Let's get this out of the way

[erikred]

According to Talking Points Memo, Newsweek recently said:

"Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco seemed uncertain and sluggish, hesitant to declare martial law or a state of emergency, which would have opened the door to more Pentagon help."

Let's nip this in the bud. Blanco proclaimed a state of emergency on August 26, when the hurricane was about to hit, to extend to September 25.

So, if you catch someone at the watercooler saying that the reason the Feds reacted slowly is because Blanco didn't declare a state of emergency, print out the declaration and slap them with it.

Comments

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

This little slipup was actually published in both Newsweek and the WashPost, according to dailyKos. WashPost retracted the next day, Newsweek has not.

Wondering myself if Bush's promise to investigate 'what went wrong' is a candidate for Most Ironic Statement of 2005, or simply Most Unaware..

[tagryn]

I think there's going to be plenty of blame to go around, and Blanco's going to bear quite a bit of it. I watched her news conferences on the local NOLA TV broadcasts online in the days following the hurricane, and I'm surprised she hasn't had a nervous breakdown yet, so scattered was her delivery; she was clearly not up to providing leadership or direction, regardless of the timing of the emergency order.

There's also this:
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#076943
---
Nagin singled out Gov. Kathleen Blanco for criticism,
saying that the governor had asked for 24 hours to
think over a decision when time was a luxury that no
one, especially refugees, had.
"When the president and the governor got here, I said,
'Mr. President, Madame Governor, you two have to get
in synch. If you don't, more people are going to die."
Blanco and Bush met privately at his insistence, Nagin
said, after which Bush came out and told Nagin that he
had given Blanco two options, and she requested a full
day to decide.
"It would have been great if we could have walked off
Air Force One and told the world we had it all worked
out," Nagin said. "It didn't happen, and more people
died."
---

local politicians - played politics with levee management, corruption.
NOPD - Communications system fell apart, morale collaped, desertions & looting by some officers.
Nagin - didn't follow his own city's evacuation plan, left buses unused.
Blanco - indecisive, overwhelmed, lack of direction.
FEMA/Bush - late reacting to emergency, underfunding of FEMA.
All levels - failures to coordinate activities.

The only ones who might come out of this with good marks are the military, who seem to have gotten the evacs completed & order restored once they were finally sent in.

[tagryn]

Follow-up: Katrina Response Timeline

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Rightwingnuthouse.com doesn't seem to be responding. Got a cached copy?

Also for the clarifying and such: all I care about here is preventing the spread of a falsehood. The blame can fall where it may, and so be it, but there's more than enough of it to go around without resorting to lies.

[tagryn]

try the google cache:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:mMu3xICv4uMJ:rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2005/09/04/katrina-response-timeline/+&hl=en

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

there's multiple timeline diaries on dailyKos, if anyone is interested. amusingly, hir response above looks a lot like the republican talking points memo diaried here. sigh... the spin goes on..

[tagryn]

Kos isn't exactly an unbiased source either, for the most part. However, this Kos entry on the relative powers of the mayor, governor, and FEMA in emergencies was illuminating.

Also, it seems when you have one Democrat (Nagin) criticizing another (Blanco) for her response, there's little party spin involved in that.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Hi, tagryn, this is ophymirage, whom I went to Cal with. Ophymirage, this is tagryn, whom I knew back when the Usenet was young (as were all three of us).

I bring this up because this is as far as any of this goes in my journal. You both know I'm not a fan of the current administration and that I think the right wing spin machine makes the so-called liberal media seem fair and balanced, and you both know that the only reason I wrote about this matter was because I cannot abide an utter falsehood being promulgated.

tagryn also knows, I think, that I understand that he is not parroting the republican talking points; in fact his list was different from theirs, and we are creatures who make lists. tagryn also knows that while he and I sometimes disagree, we respect each other's positions (or, at least, we respect the thought and consideration that each of us have brought to bear on said positions).

ophymirage also knows, I think, that I understand her frustration with the aforementioned talking points, even if they were not tagryn's. ohpymirage also knows that I trust her judgemments just as equally as tagryn's, and for much the same reasons.

There. Now shake hands, and let's call this a day.

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

oops. I missed the "shut up" post until I posted my responses to tagryn. Sorry, sir. Shutting up now, sir.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Ah, but you had my point firmly in mind when you replied, and that's most of the battle. :)

I like it when friends from separate Venn circles manage to get on without too much violence.

[tagryn]

Sorry, Erik, no offense intended.

Nice to meet you, Ophymirage. 8)

[erikred.livejournal.com]

None taken, Tom, and thank you again for the link. :)

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know Kos isn't unbiased. I was also reading Red State until recently - I've been bothered by their disabling of comments for a while, but one of the founders' recent defections put the site's disintegration into Freeperism in perspective.

kos posters seem to be the most widespread, though, and while the signal to noise ratio can be poor, they had better and faster updates, and stayed well on top of everything through the whole disaster. (In fact, I often get news there 1-2 days before CNN and the rest of the media get it.)

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

and i hadn't seen the responsibility diary, that is interesting. thank you for the link. Not entirely sure where it leaves the governor vs. FEMA in terms of responsibilities, but does make nagin's position clear.

will also say that I have not heard Nagin criticize Blanco, or Landrieu (if he has done so) *nearly* as loudly as the administration. but, that may also be spin. ;-D

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the confusion is stemming from the mayor's declaration of a mandatory evacuation on August 28. According to this article, Bush "personally appealed" to the governor to get a mandatory evacuation underway. The usage of such language (personally appealed) has been common in reporting of the actions (or inactions) of all bureaucrats involved. This language combined with the two dates may be contributing to the problem. When I heard of the state of emergency, for example, I assumed that a mandatory evacuation was simply one part of the state of emergency declaration. Had you not made your post, I wouldn't have read the declaration and would still think that the two elements (state of emergency, mandatory evacuation) came from the same declaration.