http://www.nola.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/base/politics-5/1125881042135470.xml&storylist=hurricaneWASHINGTON (AP) — Since two days after Hurricane Katrina lashed much of the Gulf Coast into oblivion, President Bush hasn't gone a day without a public event devoted to the storm. Monday was no different, as he planned a return to the storm-ravaged region for a third look at Katrina's effect with visits to Baton Rouge, La., and Poplarville, Miss.
But none of it — including a stream of Cabinet secretaries and other high-level federal officials to the area and on the airwaves Sunday — has quieted the complaints that Washington moved too slowly in the storm's aftermath.
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Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff took up the administration's cause Sunday, dispatched to appear on all five network interview shows after damage-control efforts by the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown, met with little success last week.
Chertoff echoed the White House line — saying the time to place blame will come later. But he also hinted at an emerging line of defense, saying federal officials had problems getting information from local officials and were surprised they hadn't been told by Thursday of the violence and horrible conditions at the New Orleans convention center.
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