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September 10, 2005
Hold The Presses: NOLA Death Toll Coming In Lower than Expected
Gee who would have predicted that the death toll was being exaggerated?
The city's homeland security chief Terr Ebbert said: "Some of the catastrophic deaths that some people predicted may not have occurred."
He declined to give a revised estimate, but added: "Numbers so far are relatively minor as compared to the dire projections of 10,000."
But Dowdy Doody, who is apparently undaunted by the refutation of her claim that "more and more decaying bodies" would show up as the floodwaters recede is onto the new meme, that Mike Brown was unqualified for his job. Interestingly she starts out with a litany of Democratic examples of cronyism:
At least Bill Clinton knew not to stash his sweeties in jobs concerned with keeping the nation safe. Gennifer Flowers said that Mr. Clinton got her a $17,500 job in Arkansas in the state unemployment agency, though she was ranked ninth out of 11 applicants tested. And Monica Lewinsky's thong expertise led her to a job as an assistant to the Pentagon press officer.
Now of course, "concerned with keeping the nation safe" doesn't excuse Jim McGreedy of New Jersey, but this time Dowdy laughs it off:
Gov. James McGreevey of New Jersey had to resign last year after acknowledging that he had elevated his patronage peccadillo, an Israeli poet named Golan Cipel, to be his special assistant on homeland security without even a background check or American citizenship. Mr. Cipel, however, was vastly qualified for his job compared with Michael Brown, who didn't know the difference between a tropical depression and an anxiety attack when President Bush charged him with life-and-death decisions.
Now isn't that cute? Dowd's making a pun on the word "depression", which will no doubt have the residents of the Upper East Side chortling over their frappacino lattes this morning. But clearly Cipel was not qualified for his job; and Brown had at least the advantage of having worked as general counsel for FEMA, so he had some familiarity with the workings of the agency. And note the delicate way she refers to Cipel and McGreevey's relationship; "gay lover" would have been more precise (but less witty) than "patronage peccadillo".
I'm not defending Mike Brown here, but I do think somebody's gotta point out that a lot of the original charges against him don't hold water (sorry). He was accused of not getting provisions into the refugees in the Superdome; we know now that the Red Cross and Salvation Army, which handle that task for FEMA, were prevented from entering New Orleans by Lousiana National Guard members, acting under Governor Blanco's orders. We know that the evacuation was complicated by the fact that Gretna sheriff's deputies were preventing people from leaving by foot.
The rest of the column is mostly about Brown's past. I don't deny that he comes of as underqualified. What will be interesting to see is what he actually did wrong in the crisis. But of course the braying ninnies like Dowd aren't really interested in Brown, he's just a convenient stick with which to bash President Bush.
Update: Here's some remaining Times' criticism of Brown/FEMA:
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials expected the state and city to direct their own efforts and ask for help as needed. Leaders in Louisiana and New Orleans, though, were so overwhelmed by the scale of the storm that they were not only unable to manage the crisis, but they were not always exactly sure what they needed. While local officials assumed that Washington would provide rapid and massive aid, federal officials, weighing legalities and logistics, proceeded at a deliberate pace.
Russ Knocke, press secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said that any detailed examination of the response to Katrina's assault will uncover shortcomings by many parties. "I don't believe there is one critical error," he said. "They are going to be some missteps that were made by everyone involved."
FEMA appears to have underestimated the storm, despite an extraordinary warning from the National Hurricane Center that it would cause "human suffering incredible by modern standards." The agency dispatched only 7 of its 28 urban search and rescue teams to the area before the storm hit and sent no workers at all into New Orleans until after Katrina passed on Aug. 29, a Monday.
On Tuesday, a FEMA official who had just flown over the ravaged city by helicopter seemed to have trouble conveying to his bosses the degree of destruction, according to a New Orleans city councilwoman.
Okay some of those seem legit; they should have dispatched more search and rescue teams. But why in the world would you send workers into New Orleans, a city subject to a mandatory evacuation order, before the hurricane passed? That's just risking their lives for no good purpose. And by the time we're to the fourth paragraph, it's about an impression by a city councilwoman that somebody was having a tough time conveying the extent of the devastation.
Note also these pre-levee breach reviews of Brown:
At mid-afternoon on that Monday, a few hours after Katrina made landfall, state and federal leaders appeared together at a press conference in Baton Rouge in a display of solidarity.
Governor Blanco lavished her gratitude on Mr. Brown, the FEMA chief.
"Director Brown," she said, "I hope you will tell President Bush how much we appreciated - these are the times that really count - to know that our federal government will step in and give us the kind of assistance that we need." Senator Mary L. Landrieu pitched in: "We are indeed fortunate to have an able and experienced director of FEMA who has been with us on the ground for some time."
Mr. Brown replied in the same spirit: "What I've seen here today is a team that is very tight-knit, working closely together, being very professional doing it, and in my humble opinion, making the right calls."
Posted by pat at September 10, 2005 12:42 PM
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Comments
I am starting to defend Brown.
The only thing I had against him was FEMAs response to NOLA. But, like you said, his arms were tied because of the state gov't.
I agree with Fred Barnes assertion that FEMA needed someone that said: "look, forget the paperwork, do what you need and I'll cover you." But that was not Brown. He was trying to mandate order in chaos and the result was hesitation.
However, for all those who said he had no experience, he had plenty of it--from the 4 hurricanes that hit Florida last year. The difference this time was, simply, democratic leadership NOLA and LA.
Posted by: aaron at September 10, 2005 03:23 PM
Katrina was a hurricane which by all accounts, New Orleans came out fairly well. The catastrophe was the levy breaking (not topping) which showed the Governor & Mayor handled poorly. Buses are used "before" a hurricane to evacuate the people needing help. What it comes down to, is the Dem's were trying to force President Bush to go in illegally so they could set him up for impeachment.
Posted by: Jo at September 10, 2005 07:34 PM