forced the expenditure of millions of local government dollars on the promise of future FEMA reimbursement which in come cases was many months in arriving. This had the effect of delaying reducing or elimination of important government functions until the FEMA reimbursements arrived. Often we had to beat our elected officials around the head and shoulders to get any response whatever from FEMA. And the post audits were unending and consumed many hours of local staff time without reimbursement.

[Cleita]

7. Dems in Congress, even if they are the minority, should be

blocking any reforms or changes that the Bush administration and Republican Congress try to push through. Even a stalemate is better than a Bush fix, like the prescription drug stupidity. But too many of them are following right along behind the Republicans. I think when we right our country, they can kiss their careers goodby, and the Republicans responsible for all the criminal actions of BushCo should be looking at jail time or I can dream.

[wisteria]

8. Good point, this is another example of Bush's incompetence. FEMA

was in fine shape and very operational when Clinton was in office. Bush cut funds and directed everything through Homeland Security. What remains of FEMA is a mess.

[Hekate]

9. Lack of MSM reporting? Exhaustion?

In the wake of the Katrina disaster I heard several experts point out that FEMA was formerly run competently by professionals -- until George W "Reverse Midas Touch" Bush sent in his fixers.

Former FEMA officials spoke out. Reporters (probably for Frontline) said they interviewed long-time FEMA staffers who quietly broke down in tears trying to describe what Bush appointees had done to an organization they formerly took pride in.

Try writing Democratic congresscritters. Email Anderson Cooper and tell him to stop tooting his own horn for awhile and remind his viewers that it was BUSH that wrecked FEMA. The usual.

Hekate

[glarius]

10. I remember hearing some of the reporters you mention also.

It's really sad that no one is speaking up. There is so much to attach to Bush and his criminal incompetence!

[EC]

13. The news article I read already does defend the Dem's by

saying that Fema was crippled by several years of poor leadership and inadequate funding through the ** administration...It seemed to me they were saying that ** ruined it so badly that they have to start over...not that it was ruined before ** got there, but that HE DID IT through neglect.