Brown: Politics Played Role in Katrina

[snopes]

Party politics played a role in decisions over whether to take federal control of Louisiana and other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, former FEMA director Michael Brown said.

Some in the White House suggested only Louisiana should be federalized because it was run by a Democrat, Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Brown told a group of graduate students at a lecture on politics and emergency management at Metropolitan College of New York.

"Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking 'We had to federalize Louisiana because she's a white, female Democratic governor and we have a chance to rub her nose in it," he said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...OWN?SITE=FLTAM

[Astra]

I wish I could say I'm surprised by this.

Maybe Blanco didn't do the greatest job ever during Katrina, but even before the storm it seemed like she took a fair amount of crap basically for being a woman in a powerful position.

[Sweeney_Todd]

"Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking, 'We had to federalize Louisiana because she's a white, female Democratic governor, and we have a chance to rub her nose in it,'" he said, without naming names. "'We can't do it to Haley (Barbour) because Haley's a white male Republican governor. And we can't do a thing to him. So we're just gonna federalize Louisiana

So, what he is saying here is, he knows what people in the white house were thinking at the time? I notice that he did not say,
what the people in the white house were 'saying' but what they were "thinking". He does not give any qoutes from anyone nor give any sources. I am surprised that anyone here would even take notice of this. People here sometimes come up with quotes and are asked to site source of information. All that Brown is doing is giving here say. It seems to me that the person that is trying to politisize this is Blanko to save her career and finding someone else to blame.

[JoeBentley]

So the big secret is that politics plays a role in how the government is run?

And in other news water continues to be wet, despite outcries from pro dryness groups....

[Christie]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

So the big secret is that politics plays a role in how the government is run?

And in other news water continues to be wet, despite outcries from pro dryness groups....

That's not really the point in this specific situation though is it? It's pretty disgusting that FEMA was directed to do this and it should come as a surprise. Are Americans so jaded that they would have expected the Republican White House to pick and choose which Americans get prompt attention based on the politics of the governor of their state in a national disaster scenario?

"This is exactly what we were living but could not bring ourselves to believe. Karl Rove was playing politics while our people were dying," Blanco said through a spokeswoman, referring to Bush's top political strategist. "The federal effort was delayed, and now the public knows why. It's disgusting."