Burying the "Blame Bush" rhetoric

Just to put a final nail in the "Blame Bush" coffin, the Louisiana National Guard is an arm of the STATE government and are mobilized by the governor. The Feds supply them with most of their equipment in case they are called up for national service, but for "internal" emergencies (i.e. hurricanes) the GOVERNOR MUST ASK the Feds for assistance. The Feds cannot unilaterally "invade" a sovereign state. Only once in history has a sitting president ever federalized state troops in peacetime - Eisenhower did it to enforce the court decree to desegregate Arkansas schools. Can you imagine the uproar from the left if Bush took control of the Louisiana National Guard (a state run by democrats since the Reconstruction) and sent them into New Orleans (the bluest of blue cities)? They'd say he was a grandstanding glory hog trying to steal a "Giuliani moment" from the local mayor and governor.

So Bush stayed out of their way. The mayor let over 300 buses sit idle though he had 48 hours to evacuate. The mayor transported tens of thousands of poor citizens to the Superdome and Convention Center, with no water, no food, no fuel, inadequate plumbing and no way to get them out should the worst occur (which in accordance with Murphy's Law, it did). Now comes word that the pumps used to keep the water out of New Orleans had been failing for YEARS, the city failed to maintain them and didn't replace them as they failed. Heavy rains were beginning to cause minor levee failures all over the city and still the mayor did nothing. And when Katrina hit, the mayor was hiding in Baton Rouge. Kind of hard to be Giuliani when you aren't even in the city.

The governor also bears alot of blame for this. She had Guard Units stationed 30 miles from New Orleans. Not a bad place, but she had no eyes or ears in the city. The levee breaks were reported by news media helicopters, not Guard choppers. She couldn't have the Guard react fast enough. She only directed a formal request for military help on Thursday 01 September. Her initial request didn't even cover military aid - just jobs, money and housing assistance. FEMA was NEVER approached by Louisiana authorities with any sort of disaster plan. IT DIDN'T EXIST! And why wasn't the Guard delivering food and water as soon as the rain and wind died down? Because it WASN'T THERE! No stockpiles of any supplies on hand anywhere. This is Bush's fault how?

The 4th Infantry Division is now active in New Orleans. Supply convoys are getting to New Orleans because FEMA managed (in 48 hours no less) to scrounge up 475 buses from neighboring states and municipalities while the mayor's 364 school buses drowned. The only reason ANY relief is getting to the Big Easy is BECAUSE of George Bush and FEMA and the US Military. You watch. As the situation calms down and cooler heads prevail, the whole "blame Bush" thing will turn out to be complete BS, especially as more documents like the one's cited above become uncovered. Ted Koppel is actually asking hardball questions of local democrats who can't answer his questions! The one's screaming the loudest are going to be the one's who bear the most blame.