The Katrina response: was the non-response set up to match the anti-government talking points?

[rudy23]

A lot of things took a long time to materialize in the aftermath of Katrina. One thing that was swift, was the smear campaign against New Orleans that was going out in email inboxes on the Wednesday after the storm. That's the same day W. finally crawled out of his bubble and gave the ol' flyover to New Orleans. That's two days before buses finally showed up to the Dome and Convention Center. Guess they had to get their priorities straight---politics trumps people.

Even stronger now, is the Republican message that government can never do anything right. We already know they will let people suffer to make their message a reality. Bobby Jindal himself recently touted the government's failures in Katrina to make his anti government case. If there's one thing we know from the Bush admin's response to any type of crisis over that time--they could't go debunking their own message by having a government agency like FEMA do a GOOD job of saving people's lives!

Back in '05, the "Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim email newschannel" was not as identifiable back then as it is now. People were even more susceptible to rumor by email then. By that Wednesday, rumors went out over email that gangs of New Orleanians had broken into Sporting Goods stores in Baton Rouge, and were going on violent rampages and setting fires through town. The term "blame game" had already gone into effect, as the administration was focusing their blame aim on Governer Kathleen Blanco. Cable news was already getting out the talking point that New Orleans' high welfare rolls were the sign that government sanctioned laziness was the reason for their failure to avoid death from the floods. A fake email attributed to George Carlin went around, which bashed New Orleans right after the storm. http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/carlin-on-new-orleans.htm

Then we have these words from Michael Brown that triggered Blanco's request for an investigation, that seem to have been swept down the memory hole:

http://www.southernstudies.org/2007/01/brown-while-katrina-victims-were-dying.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2331293320070124

"Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking, 'We had to federalize Louisiana because she's a white, female Democratic governor, and we have a chance to rub her nose in it,'" he said, without naming names. "'We can't do it to Haley because Haley's a white male Republican governor. And we can't do a thing to him. So we're just gonna federalize Louisiana.'"

Joe Lieberman promised to investigate the Katrina non-response before the '06 election, then rescinded immediately after (of course). Why was he allowed to retain his Homeland committee chair in the face of his 180? Now that we have this majority, why won't we investigate the Katrina non-response, the anti-government & anti-New Orleans smear campaign, and those "controversial emails" Mike Brown threatened to out Bush with?

Was the response set up for failure to drive the Bush administration's anti-government message?

[jma10131]

1. Funny isn't it?!?

I love it how the GOP fucked up Katrina Reconstruction cause they were to busy handing the billions for that reconstruction to corporate greedy bastards- and then multiple right wing morons trash and insult the victims they failed to save. I love their stupidity and lack of decency!

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Katrina was a failure on multiple level of government and by many individuals

In and out of government. If you want your screeds to have any credence, frame them in that context. Its not that FEMA etc did not screw up big time and the ACOE does not have massive responsibility as well, but they are far from alone. Lets not forget individual responsibly either.

[rudy23]

4. An example of personal reponsibility would be?

[Cresent City Kid]

5. I bought supplies and hunkered down

That was all I could do. I was lucky that my wife's brother came from San Antonio and rescued us. Many did not have that kind of option. It's hard for people to imagine how many in New Orleans didn't have cars or the money to buy the supplies needed to ride it out. The sad irony is that because of the economic situation there, the bulk of the people who couldn't leave lived in the areas most likely to flood as empty homes were high and dry.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Preparaing as best one can and behaving responsibly during the disaster

Comm plans etc have no cost, bottled water costs very little on sale. Some canned goods as appropriate.

I live in prime earthquake country and have also taken preparations.

[redqueen]

6. So... you expected the residents of NO to fix the levees?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. Not what I said...

COE has a massive culpability over 40 years of mismanagement and 3 years subsequently.

[redqueen]

10. Just making sure... since that is *the* paramount issue in the diaster,

I'd say it pretty much dwarfs all others into insignificance.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. It was the cause of the disaster, but people still had a choice of what they were going to do

I live in SoCal. The big one is coming. Won't be able to blame the COE or anyone else for it when it happens. What people do during critical period and reconstruction is up to them.

[QC]

3. You know, if only we controlled at least one house of Congress, we could investigate.

Oh well....

[GoCubsGo]

7. Of course it was.

Everything they do is to drive the anti-government message. Their whole game is to squeeze the government "until it is small enough to drown it in a bath tub." Part of that is dropping the funding of various agencies until they can't help but fail to do their jobs. Top that with appointing people who are not qualified to run them, and they can't help but look incompetent.