I, who never watch TV and studiously avoid reading David Brooks, found myself incongruously watching Detroit PBS (I live in Vancouver) in awe at Brook's analysis. I agree.

IMPEACH THE BASTARDS

I wish more of your posts allowed comments or trackbacks. My philosophy differs widely from yours, and probably most of your readers, but if they are interested in carrying on an intelligent discussion, without making extreme comments about anyone, including the President, I invite them to visit http://donsingleton.blogspot.com

Specifically related to David Brooks comment "happened Giuliani was right there and just as a public presence, forceful -- no public presence like that now." Giuliani was the Mayor. The public presence we should have seen is from the New Orleans Mayor (the only thing I heard from him is that he declared "martial law" when Louisiana does not recognize martial law, and he sent some people staying at a hotel he wanted to use for his offices to the head of the line to get buses at the Superdome.

People are blaiming George Bush for not acting earlier, when he declared an emergency two days before the storm hit, so he could legally preposition supplies, then he had to wait for the Governor of Louisiana to call for help before he could legally Federalize the national guard and send them in. It would have been nice if buses could have been sent in earlier, but as http://donsingleton.blogspot.com/2005/09/looting-and-buses.html shows there were 384 school buses and 205 New Orleans transit buses right there that should have been used to send people out of the area.

No one is blaming George Bush, Don. You are over-reacting. You are aware he can walk on water, aren't you?

I heard the Brooks remarks on the NewsHour and I couldn't believe my ears. If you get a chance to see the tape, Lehrer practically goes into shock.

Pat Buchanan also laid into Bush on the McLaughlin Group and in response to the question as to the significance of the response to Katrina as an issue on the scale of 1 to 10, I think Buchanan said something like 8 (or maybe even 9?).

Does anyone know how to get a transcript of the 9/2 McLaughlin Group?

Even on Fox, Geraldo finally stopped drinking the Kool-Aid and started sounding like an Al Pacino yelling 'Attica!' or 'You're outta order!' Shep Smith practically turned into a Peter Finch, 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!'

Unbelievable.

I too usually disagree with Brooks. But he has articulated more clearly than anyone else the moral dimensions of Bush's failures in this crises.

Regarding Mr. Singleton's comments above: Bush consistently underfunded flood prevention efforts in N.O. before Katrina hit, and neglected the situation there during the crucial early phase of the crisis Monday and Tuesday. And others paid the price with their lives. The President has broad powers to suspend the Posse Comitatus laws during an emergency. He didn't have to wait on anybody to begin mobilizing the federal response. His inaction then speaks far louder than any words that he, or you, can utter in his defence now.

Bush can't be blamed for the natural disaster that was Hurricane Katrina. But the man-made disaster that followed is a national disgrace, and as our national leader, he must take the responsibility, and the lion's share of the blame.

My hope is that if and when the response to this catastrophe is ever investigated, attention will focus not only on the rampant negligence, incompetence and corruption on open display, but also on the possibility that aid has been intentionally witheld. This needs to be investigated by the media and responsible authorities, and not blithely dismissed as "conspiracy theory" by those who don't want to face up to what's happening in this country. If an entire american city can be destroyed, and the reaction, or lack thereof, by the criminal elements in either or both parties somehow manages to escape honest scrutiny yet again, then there is truly no hope for us.

Jeebus, you may not blame him, but many have, including Marcus

Marcus, GWB did cut back on funding for doing some work on the levees, but so did Clinton, and the break in the levee was a section that was just upgraded, and the levee design was just for a Cat 3 storm (it would have taken 30 years before they were expected to be rated for a Cat 4 or a Cat 5. You are right he didn't have to wait on anybody to begin mobilizing the federal response, and he did that (he even declared an emergency two days before the storm struck, but he could not federalize the National Guard in the other states, or send them or the military in, until the Governor of Louisiana asked for them.

Why did neither the Mayor of New Orleans or the Governor of Louisiana use the nearly 600 buses (school plus New Orleans transit) to send the people in the Superdome to Houston or any of a number of other cities? Only 40% of Louisiana's National Guard are in Iraq. Did she call up the other 60%, and how soon did they get there (compared to the forces GWB sent in)?

Giuliani began working when the first plane hit, even before the second plane. What did Najin and Blanco do to help get people out after the storm hit?

I wish Bush cultists could keep their facts straight.

On August 23, Bush declared a major disaster (not "an emergency") for Tropical Storm Cindy. Cindy had hit July 5-6, so Bush was not prepositioning "two days before," he was seven weeks late. Cf http://www.fema.gov/news/dfrn.fema?id=4444

The ongoing tragedy in New Orleans is a direct result of idiots who like Singleton believe faith substitutes for fact. I recommend against clicking through to his blog, unless you have a strong stomach.

wcw http://www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id=4805 was declared for Florida on 8/28, http://www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id=4808
for Louisiana 8/29, http://www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id=4807 for Mississippi on 8/29, http://www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id=4825 for Alabama 8/29, and that is not a matter of faith, it is FACT.

I was being facetious and sarcastic you Bushbot mutant. Go drown yourself under a hanging pail of water.

Gee Jeebus, you seem upset.

I posted a list of what happened when at http://jacklewis.net/weblog/archives/2005/06/new_corner_bann.php

Sorry, the above link should have been http://donsingleton.blogspot.com/2005/09/criticism-of-bush-mounts.html

Thank you for the great links and info, Laura.

People seem to forget that, while Guiliani was a comforting presence in the 9/11 aftermath, he was also responsible for the largest and most important US city not having a police and fire dept that could communicate with each other. I understand that the power plays between the two depts is decades, if not a century, old, but even the comm eqipment that was used to communicate within the depts was obsolete, which resulted in hundreds of firefighter deaths. It seems that only the Jersey Girls were brave enough to point this out to the 9/11 Commission.

Right on sister. Well said. Ever since the 70's liberals have been wondering what was next. Looking back now Nixon wasn't all that baaaaaaaaaaaad.

Gary "g-man" Wesselhoff

Don,
I agree that Nagin comes in for some blame here. The point about the buses is true. They were actually owned by a private contractor - not the city - but I doubt he would have had trouble commandeering them. Who knows?

But the point about the Governor not allowing the National Guard is incorrect. First, Louisiana has no "martial law", so she couldn't have signed such a decree. Second, according to Bush's FEMA order that you've cited numerous times, the DHS had full authority already to use any means for rescue, recovery and security. As the FEMA directive says, "FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency." Sounds like the Feds had all the authorization they needed even before the storm hit. They didn't need any special order from the state. But before the storm, Gov. Blanco did specifically request help following Bush's FEMA order.
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf

Her letter includes many specific requests, and the actual disaster to follow clearly superceded the ones mentioned in her letter. But it is quite clear that she was actively seeking Federal help before the storm.

So, the Feds were ready to offer help, and the Louisiana state government was willing to ask for help, yet...the help never arrived until it was too late. In our Federal system, the Federal government takes primary responsibility in cases of national emergency - which the DHS's own mission statement even specifies. The primary responsbility for this failure lies with the Federal government.

My mistake, Don. Apologies for the unkind words about your post (no apologies on the blog, though; ugh).

For the record, while the FEMA timestamp is 8/29 hence the same as landfall, I found news outlets registering that declaration by the 28th. It might well have gone over the wires as early as the day before, giving the aforementioned two days.

I remain interested in any links to actual (not nominal) federal efforts on the 27th or 28th. Being wrong tends to spur my efforts, but I couldn't find anything concrete there, or really anything at all.

Elrod, the New Orleans transit buses may be owned by a private contractor, but as you said, Nagin probably could have gotten them, and I suspect the City owns the 205 buses referenced in http://donsingleton.blogspot.com/2005/09/looting-and-buses.html, and only one was used, as far as I know, and the 18 year old using it to save lives is in legal jeapordy

How much suffering could have been avoided if both the Transit and the School buses had been loaded up once the mandatory evacuation order was signed, to get those without transportation out of the area.

You are correct that on 8/28 she requested the declaration of a major disaster, and that was done on 8/29 (http://www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id=4808).

She also requested a bunch of individual assistance programs (money) and help on debris removal.

I know Louisiana does not have "martial law", despite Mayor Nagin declaring it, but the Governor does have the power to declare an emergency (which she did) and to request federal forces (which she did on 9/2)

But I did not see any request for National Guard people from other states (she has the power to call up the Louisiana national guard, and although 40% are in Iraq, 60% are not), nor did I see authorization for US Military (enabling him to waive Posse Comitas) prior to 9/2.

Do you really want the President (whether Democrat or Republican) to have the power to send troops (active military, reserves, or federalized National Guard) into a state without the authorization of that state's Governor? That request came on 9/2 (http://gov.louisiana.gov/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=998), the same day the convoys arrived.

wcw, I agree I recall hearing about the declaration a day or two earlier, but at least it was on or before 8/29

I dont have any other links to say they brought in aid before 9/2, but they certainly staged it close to the area, because the trucks brought it in on 9/2, and initially they thought Katrina was going to hit New Orleans directly, but instead it turned to the east and focused on Mississippi (and to some extent Alabama) and it was well on land before the levee (a levee which had recently been upgraded, not the levee for whom work was planned but not funded) broke. And once it broke, communication was drastically reduced, and access drastically restricted due to flooding.

Elrod and wcw, I posted my response above, and also posted them on my blog at http://donsingleton.blogspot.com/2005/09/criticism-of-bush-mounts.html

Since this is the only post that Laura has enabled for comments, and since it is getting pretty far down the list of posts, I invite you to respond on my blog if you have anything else to comment.

I messed up again. Elrod and wcw, the url should be http://donsingleton.blogspot.com/2005/09/my-response-to-war-and-piece.html

> Does anyone know how to get a transcript of the 9/2 McLaughlin Group?
Buster, you can search mclaughlin's web site at (http://www.mclaughlin.com/) for it. They post transcript and video of their show couple days after it appears on TV.

Question: can mayor of New Orleans send buses with people to, say, Houston, without an invitation from Houston? Isn't it a kind of region-wide coordination that FEMA should do?

For that matter, perhaps another thousand of buses should be send to New Orleans -- and other coastal location -- for evacuation? Could FEMA coordinate something like that, and if yes, why it did not?

Another question: if FEMA started pre-positioning supplies on 8/29, why it took so long to deliver anything?

Even larger puzzle to FEMA fans: if FEMA indeed had forseen the situation, why Chertoff, Bush etc. claimed that it could not?

Last question: Chertoff said that the catastrophe was of the same magnitude as an atomic bomb. Hyperbole or not, is there any institution in this country that should handle the evacuation following a nuclear bomb? And if yes, isn't it FEMA?