CNN: FEMA director Michael Brown being sent back to Washington; Homeland Security Director Chertoff to announce new leader for on-the-ground Katrina relief efforts, senior administration official tells CNN. Details soon.
UPDATE: Fox/AP: FEMA Chief Taken Off Hurricane Relief Efforts
Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being removed from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, The Associated Press has learned.
AP says Thad Allen will replace Brown. Thad Allen has been scheduled by the Bush admin to go on This Week and Fox News Sunday, which means they planned this hit.
THE SPIN: Chertoff has been instructed to say this was planned all along, that theyre putting a Coast Guard guy in charge because its “seamless” to have them get along with the military guy. Don’t buy it. Brown was removed because he was crap at the job and Time has exposed his phony resume fluffing.
Leader Pelosi:
“At last President Bush has recognized what I have been saying for more than a week — the federal response to this disaster must be managed by a capable leader. Admiral Allen is an emergency response professional, which has been lacking from federal management of this crisis. Admiral Allen has a difficult job ahead, but at least he brings to it years of experience.
“With qualified, experienced, and effective leadership on the ground, we can work together to provide the victims of Hurricane Katrina with the income, food, clothing, and housing resources they desperately need to begin the long process of rebuilding their lives.”
The federal government’s incompetent planning and bungled, inadequate response to Katrina is the *COUNTRY’S* #number talking point, JD, not just the left’s, no matter how much you want this to be a partisan issue. And anyway, this is a step in the right direction, so I’m certainly not complaining about Brown going. In fact, this is about the only praiseworthy thing Bush has done that I can think of since he agreed to that African debt cancellation a while back. When’s the last time he fired anyone at this level, anyway? Has he ever?
He was relieved of “Katrina” duties…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being removed from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, The Associated Press has learned.
Brown is being sent back to Washington from Baton Rouge, where he was the primary official overseeing the federal government’s response to the disaster, according to two federal officials who declined to be identified before the announcement.
Brown will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad w. Allen, who was overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts.
While boiling him in oil was considered, the sacrificial offering of his firstborn son was finally agreed upon…
Liberals across the land hollered “Yowzer!”
What will the left do when they no longer have talking point #1 to use any longer ? Fire Brown!
This was funny, too: “McClellan did not directly answer a question about whether the president had full confidence in Brown.
”We appreciate all those who are working round the clock, and that’s the way I would answer it,” he said.”
I’m genuinely curious how the cons reconcile the demotion, reassignment, firing, whatever of Brown with that whole Bush/Pelosi exchange earlier this week. To refresh your memories:
****
She related that she urged Bush at the White House on Tuesday to fire Brown.
He said Why would I do that? Pelosi said.
I said because of all that went wrong, of all that didn t go right last week. And he said What didn t go right?
****
Do any one of you apologists for Republican ineptitude care to step up? Was Bush just out of the loop or stupid or what? How does the Bush of your conservative hero narrative get from point A to point B?
I thought that ‘Brownie’ was going to get a medal – good job Bush and Co. if they fire this guy – good job.
Anybody remember the first guy they put in charge of Iraq? Anyone? Why don’t they just fire Brown out right? Are they waiting for the facts to come in? Please. Or would firing him now look bad when they give him the Medal of Freedom next year?
Brown down. Now Nagins and Blanco need to go. Hopefully, progressives will demonstrate their primary concern wasn’t cheap partisan politics and call for the immediate resignation of these two incompetent bureaucrats. Only problem with Blanco is that she might decide to quit but then still take six months to carry out the decision. Get the deadly bumblers out?
Dugger
Yay!
Farris: that’s one way to spin it. It looks to me like he’s deflecting criticism, denying that anything went wrong. But maybe you’re right, maybe he really didn’t know any specifics and was hoping Nancy would fill him in. Maybe she was the first person to burst the hermetic seal and reveal the bad news to him
We can’t break out the champagne just yet. If Bush’s response to Abu Ghraib was any indication, expect to see Brownie rewarded with a promotion or at the minimum a medal of honor.
Is the era of Bush CRONYISM over? One can hope, but…….
TomY,
looks to me like Bush is asking for specifics. That’s bad how?
At least Dugger and Farris admit Brown should go. Frank D still seems to have some residual sympathy for the fuck-up, protesting that the guy’s just been reassigned. But it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to be on Brown’s side in the first place. Why, Frank? Do you feel that if Bush fired him, it would be an admission of responsibility on Bush’s part?
It’s good news that both conservatives and progressives should be happy about. He was clearly in over his head. Next up for the chopping block should be Mayor Nagins and Governor Blanco both of whom who have shown a level of incompetence that almost reaches the level of incompetence displayed by Brown.
Bush should clearly just fall on his sword. He needs to go. He is a human disaster. Cheney doesn’t even bother showing up for a week. Condi … worthless. Chertoff…failure….
anyone else is way down the line…
Nah. They’re only “less than perfect” on the Willis scale of scalp hunting.
I’ll see your Nagin and Blanco and raise you a Chertoff.
Look at the cusual cast of characters try to shift blame.
It’s like clockwork.
Question: why hasn’t Bush fired Brown? After all, Brown was worse than clueless during this entire disaster. And its clear Brown lied on his resume; not just little embellishments but big whoppers. So much so, Brown is apparently going to be in some legal jeopardy.
But Bush hasn’t fired Brown. Why?
Nagins and Blanco?
Elected.
Their job status will be up to the voters who put them in office.
Nagins and Blanco. Anyone?
Dugger
If this is the last we hear of Mike Brown, then yay, Bush! You did something right!
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.
You keep saying that, and yet you can’t seem to defend your claim by citing where I’ve said that Bush is blameless.
So you can choke on your own words.
Nagin, definitely. Lots of screwups, lack of planning, didn’t keep his head in an emergency and so forth. Get rid of him.
Blanco, I’ll wait to see how much of it was her and how much of it was FEMA playing power games at the 11th hour. But the lack of planning for communications failures and evacuation isn’t good for her.
Definitely get rid of the FEMA screw ups who more concerned with bureaucratic red tape than with getting help and aid to people.
Bush? Give him a paddling on the backside and get him to get someone competent at FEMA and Homeland Security. That should be his consequences/punishment.
Of course Bush, after nominating the incompetent and feckless Michael Brown to head FEMA, is rated “blameless” on the Tucometer. Indefensible.
How dare he have a Mexican meal and a margarita while people are suffering.
We all know that the hypocrites are restricting their diets to brown rice and water until an appropriate period of time has passed. Nah, didn’t think so.
How dare he have a Mexican meal and a margarita while people are suffering.
I don’t care if he has the filet en croute with a sassy Sirrah–the point is you don’t talk about going to your nice home, having a hot dinner and a drink when about 100,000 people you failed to help are looking for some clean water and a place where they won’t catch some bacterial infection.
TomY:
There you go again. Please post for me any direct statement or even suggestion that I’ve made in which I said or inferred that Brown was “blameless.”
You won’t because you can’t.
Frankly, I’m glad that he’s gone.
Is Oliver or any of his fan boys here willing to say anything stronger than Blanco and Nagin aren’t perfect?
I thought not.
Favorite Brown quote:
“I’m going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife and, maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night’s sleep. And then I’m going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims,”
Maybe he’ll have the nachos appetizer–y’know…to help the victims.
Okay, since you’re claiming to be such a smart person, please outline which operations prior to, during, and subsequent to a disaster the Feds are responsible for, and which operations prior to, during, and subsequent to a disaster local and state governments are responsible for.
Which operations, if any, remain the responsibility of the state and local governments.
And for those operations for which there may be a transfer of responsibility from state and/or local governments to the Federal government, please tell us precisely when that transition occurs.
I’ll play, Tuco.
No, Blanco and Nagin weren’t perfect. But know this: if they were, NOLA and So. LA would still be in a huge world of hurt because the disaster was so great, it far outstripped the capacity of the state and local areas to mitigate the toll.
Of course, where your little smokescreen fails is the fact the federal Govt had assumed command and responsibility for the area before so much as a teaspoon of water came over the floodwalls.
Brown’s a convenient target; he did nothing other than rise to the same level of incompetence that’s marked his entire life.
Ultimately, though, Bush is at fault. Brown was his pick. DHS was created by Bush.
Exactly, JG. Tuco, I was saying that in your world, Bush is blameless even though he appointed an incompentent to an position of life-or-death importance. That’s indefensible.
Okay, since you re claiming to be such a smart person, please outline which operations prior to, during, and subsequent to a disaster the Feds are responsible for, and which operations prior to, during, and subsequent to a disaster local and state governments are responsible for.
Easy.
National Response Plan:
Emphasis mine.
but maybe you can explain how coordinating Federal operations and coordinating Federal resources becomes assuming command and responsibility.
Reading is your friend.
There ya go, Tuco.
After a solid week of telling us who’s to blame, you’re finally asking the right questions.
All you Clintonistas out there: Jog my memory — Did anyone get fired two Clinton administrations? For any reason?
I don’t know, did anyone in the Clinton administration ignore a PDB? Gin up false intelligence to justify war? Stand idle while Americans die from the aftermath of natural disaster?
Condi talked about mushroom clouds, and lied to the 9/11 commission- she got promoted.
Mike Brown wasn’t fired, BTW, he was reassigned. I’m sure that in months to come he’ll resign “to spend more time with his family” and miraculously wind up with the Carlyle Group or Halliburton.
Do I take that as a “No”?
Gee, I wonder why?
Do I take that as a No ?
Only if you’re profoundly ignorant…oooops.
Yes, people were fired in our last democratically-elected President’s admin. Of course, nobody in his admin has come close to the level of incompetence and sheer criminality displayed by Bush’s cronies.
In Bush’s case, take a look at the people he’s fired: Paul O’Neill, Larry Lindsay, John Diullio, GEN Shinseki, Colin Powell. Yet, he keeps on folks like Karl Rove who have betrayed this nation, Mike Brown of such blithering incompetence, and Don Rumsfeld who has not just lost Iraq but made our nation synonymous with banan republics, etc.
Quaker, Read earlier. We collectively call on them to RESIGN. Nagins and Blanco cost lives. They must resign. Don’t be hypocrites progressives. Lets do the right thing.
Dugger
Dugger’s MO: When pure denial doesn’t work, attempt to share the blame.
Again, even if Nagin and Blanco had performed flawlessly (and, in fact, their performance was much better than Giuliani’s before and after 9/11)–the state and local resources would have been–and were–swiftly overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster.
Of course, what is inescapable is the fact the Fed Govt had taken control and responsibility of the emergency before a single teaspoon of water came over the floodwall.
jadegold just cannot keep from flat out lying. Sec. Powell was not fired. Gen. Shinseki was not fired, etc …
Dugger : Have you noticed that when it comes to the Democrats, Nagin and Blanco, they are willing to sit back and wait on the facts to come in, but they just sit back and indiscriminantly call for every Republican’s scalp?
jadegold : Keep saying it, and you might start to believe it. The simple fact is that the federal government was not in charge of the entire emergency before it even happened. I know that makes your partisan sniping more difficult, so you choose to ignore that inconvenient fact, but it does not change things.
JD: You wish to argue semantics because you understand you can’t argue the issues.
Was GEN Shinseki fired? Not in the terms that someone gave him a pink slip. But certainly–within DoD–that’s what happened. It’s difficult to explain to folks who have never served and think the military is like working at WalMart.
WRT Powell, something similar happened. Basically, his power was subsumed by DoD and he became a lame duck. You can make an argument and say that’s not being ‘fired’–but you understand it’s the same thing.
I don’t know if you have a job or not, JD–but let’s assume you do. Suppose one day, you tick the boss off. But the boss doesn’t tell you to pack your desk and get out. Instead, he takes away all your duties and responsibilities. You’re basically ignored but you’re still drawing a paycheck. You have no hope of promotion or further advancement or even a lateral transefer. Are you seriously arguing you haven’t been effectively fired?
Semantics, my ass. There is a fundamental difference between resigning and being fired.
Go fuck yourself. I served in the USAF as an Arabic cryptological linguist for several years.
No, I have not been fired. Might not be the greatest working environment, but I am still drawing a paycheck.
There is a fundamental difference between resigning and being fired.
Again you’re betraying your lack of understanding of the military and even most civilian jobs.
Let’s take a real life example; take the skipper of the USS GREENVILLE. He was relieved of command after the incident with the Japanese training vessel. Was he fired?
Not in the semantical sense you seem to demand; after all, he continued to draw a paycheck, he was transferred to some non-job job and his career in the Navy was effectively over. Yet, he stayed in the Navy for nearly two more years.
IOW, the way “firing” works in the military is that you’re stripped of command, responsibilities and any hope of advancement is gone.
But even in the civilian world, many jobs won’t actually kick you out the door. Instead, they create an atmosphere where you’ll leave on your own. It’s kind of telling you’d stay in a job because you got a paycheck even though all your duties are gone and there’s no hope of advancement.
Listen, you little shit. Let’s just use one of your bullshit examples. General Shinseki. He announced his own retirement after a long and distinguished career. Subsequently, since he was retiring, new and ongoing responsibilities went to people that might actually be around to see the project through. I call it retirement. You call it firing.
Your condescending attitude really wears on me.
Now that your erroneous assumption that I have never served my country has been debunked, I shall await your apology.
I suppose civil discussion goes out the window when you have no valid argument to make?
Considering that Jadegold did not descend to calling names and using abusive language, it’s the height of hypocrisy and sheer gall to demand an apology.
Mouse : had you bothered to read what I responded to, you would have noted that jadegold made large and completely inaccurate assumptions about me, in order to attempt to make his point. Sorry, should not have used the words I did.
Additionally, I suppose you just quit reading, because despite my poor choice of language to address jadegold, I did address his comments in a substantive manner after that.
Sheer gall? You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to.
JD: Time after time, rightie commenters such as yourself deplore the tone of progressive commenters on this site. You usually end your self-righteous indignation with word along the lines of “…but that’s what I would expect of the left” or “…typical of the far-left”. However, I appreciate your mea culpa, as backhanded as your subsequent statements make it seem.
As to your own assumption that I didn’t read what you had responded nor your response to it, you are simply wrong.
Jadegold offered his/her opinion that you did not seem to understand the military and how some civilian employers work. The fact that you did serve in the USAF does not necessarily make his assessment less accurate. In my experience of the corporate world, removing meaningful responsibility from executives is usually a first not-so-subtle nudge out the door.
Of course, this does not mean that all such actions mean the same thing, particularly in the Bush administration where incompetence is usually rewarded.
Mouse : Let us continue with the General Shinseki example. Were your description to be applied to that situation, then I would agree with you. However, it happened in the exact opposite way, ie. General Shinseki announced his retirement, and then the substantive issues were delegated to the people that would actually be still working there.
Here is the Guardian story.
Alright JD, let’s talk abou Shinseki:
According to a Guardian story:
Mouse,
“The fact that you did serve in the USAF does not necessarily make his assessment less accurate.”
Does this mean you reject the whole chickenhawk argument being made by the left? I mean, I agree with you, but the left routinely uses the derogatory chickenhawk term to describe certain republican policy makers.
Dugger
I’m not sure what this has to do with the topic at hand. You wouldn’t be trying to change the subject, would you?
Dugger;
The thread calls……John Edwards…….
A sideways polemic. Partially guilty as charged.
Dugger
Meanwhile, back on the thread, we await JD’s response to the General Shinseki argument; does it support Jadegold’s contention that Mr. Brown was politely shunted aside? Or does it support the conservative notion that since the Bush administration does no wrong, Mr. Brown continues to be a vital part of the FEMA team?
The world awaits with breath barely bated.