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Submitted Without Comment
2005.11.03 (Thu) 23:54
We've been reading the ongoing coverage of Michael Brown's complete and total incompetence, and we wanted to throw a few of the more choice tidbits on the table, on the off chance that someone might not have seen them. As reported widely, and quoted below from an ABC News story, food was high on Brownie's list of critical issues once Katrina hit New Orleans. Sadly, it was his own meal that seemed to concern him most. After being peppered with e-mails from FEMA representative Marty Bahamonde who was in New Orleans reporting on the criticality of the situation, the following was the reply from Brown's office:
...Brown's press secretary wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. "He needs much more that (sic) 20 or 30 minutes," wrote Brown aide Sharon Worthy.
"We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."
But food wasn't the only thing on Brown's mind. Apparently, clothing was right up there as well, as reported in another ABC News story:
The e-mails show that Brown, who had been planning to step down from his post when the storm hit, was preoccupied with his image on television even as one of the first FEMA officials to arrive in New Orleans, Marty Bahamonde, was reporting a crisis situation of increasing chaos to FEMA officials.
"My eyes must certainly be deceiving me. You look fabulous and I'm not talking the makeup," writes Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs to Brown on 7:10 a.m. local time on Aug. 29.
"I got it at Nordstroms," Brown writes back. "Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?"
Hey, people are dying. Can I quit now? Can I go home? Ha! Jokes! It's the most humorous of situations!
Asshole. Want to see true incompetence in action? Check out the following e-mail exchange (PDF) between Bahamonde and Brown:
From Bahamonde to Brown on August 31:
Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical. Here are some thing you might not know.
Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water. Hundreds still being rescued from homes.
The dying patients at the DMAT tent being medivac. Estimates are many will die within hours. Evacuation is process. Plans developing for dome evacuation but hotel situation adding to problem. We are out of food and running out of water at the dome, plans in works to address the critical need.
Brown's reply:
Thanks for update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?
You know, that sounds remarkably like an e-mail that might be sent from one Two Percenter to another, during the course of fine-tuning a Rant or constructing a Score entry. The difference? Other people's lives don't fucking depend on our timely reactions. Asshole.
So not only was this guy completely unqualified to do his job, but as this storm was developing, he decided to quit — probably because he recognized his own lack of qualifications — and his actions over the course of the storm quite clearly demonstrate that total incompetence and that unmistakable "I'm quitting anyway" attitude that ended up costing people their lives.
Thanks, President Bush, for putting this guy in a position of critical importance; and thanks, Congress, for failing to check this guy's résumé.
Okay, so maybe this wasn't submitted entirely without comment.
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[ Filed under: % Bush Watch % Government & Politics ]
Comments
Grendel, 2005.11.04 (Fri) 18:19 [Link] »
The Two Percent Company, 2005.11.04 (Fri) 23:49 [Link] »
Grendel, 2005.11.07 (Mon) 17:29 [Link] »
The Two Percent Company, 2005.11.07 (Mon) 20:58 [Link] »
Grendel, 2005.11.08 (Tue) 15:48 [Link] »
The Two Percent Company, 2005.11.09 (Wed) 15:29 [Link] »
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