# Bush Admin & FEMA start shifting blame to locals - Crass ass covering or justified? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 4, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-admin-fema-start-shifting-blame-to-locals-crass-ass-covering-or-justified/320065 "2005-09-04T17:32:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-admin-fema-start-shifting-blame-to-locals-crass-ass-covering-or-justified/320065/261 "2005-10-20T02:06:29Z")
Uh oh, it’s time to fire Chertoff. [Federal Emergency Management Agency’s lack of planning to Blame](http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-101905katrina_lat,0,7273729.story?coll=la-story-footer&track=morenews) > [@](#): > > The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s lack of planning, not the failures of state and local officials, was to blame for much of what went wrong with the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told member of Congress today. > > The assessment by the most senior administration official to answer legislators’ questions since the hurricane struck in late August contrasted sharply with testimony offered earlier by former FEMA Director Michael Brown. Brown had blamed the “dysfunction” of Louisiana state and local officials for the problems that hobbled the relief effort. > > “From my own experience, I don’t endorse those views,” Chertoff said. > > He told lawmakers that he found the governors and mayors of the region to be responsive as the crisis unfolded. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Loblaw\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@Bob\_Loblaw\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Loblaw_1)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-admin-fema-start-shifting-blame-to-locals-crass-ass-covering-or-justified/320065/262 "2005-10-20T04:54:35Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Irrelevent even so. > > What’s your logic here, **Sam**? Bush has no need to apologize until everyone else does? Isn’t he supposed to take a leadership role? > > I know - culpability starts at the bottom and works its way up, is that it? > > In that case, I’m sure Nagin can just wait until every last no-show bus driver has apologized. Does that make sense to you? > > Keep flailing, though. It’s entertaining. > > -Joe Grover Norquist, the leading Republican strategist, has said for years that the goal of the Republican party has been to shrink the size of the federal government down so that it is small enough to drown in a bathtub. Variations of this statement are central to Republican “philosophy” that government is inherently corrupt, evil and incompetent. What happened before during and after Katrina is the culmination of 25 years of beating down on the federal government, shortchaning infrastructure repairs, etc. When you refuse to reroof the house 25 years after it is due, expect it to let the storm through more or less unimpeded. The Katrina disaster is the culmination of the attitude and policy that government is unavoidably bad and the baby should be thrown out with the bathwater. Bush is the current leader of that ideological movement, but the idea of: “let’s fuck up and put the 100 times more expensive fix on the national credit card” is the responsibility of every single person who has advocated it. Every voter or potential voter who would allow any politician to get away with short changing maintenance gives those politicians the political cover to do just that. If the voters did not put up with it, it wouldn’t happen. The overwhelming apathy of the public results in more deaths and costs. The people are the sovereign, and democracy is not just a way for the people to shift the buck onto a despised political elite. So while Bush and his appointees are executing this policy, this isn’t license to scapegoat the feds or locals entirely: the voters are murderous assholes too, they can’t completely pass the buck to electeds. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-admin-fema-start-shifting-blame-to-locals-crass-ass-covering-or-justified/320065/263 "2005-10-20T11:34:53Z")
> [@Bob Loblaw](#): > > The Katrina disaster is the culmination of the attitude and policy that government is unavoidably bad and the baby should be thrown out with the bathwater. Bush is the current leader of that ideological movement, but the idea of: “let’s fuck up and put the 100 times more expensive fix on the national credit card” is the responsibility of every single person who has advocated it. Every voter or potential voter who would allow any politician to get away with short changing maintenance gives those politicians the political cover to do just that. If the voters did not put up with it, it wouldn’t happen. The overwhelming apathy of the public results in more deaths and costs. The people are the sovereign, and democracy is not just a way for the people to shift the buck onto a despised political elite. So while Bush and his appointees are executing this policy, this isn’t license to scapegoat the feds or locals entirely: the voters are murderous assholes too, they can’t completely pass the buck to electeds. Don’t forget the parents of the voters. Even if they voted for someone else, they still must’ve done something wrong for their children to vote for the wrong person. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-admin-fema-start-shifting-blame-to-locals-crass-ass-covering-or-justified/320065.md?page=13)