Newsweek's execrable hit-piece against Blanco

[blitzen]

This is a terribly ill-informed, Haley Barbour-loving piece of crap. By the way, I live in Louisiana and have NEVER heard Blanco called Me-Maw.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17745438/site/newsweek/

Blanco, a former high-school business teacher-turned-public servant, elected in 2003 as the first woman governor of Louisiana, became one of the many not-so-happy public faces of Katrina, along with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and FEMA’s Mike “Brownie” Brown. In the storm’s immediate aftermath, she appeared so disoriented that one press account of her public appearances went so far as to suggest that she seemed “over-medicated.” Times-Picayune columnist James Gill reported that “’Me-Maw’s tranked’ is the word on the street.” (Blanco is sometimes nicknamed “Me-Maw” due to her grandmotherly affect.) That general perception was not helped when she was overheard by a CNN producer while still miked, admitting that she hadn’t known it was the governor’s responsibility to call out the National Guard. She then engaged in a two-day argument with President Bush over whether the guard troops should be federalized, thus keeping those troops ready to go literally waiting on runways around the nation. (When I returned to the city 10 days after the storm, Oklahoma guard troops told me they had been given the heads up that they’d be deployed on Wednesday after the storm, and then sat suited up for three more days before finally being given permission to deploy.) In the end, she opted against federalization.

Indecision and failure to act have been the hallmarks of her administration. In neighboring Mississippi, Haley Barbour had convened two special sessions of the legislature before she called for her first one.

[pacalo]

1. I live in Louisiana & I've never heard about "Me-Maw", either.

Too bad people who read this article have no inkling that James Gill, a Novak-like columnist for the TP, is a major, major tool for the Rethugs.

As we listened to a Mississippi radio station as we were traveling out of state on the day before Katrina hit, my husband & I were sickened at how big a kiss-up Haley Barbour was to Bush. I do believe that Barbour, a Republican governor, received a lot more guidance, and, more importantly, assurance from the federal level than Blanco did.

Remember, when Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in the 1960's, LBJ was in the city the next day, assuring the people that all beaurocratic red tape would be cut to get them the assistance they needed. What a stark contrast to the apathy we got from today's punitive, petulant (mis)leader.

[AX10]

2. Disgusting.

Wizard Barbour got support because he is a Repub.