Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn, suggested Bush & Brown possibly in $cahoots$

[mtnsnake]

This could become a huge smoking gun. I couldn't find an online link to it yet, but heard it on either CNN or MSNBC this morning, I think CNN. The clip showed Shays blistering Brown at the hearings yesterday about the failed FEMA response to the hurricane. In wrapping up the story, the news anchor, I forget his name, said Shays implied that the reason Brown was being so one-sided in pointing the finger of blame AWAY from Bushco was because he was still making $148K and perhaps the money was effectively keeping him shut up about the REAL people who are to blame (one of them of course being a certain little chimp that never likes to take any blame for anything). He implied a pay-off for silence.

The anchor then went on to say that this might become a big story when people get wind of it. Hopefully the wind will be blowing in the right direction and fan the flames on this one!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Ya think? n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Brown is officially back on the Payroll

has a consultant looking into what went wrong.

Cute?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. That is the modus operandi of this sociopathic administration. Everyone

investigates themselves. The commander in thief is also investigating what went wrong! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[BOSSHOG]

3. Same thing on NBC last night

A female reporter (can't recall name) said that brown was still on the payroll and then she implied - most likely still on payroll so the white house can control his testimony. Where does the grand ole party find its members, in a cess pool?

[barbaraann]

4. Shays also said that it looked like loyalty was more important

in the Bush administration than competence and truth. (paraphrased)

To hear a Republican say this was stunning.
:wow:

[BOSSHOG]

5. Shays is running for reelection and the best direction to go is

away from bush.

[rodeodance]

12. I agree.

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. Cover yer ass time. After 5 freakin' years of

kissin' the chimp's ass, he thinks he can NOW back-step? It's all a show. Those people are truly pathetic. Does Shays REALLY care about what happened after Katrina? Does Shays REALLY care about all the people who died because of Brownie's incompetence? Does Shays REALLY care about whether the Chimp and Brownie are in cahoots? Hell no he doesn't. What DOES he REALLY care about? His 2006 election. Bottom line. Shays cares about Shays.

[mtnsnake]

19. Maybe you're not glad Shays blasted Brown, and implied cahoots,

but I'm glad SOMEONE did at those hearings. Where were all our own Democratic Congress people, BTW? From what I understand, only a couple of them even bothered to show up for the hearings. We need to jump all over this, now that Shays has possibly opened a can of worms.

[in_cog_ni_to]

24. They boycotted the sham of a hearing because they want an INDEPENDENT

commission hearing. That's what they're fighting for. The Dems who DID show were from affected states.

[Melinda]

32. Shays has consistently been on the Chimps ass the last few years

He's an actual (moderate) conservative, and his past actions support this. He may be a republican, but he is not Rove's man.

[MADem]

35. Isn't he the Vietnam consciencious objector, who voted for the Iraq war??

I guess that CO thing only works for GOP types....I always thought CO status meant you opposed ALL wars, not just the ones that weren't beneficial to you, personally...

[mtnsnake]

7. After Brown blamed all the wrong people, Shays also said.....

"No," Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., told Brown. "You didn't do a good job. That's why you were let go."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-09-27-brown_x.htm

[rodeodance]

11. Shays was onto Brown asking for the documents whereby Brown

supposedly asked for money for FEMA. Seems as I recall Brown said he did request resouces for FEMA. We shall see.

[flyarm]

30. BROWN SAID HE REQUESTED MONEY FOR FEMA FROM HLS

FROM HOMELAND SECURITY AND HE GOT NONE OF IT..SHAYS asked for documents of that..remember Shays is from very blue state connecticut..and is up for re-election...

Brown brought up Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as not giving him the funding he asked for...

and Shays was all over the practice hurricane Pam and that Brown knew where the problems were and did nothing to prepare for the problems..

Shays was on brown like stink on-------

fly

[Spinzonner]

6. Which might explain why Brown's 'counsel' informed him

not to discuss his communications with the White House when questioned during the hearing.

He would have violated some agreement he had with them.

[rodeodance]

15. anyone have the NYTimes article that was discussed at the hearing?

[flyarm]

31. except the congress people all chirped in that he discussed the

the white house with the nyt..and they were furious and said bascially ..if you can discuss it with the nyt you can discuss it with us!! they were mad!!

fly

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Of course he's right.

All the right-wing needs is to get a few snips from Brown at this hearing, and then the usual paid pundits, Limbaugh, Russert and Matthews, for example, will replay them over and over and over again until Blanco and Nagin gets shut out.

[elehhhhna]

9. that 148K is the "on the record" money. God knows how much the

offshore deposits add up to.

[rodeodance]

10. but in the end-lots was let lose about the deconstruction of FEMA by Cher

toff and Homeland security. That is the important point. FEMA has little resourses. lacks personal and equipment. Money has gone to 'terror' operations.

[rodeodance]

13. the 'press' needs to get at why Brown was allowed to stay on--other

than the official explanation of-trying to find out what went wrong!!!

[kentuck]

21. I think Wonkette reported.....

that it was a recently fired department head that was telling the National Enquirer about Bush's return to booze. I think that may be at the bottom of it? He will be scape--goated.

[dutchdemocrat]

33. Rumour in blogtopia

"And now I will leave you to guess where this bit of gossip came from, because I promised not to tell. But one of the above-mentioned folks called me this afternoon to say that according to sources within the Enquirer itself, the source for Bush's drinking story is -- an incredibly pissed-off, recently scapegoated head of a federal agency who thinks that BushCo. done him wrong."

http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2005_09_18_firedoglake_archive.html#112761930319897332

[genieroze]

14. I seen something about this on the Al Franken Show but not

about the cahoots thing, but that Shays was really aggravated at Brown.

[mtnsnake]

28. See post #27 below. The "cahoots" thing is mentioned in the transcript.

"Republican Chris Shays basically accused the Bush administration and Mike Brown of being in some sort of cahoots..."

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/28/ltm.06.html

[madmom]

18. You don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.

Of course it's pay-off.This is standard repuke,"I didn't know" or "It was someone else's fault" is a stock repuke answer for everything when there feet are held to the fire.WTF they can't blame Bill Clinton anymore.

[Dinger]

20. Yippee!

Why doesn't he just switch and come to the light (Be A Dem)?

[julialnyc]

23. he's in a republican district in CT

Although CT is a blue state his district is Republican. My brother in law had a friend that ran in our town as a republican where his main platform was the environment. Most people who run for local politics around here do run republican no matter what their ideology is (absolutely no democrats get elected in this area). Now it's a different scale when you talk about a congressman. Shay's has a lot of republican values (whatever that means), but he's one of the better republicans

[progressoid]

22. "when people get wind of it" I believe that's the job of CNN and

MSNBC etc. Lets get the wind blowing people!

[bunny planet]

25. Seems clear that all the Republicans asking hard questions of Drownie

during his testimony are trying to distance themselves from the blivet and appear tough and 'fair and balanced'. This hearing was PR for them not intended to reveal any truths about what actually went wrong before, during, or after Katrina. Question really is whether or not their constituents are buying it, or paying attention.

[smoogatz]

26. Doesn't matter what his motives are.

What's important is that the first of the congressional rats are leaving the sinking ship of Bush's administration. Nixon would never have resigned if he'd had the full support of Republicans in the House--but because they have to fight for their political lives every two years (those smart old Framers knew what they were doing), they supported his impeachment. We could be looking at a historical first in a year or two--a sitting President impeached by congressional majorities of his own party.

[mtnsnake]

27. Here is the transcript of what I saw this morning!!

HENRY: "He had very little to say. I think the most interesting exchange, though, came when, again, Republican Chris Shays basically accused the Bush administration and Mike Brown of being in some sort of cahoots and that basically Brown was still on the payroll because he ahead privately told lawmakers some months ago that there were budget problems with FEMA, that it had been emaciated and decimated and that it would not be prepared to handle a storm like Katrina.

And basically Christopher Shays suggested that that money is buying Mike Brown's silence, and that's why maybe Mike Brown was towing the Bush administration line.

He did not directly address that, but it was a pretty heavy charge -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: I should say. I should say. But it is a charge that many people might get to very quickly."

more....
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/28/ltm.06.html

[central scrutinizer]

29. Read this link for further evidence

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Leopold0910.htm

Michael Brown, the embattled head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, approved payments in excess of $31 million in taxpayer money to thousands of Florida residents who were unaffected by Hurricane Frances and three other hurricanes last year in an effort to help President Bush win a majority of votes in that state during his reelection campaign, according to published reports.

[mtnsnake]

34. Wow, that makes you realize that in essence the real director of FEMA

has been George Walker Bush all along, taking care of himself at the expense of FEMA and at the expense of the victims who are supposed to be taken care of by that agency. No wonder that agency is pathetic.

The only thing that stinks more than Brown in this pattern of corruption we're seeing is Bush himself.

[BamaBecky]

36. Woo Hoo!..n/t

[pointblank]

37. Like every dirty little move this administration makes

it is painfully OBVIOUS that they kept Brownie on the payroll to control his testimony!!!

So much of what they pull is so damn obviously done to cover their own tracks that it makes me sick that ANYONE can actually still be behind them. WAKE UP AMERIKA!!!!!!!!!!!! These people are S-C-U-M-B-A-G-S!