# Michael "Heckuva Job" Brownie criticizes Obama's response to oil spill **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 6, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465 "2010-05-06T01:49:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/21 "2010-05-08T02:44:33Z")
Brownie criticized the president’s response to the oil spill? That’s gotta be keeping Obama up at night. ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/22 "2010-05-08T02:50:16Z")
Well, if anybody knows what _not_ to do, it’s Brownie. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/23 "2010-05-08T14:24:47Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Give that girl (guy) a prize! > > It’s uncertain whether or not there was a little brandy cask strapped about its neck. > > -Joe I would have guessed chocolate lab. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/24 "2010-05-08T16:11:42Z")
This is really one of the most unbelievable things I’ve ever heard. He should be too ashamed to even show his face in public. Is he delusional? Stupid? He’d have to be completely out of touch with reality to think that his handling of Katrina was anything less than a complete disaster. What he did should be illegal, and he should be in jail right now. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/25 "2010-08-25T19:41:46Z")
Well, it looks like Brownie is headed back to New Orleans: [http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2010/08/michael\_brown\_ex-fema\_boss\_on\_return\_to\_new\_orleans\_for\_5th\_anniversary\_of\_katrina.php](http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2010/08/michael_brown_ex-fema_boss_on_return_to_new_orleans_for_5th_anniversary_of_katrina.php) ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/26 "2010-08-25T19:46:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But doesn’t Michael Brown saying that’s not the way he would have handled it count as a glowing endorsement? In my book, yes. After katrina and what happened in new Orleans, neither Brown, nor any other person from that past administration has a right to say a god. damn. thing. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/27 "2010-08-26T06:03:32Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Well, it looks like Brownie is headed back to New Orleans… :dubious::dubious::dubious: What the fuck did they do to deserve that? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/28 "2010-08-26T06:22:48Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Yeah, the most interesting thing here is just “why” Fox news would even solicit his input. > > Of course, ratings come to mind. Because he’s criticizing Obama? Fox News had Ted Nugent on, declaring something Obama was doing that week was unconstitutional. Ted Nugent! ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/29 "2010-08-26T08:54:48Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > … Fox News had Ted Nugent on, declaring something Obama was doing that week was unconstitutional. Ted Nugent! Little known fact\*, The Nuge is on Sarah Palin’s short list for SCotUS, in part 'cause of Uncle Ted’s stellar [example](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nugent#Personal_life) of family values. CMC fnord! - So “little known” that even Mama Bear herself doesn’t know it, yet. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/30 "2010-08-26T09:08:35Z")
About twice a week, someone like Brownie goes out of their way to remind me why I fucking hate the motherfucking Republican Party. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/31 "2010-08-26T13:59:16Z")
The thread title was a laugh all by itself. But man, what a totally self-absorbed asshole. > [@](#): > > His response? “Okay, whatever. That’s life in general. Some people, no matter what you talk about in terms of what took place, what happened, what didn’t happen – some of them will just never be emotionally able to accept me or anyone else from the administration. And I get that.” Yeah, because a thousand people drowned in NOLA while FEMA, DHS (Michael Chertoff - Brownie’s immediate superior - has never gotten a fraction of the shit he deserves for his role in the disastrous response to Katrina), and the government as a whole were all almost completely absent from Orleans Parish for several days after Hurricane Katrina itself came and went. > [@](#): > > Five years after a catastrophe that struck him hard, albeit not nearly as devastatingly as Katrina smacked the Gulf coast, he says, “I’m on the number-one station in Denver, I have one book that’s in print now, a second book that I’m starting to work on already, I still speak around the world, I have clients around the country, I have a company here in Denver, I have two grandkids. What’s the problem?” The problem is that a thousand people died because of your fuckups. > [@](#): > > [A critic] wrote, ‘How dare you share your face back in Louisiana. You and Bush screwed this up’ – they’ve always got to throw Bush in there." 'Nuff said. I think the appropriate punishment for Heckuva Job Brownie would be if several people held him down by his arms and legs while the good citizens of New Orleans lined up to spit on him. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/32 "2010-08-26T14:56:06Z")
Why not waterboard him? If you can it “enhanced interrogation techniques,” it’s legal, and you get all the effects of drowning, without him actually dying like those denizens of New Orleans did. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/33 "2010-08-26T15:17:38Z")
Won’t someone think of all the horse shows that have not been properly directed since Brownie was lost to government service. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/34 "2010-08-26T15:37:55Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > … I think the appropriate punishment for Heckuva Job Brownie would be if several people held him down by his arms and legs while the good citizens of New Orleans lined up to spit on him. The color would be appropriate, “Brownie” heh, heh … oh wait, you said spit, nevermind. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/35 "2010-08-26T16:34:33Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > > [@joebuck20](#): > > > > If anything else, though, “Arabian Horse” Brownie > > Don’t call him that – most Arabian horse owners still despise him. > > The horse-owning community is currently up in arms at FEMA (where Brownie went after he had messed up the Arabian Horse Assn.). After the messup in New Orleans, where many people objected because FEMA ordered them to leave their pets behind when evacuating (people didn’t, or delayed evacuating because of it), FEMA was told to revise their regulations regarding pets. > > It took them years to do so, but those regulations are finally being issued. And the regulations specifically exclude horses. According to FEMA, owners are supposed to leave their horses to starve or drown while saving themselves. Maybe that’s what government bureaucrats would do, but horse owners care more about their animals than that! Holy shit. They value horses more than human life? In disaster situations where resources are extremely limited, people come first. I feel bad for the animals, yes, but people are the priority. If one person has to die (not sacrifice themself willingly) because we’re trying to save horses, hippos, or the spotted owl, that is one person too many. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/36 "2010-08-26T19:33:35Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > > [@joebuck20](#): > > > > If anything else, though, “Arabian Horse” Brownie > > Don’t call him that – most Arabian horse owners still despise him. > > The horse-owning community is currently up in arms at FEMA (where Brownie went after he had messed up the Arabian Horse Assn.). After the messup in New Orleans, where many people objected because FEMA ordered them to leave their pets behind when evacuating (people didn’t, or delayed evacuating because of it), FEMA was told to revise their regulations regarding pets. > > It took them years to do so, but those regulations are finally being issued. And the regulations specifically exclude horses. According to FEMA, owners are supposed to leave their horses to starve or drown while saving themselves. Maybe that’s what government bureaucrats would do, but horse owners care more about their animals than that! I have to say this is troubling – not the excluding horses part, but the idea that in a time of emergency when every vehicle and every moment is at a premium they are filling spaces that might save people, with pets. I don’t know what the rules are, so I can’t get all I outragey yet. I think this could be done reasonable if every evacuee is allocated a certain amount of space or weight, and if they choose to to use their pets as part of their allocation, that’s fine. As for horses… if the government gives me and everyone else a horse-sized stall to fill with stuff to take along, then the horse owners can put a horse in there if they want. Does anyone know whether there are any circumstances historically where the government has assisted with animal evacuation, for instance, livestock during a time of flooding in the Midwest? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/37 "2010-08-26T20:13:06Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I have to say this is troubling – not the excluding horses part, but the idea that in a time of emergency when every vehicle and every moment is at a premium they are filling spaces that might save people, with pets. > > I don’t know what the rules are, so I can’t get all I outragey yet. I think this could be done reasonable if every evacuee is allocated a certain amount of space or weight, and if they choose to to use their pets as part of their allocation, that’s fine. > > As for horses… if the government gives me and everyone else a horse-sized stall to fill with stuff to take along, then the horse owners can put a horse in there if they want. FEMA ain’t providing nothing – it’s the horse owners, hauling their horses out in their own horse trailer, pulled by their own vehicle, using gas they have bought themself – and then being told that FEMA rules do not allow them to evacuate their own horses, they must unhook the trailer and leave it behind! Like that’s gonna happen! Last summer, here in Minnesota, we had some wildfires that caused evacuation of some areas. There were horse farms in the area. When people were driving out of the area with their loaded horse trailers, emergency workers told them they couldn’t leave with the horses, they should turn around, drive back to their farm, unhook the trailerload of horses and leave it there, in the path of the wildfire. Ridiculous! And dangerous – they were being told to turn around and drive back toward where the fire was sweeping across the land? Luckily, these were just dumb emergency workers/cops pulled in from elsewhere, who didn’t know the vicinity. The owners just turned around and drove out via backroads a couple miles away – even came back to rescue another load of horses via those backroads. But it’s damn annoying when public safety workers being paid with your taxes are an obstacle rather than assisting you in an emergency. And basing it on foolish rules set down by FEMA. Obviously, getting rid of Brownie didn’t remove all the stupidity at FEMA! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/38 "2010-08-26T20:16:36Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > > [@Bambro](#): > > > > St. Bernard? > > Give that girl (guy) a prize! > > It’s uncertain whether or not there was a little brandy cask strapped about its neck. > > -Joe Seriously? I thought surely the answer would be Fox Terrier. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465/39 "2010-08-26T23:54:44Z")
I’d love to see a cite that FEMA rules prohibit horse owners from evacuating their own horses in their own vehicle. (This thread is, in fact, on the first page of Google results on “minnesota wildfire evacuation horse”.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-heckuva-job-brownie-criticizes-obamas-response-to-oil-spill/538465.md?page=1)