Michael Brown: Whiny Bitch

[tagos]

@KidCharlemagne

I know that. I want to know how much of the problem was a long-existing structural problem with FEMA versus Michael Brown’s incompetence.

Well, it’s more than that. It’s crony appointments by Bush, subsuming it to DoH, and refocusing it on TWAT so much that the first emergency supplies sent out was nerve gas antidotes. It’s gutting the levee funding despite warnings that this precise disaster would happen.

Brown is the incompetent symptom. And note how efficiently it sprang into action when it’s Florida’s ass on the line.

[SteveG1]

@grienspace

I’m very uncomfortable with the treatment of this convenient scapegoat. For Democrats it is another example of a Bush political appointment to castigate. For Republicans it is a deflection for what I perceive as serious shortcomings in provisions for FEMA to effectively administrate its mandate.

So which one is it? Is it the Democrats beating up a blameless scapegoat, or is it a failure of FEMA to do its job? It looks like you are blaming Democrats for FEMA’s failur in some way. (?) FEMA and Brown screwed up. Period.

[Merijeek]

@kaylasdad99

Better not let Bricker catch you making statements like that, unless you’re able to post a link to a copy of the court-generated declaration of incompetency.

Yeah, but maybe he’ll have more free time now so he can make the post three times as long.

snork!

-Joe

[Merijeek]

@bluethree

What? You expect him to be a superhero?

I say this because that was one of his defensive tactics. As if only a superhero could have done a better job.

If I was a superhero I’d like to be Marginally Competent Man. Not too impressive sounding, but we know Brown could never aspire to it.

-Joe

[Baldwin]

For just a little bit, I thought maybe I’d been too harsh with the word “whiny” in the thread title (though, curiously, I had no hesitation about the “bitch”). Then I heard Brown say something like (this is a close paraphrase): “I’d invite you to sit in this chair! You don’t know what it’s like to have everything go wrong, and you’re trying to be effective and you can’t be effective because the media are telling lies about your resume!” Goddamnit, I’d like to slap him and take his lunch money.

[Cervaise]

@grienspace

Perhaps I haven’t been paying attention, but up till Katrina in New Orleans, I just haven’t heard of any ground shaking criticism of that organization

On the one hand, Brown has a point that Homeland Security wasn’t supporting FEMA the way it should have been, and there may be better people to blame than him.

On the other hand, he was involved with turning FEMA into a political entity in a scheme to “buy” votes, and he didn’t want a report commissioned by then-director Tom Ridge from an external authority that showed serious gaps in disaster preparedness delivered to Ridge.

So fuck him.

[5que]

Did anyone hear this one? According to a report on the radio, when he was asked about not providing ice, he said it wasn’t FEMA’s job to help people keep their “beer and diet Cokes” cold. :eek:

Them could be fightin’ words.

[SteveG1]

@5que

Did anyone hear this one? According to a report on the radio, when he was asked about not providing ice, he said it wasn’t FEMA’s job to help people keep their “beer and diet Cokes” cold. :eek:

Them could be fightin’ words.

According to Brown, it wasn’t FEMA’s job to do much of anything. If that’s the case, then I suppose we don’t need FEMA at all. Free up all that money and flow it down to the state level. Or something.

[ltfire]

I watched the whole questioning phase on CNN, and I don’t think the guy is very stabile , mentally. IMHO. A little paranoia was creeping in with some of his answers.
Wouldn’t surprise me to see him eat a bullet over the next few weeks. Maybe leave a note about the persecution he has endured all his life.

[wring]

anyone else hearing the words “let them eat cake”???

[Squink]

Interesting timing:

FEMA director Michael Brown was warned weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit that his agency’s backlogged computer systems could delay supplies and put personnel at risk during an emergency, according to an audit released Wednesday.
An internal review of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s information-sharing system shows it was overwhelmed during the 2004 hurricane season. The audit was released a day after Brown vehemently defended FEMA for the government’s dismal response to Katrina, instead blaming state and local officials for poor planning and chaos
…
Among the problems the audit identified:

_FEMA’s system could not track and coordinate delivery of ice and water to Florida, resulting in millions of dollars worth of ice left unused at response centers, and $1.6 million in leftover water returned to storage.

_An estimated 200,000 victims had to wait for temporary housing aid from disaster assistance employees because of backlogged computers.

_Emergency personnel were potentially put at risk because the system did not provide real-time disaster warnings and other information.

[SteveG1]

I read an article (maybe the same one) and it said that audits which were critical had been rejected as being too “negative”. Bye bye Brown, don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out. Ta ta.

[Dewey_Finn]

What does Brownie’s claims (that FEMA’s budget and headcount was reduced by Homeland Security) say about the government’s preparedness for a large terrorist attack? If the government wasn’t prepared to respond effectively to Katrina, how can we expect it to respond to, say, a dirty bomb attack in lower Manhattan? Where did all those billions of dollars spent since September 11, 2001 go anyhow?

[Leviosaurus]

I’m looking for a quote I read in a news story a few days ago, a doozy of a comment made by one of Brown’s former employers when the FBI came to do a background check on him before he joined FEMA. I haven’t found it yet, but check out the lies the guy put on his resume. (Scroll down to see the story.) Whoa!

[Stonebow]

@Dewey Finn

What does Brownie’s claims (that FEMA’s budget and headcount was reduced by Homeland Security) say about the government’s preparedness for a large terrorist attack? If the government wasn’t prepared to respond effectively to Katrina, how can we expect it to respond to, say, a dirty bomb attack in lower Manhattan? Where did all those billions of dollars spent since September 11, 2001 go anyhow?

This is the crux of it for me. We had *2 weeks * worth of warning for Katrina…what if terrorists had just planted bombs on the levies and sea wall?

[wolf_meister]

You know, we could have built the A-Bomb long before 1945, but LosAlamos and New Mexico in general were just too damned dysfunctional. :rolleyes:

As others have said, what will FEMA do if there is another terrorist attack similar in scope to that of Sept 11, 2001?

[Merijeek]

@Dewey Finn

What does Brownie’s claims (that FEMA’s budget and headcount was reduced by Homeland Security) say about the government’s preparedness for a large terrorist attack? If the government wasn’t prepared to respond effectively to Katrina, how can we expect it to respond to, say, a dirty bomb attack in lower Manhattan? Where did all those billions of dollars spent since September 11, 2001 go anyhow?

Be patient, citizen. You’re completely safe.

At least until January, 2009. After that, well, it’s up to you then, isn’t it?

-Joe, 1983.5

[rjung]

@squeegee

You haven’t been paying attention – FEMA had come under scathing criticism for its response to hurricane Andrew in 1992, for much the same reasons that Brown is being savaged. See here, for example.

And to be fair, FEMA was vastly overhauled after Hurricane Andrew into a well-respected emergency response group, as chronicled here. The backsliding didn’t begin until directors were hired based on their connections to the President’s election fundraising skills.