I don’t agree with his suggestion for timing (ASAP if not sooner, I say), but his endorsement of a non-whitewash policy makes sense.
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Oprah Quitting TV Show In 2011
Clinton Calls for Katrina Commission
September 6th, 2005
26 Comments
ASAP?
Naw, Oliver. There’s still work to be done. There are still people who need to be rescued, relocated, fed, housed, clothed, and given medical care.
When that’s done, it’ll be time to figure out how to fix the problems.
Dugger, either we have a commission or Bush does the right thing and fires Chertoff, the head of FEMA and several others.
I’m not holding my breath (and somehow I don’t think you were pooh-poohing all the wasteful investigations of President Clinton)
Really, it isn’t like it’s a 20-year old land deal where the principals lost money, the investigation can wait, at least until Bush/Cheney leave office.
Please. No stinking commission. We can’t wipe our butts without having a commission study. Now, really, what did the 9-11 commssion solve? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. A commission is just a way for politicians of both stripes to grab headlines, waste time and spend money ineffectively.
Dugger
Show accountability. Even if he’s not accountable? For hurricane deaths in New Orleans?
Dugger
My evidence is the dead and starving in New Orleans. How about your president show some accountability for once? That’s why we need an investigation.
Hey O, then make your case against Chertoff. Don’t give us another boondoggling commission.
But you can just as easily pin the blame for the dead and starving on…
*Blanco
*Nagin
*Brown
*Morial
*Foster
*Edwards
*Landrieu
*Vitter
*Breaux
*Jefferson
What is your evidence against Chertoff???
Dugger, by the President’s own admission, the results of federal response to the hurricane were not acceptable. The federal government’s response was conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, the latter of which was headed by a man who seems to have no qualifications.
There’s plenty of accountability for everybody.
Let me help you there, Tuco.
Tuco is referring to this story:
Maybe he’ll tell us what his point is.
Good. I hope the commission discovers that Harry Reid pronounced the levees “adequate” in May or 2004.
I’d link to the the Los Angeles Times story via Yahoo! News, but whatever software OW is using seems to reject posts that have links in them.
I get the reasoning for delaying an investigation while there are still those in need in Louisiana and Mississippi. What I don’t get is do you think those people in Washington who are going to be doing the investigation [and those being investigated] are really going to be making much of a difference in aid to those states? The 9-11 commission didn’t really seem to effect business as usual for Washington, I mean we all had to force the President even to show up for a hearing with the VP.
Although it is obvious that Katrina is the top priority I think government can pass a few Katrina laws while being under investigation.
What is your evidence against Chertoff???
He is the head of the Homeland Security Department, whom FEMA reports to, I imagine.
But let’s not gloss over the fact that the entire government basically botched the rescue effort on this one by being incredibly slow to react – although, is there anyone actually niave enough to believe that the government could remove their heads from their behinds long enough to organize something like this anyways?
Maybe if the politicians stopped trying to be politicians for one second they might actually be able to accomplish something.
[...] killed is playing the blame game ) and President Clinton, press his heart, is giving them cover. The leadership of this nation was not doing thei [...]
I know this may seem a small thing, but can we PLEEEAAASSE stop using the word “refugees” in relation to our own fellow citizens in NOLA? The definition of refugee (Merriam-Webster) is: : one that flees; especially : a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution. These people aren’t fleeing to a foreign country – they are getting quite enough persecution right where they are. They are, instead, displaced Americans who are suffering because of a myriad of government mistakes. I am saying this from the viewpoint of an active duty Marine in combat arms who has done two tours in Iraq (Not all of us agree with our government’s decisions) and would LOVE to go help our brothers right here at home who need it rather than spend more time in a country where a large portion of the citizens are tired of our presence (rightfully so). Lord knows the National Guard isn’t able to handle it – our so-called leaders have sent damn near all of them overseas.
Ladies and Gentlemen, a word on commissions. For those who may not be aware, a “commission” is not much more than a group of semi-qualified persons sharing a room for long periods of time with a group of absolutely-not-whatsoever-qualified individuals, in theory to brainstorm a problem. The result is usually a report (if something four to five hundred pages long can be fairly called that) which does three things: (1) states what everyone with an IQ above that of a pencil already knows is the problem,
(2) designates overseers (the up-and-comers who haven’t made enough of a name for themselves otherwise and need the title for self-worth) who will petition for millions of taxpayer dollars and then hand it over to an accounting section and never check to see where any of it went, and (3) suggest another commission/report on what can be done about it so the cycle starts all over again. Commissions waste time and energy. What we can use right now are DECISIONS that the majority of us can accept.
Quaker, if you can read a news story in which the minority leader of the Senate, a Democrat, smugly pronounces that the NO levees aren’t in need of any improvements, and then continue to point your finger in only one direction in assigning blame, I don’t believe you when you claim that you don’t know what the point is.
Gee, I didn’t know Harry Reid was in the majority party and could pass a budget all by himself. I guess Harry Reid is in charge of Fema too!
Come on cons, you haven’t blamed the French yet. You’re slipping.
That’s not what I was implying and you either know it and are just pretending you don’t, or you completely missed the point.
Were there any options, in your opinion, for Harry Reid, that fall somewhere between passing a budget all by himself and saying that the levees were adequate?
You know, like maybe acting a bit more concerned over an issue that was obviously very important to his fellow Democratic Senator, Landrieu?
Even if he couldn’t find the vote to fund improvements to the levees, he could have put up a fight, or at least not made a fool of himself by going on the record saying that the system was sound.
I’d be willing to bet that he wanted more money for his pet pork projects in Nevada (don’t worry, neoconsloopy, Republicans do that too) that fighting for what his colleague wanted.
The point, in case you’re still not getting it, is that by pretending that all Democrats had their act together before the hurricane hit, and that only Republicans can screw up, you’re looking kind of foolish.
Man, if only Louisiana didn’t base our laws on Napoleonic Code…
Still waiting on Silent Oliver to present evidence against Chertoff.
No, RAT, noone here is saying Democrats are blameless, though no blame has been proven. Harry Reid is not responsible for funding levee improvements. Period. That budget needed only the approval of Republicans and the president. Reid has zero responsibility for this.
If you want to blame a Senator, blame Bill Frist and the Republican Senate, because without their support, the bill could not pass. But of course, fools like you won’t blame them, because they are Republicans.
As far as “evidence against Chertoff”, look at the thousands dead because Fema didn’t deploy fully until Friday. Case closed.
As stated previously, I have yet to see evidence of Chetoff…
A)pumping water into New Orleans on Tuesday and Wednesday
B)issuing a memorandum forbidding any relief agencies to enter the affected parishes until Friday
C)a tape of him laughing maniacally at looting footage.
Why is FEMA (and Chertoff) responsible for all the dead before Friday? Why not Blanco? Nagin? The dozen or so politicians I listed earlier (including some Republicans) who are SUPPOSED to be in charge of ‘first responders’?
That’s bullshit and you know it. No, Harry Reid is not responsible for funding levee improvements, the U.S. Congress is, and Harry Reid is a member of that body, last time I checked. The Democrats have absolutely no problem fighting judicial nominations they don’t like, and the least Reid could have done, assuming he believed it, would have been to say that the levees weren’t safe, and that he would fight as hard as he could to get them funded, or at least act like a politician and get some political capital from their failure to get them funded.
But if the new Democratic mantra is going to be, “it’s not our responsibility,” and Senate minority leaders don’t every try to get anything accomplished because it’s not their responsibility to fight for legislation, then I undersand all the more clearly why it seems to be difficult for them to win elections.
So now we’ve added “not my responsibility” Reid, to “not my responsibility” Nagin and “not my responsibility” Blanco.
Speaking of responsibility, did you know that FEMA director Michael Brown was confirmed by a voice vote of the Senate, and not one Democratic Senator made an issue of his lack of experience in the area of disaster planning. This is something they only seemed to have discovered, or cared about, for about a week.
Come on cons, you haven t blamed the French yet. You re slipping.
Maybe we can blame the French for selling Thomas Jefferson shoddy merchandise back in the 1800’s.. isn’t there some kind of lemon law on the books regarding this sort of thing?!
Uh, no. It’s the cons world rat, we’re just living in it. You have the judiciary, the Senate, the House and the Presidency. It’s their sole responsibility. It’s time that they accept the responsibility. Why didn’t Bill Frist kill the nomination? Tom Delay? Dennis Hastert? They are the ones who had the power to do so. Not Harry Reid.
You cons wanted single party government, now you have to live with the stench that goes with it. Deal with it.
When did Blanco and Nagin become Republicans?