MSNBC's O'Donnell: Bush "thrives on being a crisis manager"
On the September 4 broadcast of NBC's syndicated The Chris Matthews Show, MSNBC chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell touted President Bush's skills as a "crisis manager" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Responding to a question from host Chris Matthews, on whether the president's slow response to the hurricane could become "a long-term [political] problem for this president," O'Donnell answered, "I think the president thrives on being a crisis manager. I think that's what he's good at. I think that's what we saw after 9-11."
When Matthews challenged her, asking, "But what happened [with the president's response to the hurricane] this week?" O'Donnell acknowledged, "He was slow to it, and sometimes he is slow -- getting to it. But I think that he'll recover from it."
From the September 4 broadcast of NBC's The Chris Matthews Show:
MATTHEWS: Welcome back. Let's get a political damage report on the president. Is this behavior or lack of it the last week a long-term problem for this president?
TERRY NEAL (Washington Post staff writer): I think that it is. And I think that it doesn't really matter whether it's a problem for him, it's going to be a problem for his party, because we're going into midterm elections next year, and a president who has between a 40 and 45 percent approval rating is not going to be helpful. I mean, people have to remember that Bill Clinton, in the midterm year, in the year in which he was impeached, his poll numbers were 10 points or so higher than George W. Bush's are now. So I think it's a problem for his party. I don't think it's one - a year from now is still a long time away, and he could recover, but I have a sense that it is going to be a long-term problem.
MATTHEWS: Norah?
O'DONNELL: I think the president thrives on being a crisis manager. I think that's what he's good at. I think that's what we saw after 9-11 --
MATTHEWS: But what happened this week?
O'DONNELL: Well, he was slow to it, and sometimes he is slow -- getting to it. But I think that he'll recover from it. He could bounce back if he does a good job. I just don't think it's a total loss for him.
Is this the new Rovian spin, emphasize his "crisis management" skills every time someone points out the obvious failings? Every time a neocon media plant's cellphone rings with "Rove" showing up on the screen, they have to be swallowing and cringing. Until, of course, they get that fat check from the Repub Media Manipulators, Inc, a subsidiary of BushieCo.
'nuff said.
I can't believe O'Donnell made her statement with a straight face. Bush is a mediocrity as a leader, and it becomes more and more apparent each week. What he should have done is admit there were failures in the response to aidiing the hurricane victims, accept responsibility for them, and then promise a remedy. You have to ask yourself with each crisis, 'where is Bush's leadership'?
I don't think she really understands what a good "crisis manager" does. A crisis happens and you have to deal with it TODAY, RIGHT NOW. If you are slow to react, you are not a good crisis manager. It doesn't matter if it's still a crisis when you get there, 5 days late, the fact that it took you so long to get there indicates you are not good at dealing with it.
Neither does sitting in a chair for 7 minutes when you've just been told the second plane hit the second tower.
RIGHT !!!!!
thank you so much for your comments.
And Bush was playing golf and eating cake while all this was unfolding. That's not really a sign of someone who "thrives" on crisis management, either.
Yeah can't blame the seven minutes on the President. It took time for Cheney to change his shorts before he could called and tell the President what to do.
O'DONNELL: Well, he was slow to it, and sometimes he is slow -- getting to it. But I think that he'll recover from it. He could bounce back if he does a good job. I just don't think it's a total loss for him.
This ranks as one of the most callous, asinine comments I think I've ever heard from a talking head. "I don't think it's a total loss for him," what about the 10,000 or so dead?, maybe a loss for them too. Matthews has no shame to let her blather like that and not really light her up. Bush hasn't managed any crisis in his entire life well, that's a fact, to say otherwise is to join his band of self deluded fools.
Hang on...I get back to you guys in a moment.
Republican or democrat...how could someone defend ANYONE's actions the first 5-6 days. Someone(s) failed and someone should be held accountable.
The partisan attempts to defend FEMA or BUSH are an embarrasment to us all. There used to be a day when Republicans prided themselves on personal accountability-I don't see that any longer in the party. Instead, I see a party unwilling to do anything except paint pictures of deception, WMD, Iraq, Rove, Libby, and now N.O. It is flat-out wrong.
If our country plummets into a realm of politics in which the desire to cling to partisanship outways the desire for truth, for liberty, for equity, and forthrightness then we ALL loose.
Take care, worldasmaya
OH MY GOD. THe AP Wire just reported that Bush said "we should not try to lay blame--there'll be ample time....."
The professional spinning has begun in earnest. I suggest we take the wheels off of this carnival ride.
Honestly, if these failures are permitted to continue...how can anyone suggest this country is safer? It's unfathomable.
Whenever Republicans don't want to play the "Blame game", it is surely because it rests almost entirely upon themselves.
While this is the public assertion from the Republican politicians, they're surrogates are frantically spinning this to shift the blame to local and state authorities. They're playing the blame game, so I think it's time to suit up now.
"we should not try to lay blame"
Isn't that always their game? Keep claiming it's petty to blame at this point, then in the same breathe start placing blame elsewhere, like the local officials and victims. Ofcoarse if you try and accomodate by not placing blame at that time, when it's brought up later it's always "old news" that's "been addressed", when ofcoarse it hasn't.
"Well, he was slow to it, and sometimes he is slow -- getting to it."
Slow in a crisis is a problem that is the difference between life and death. Bush is slow because he is not a leader. It's obvious to those of us who aren't paid by the GOP or brainwashed by the american media psy-op.
You said it. "Slow to act" fails the most important criteria on the leadership test. If he did everything else right, which he surely hasn't, it's the deal breaker on grading his reaction.
When they get done rewriting history, he won't have been slow to act anymore.
So true and so sad.
I heard there a weather reporter opening in Peoria. I wonder if she could handle it.
hey, don't insult peoria like that. >:-)
Well Nora got the slow part right.
"Well Nora got the slow part right."
Only because she can obviously relate.
oh boy, just a few minutes ago the drudge headline stated that bush was going to "lead" an investigation into the katrina response.
apparently realizing the absurdity of such a statement, drudge's goons changed the headline to "bush, congress each pledge investigations ..."
iroc - Tuesday September 6, 2005 01:25:06 PM EST
EXACTLY, the only crises Bush has shown himself adept at handling is the POLITICAL crises. The adept dodging of well deserved blame and criticism.
O'Donnell is just pushing the spin as she is paid to do. What we can do as citizens is call out the media each time they allow them to spew their hatred and lies by calling them on it. Flood them with emails, send our local reps emails, make phone calls. Plan peaceful protests in your neighborhood. Pressure them til they can't take it anymore. Media matters is also a huge help in this. Thanks for your support in getting the truth out there. We can't allow these creeps in OUR White House to get away with this crap anymore.
Here's the question of the day: Will the Republicans get as worked up over thousands of dead poor people as they did over sex in the White House? I doubt it.
Of course not. 'Culture of life' is not for the living, especially not the "underprivelaged" to use the words of Barbara Bush.
No doubt they consider it a great victory in their war on poverty.
O'Donnell said: "He was slow to it, and sometimes he is slow..."
No, Norah, evolution is slow, erosion is slow, stalagmite growth is slow, my MR cousin was slow but,
Duhhbya was ABSENT...
Cheney was ABSENT...
Condi was ABSENT...
Chertoff was ABSENT...
Brown was ABSENT.
Their collective grade for managing this crisis: F
Their collective grade for mangling this crisis: A+
Mathews: What exactly is the fall-out of 10k dead in the City of Louisiana?
O’ Donnel; No problem, Bush thrives on Crisis and Chaos? He has been a little slow, but you will soon catapult the propaganda. You know: Lie, Distract, Point the finger, head the investigation, etc… Pretty soon the American people will begin to nobody could have foreseen this Hurricane coming…
Speed is at the core of good crisis management? For example, you are a life guard, someone is drowning, you react quickly to save them. OR Someone is hit by a car, you react quickly to get first aid to that person or get an ambulance. OR A hurricane hits the Gulf coast, you react quickly to mobilize search and rescue and get immediate relief to the victims. That's crisis management over and against non-crisis management or strategic planning. Once again we learn how inept the administration and its spokesmen are at understanding anything. They would be better off if they just didn't bother to open their mouths. What a bunch of losers!!!
Remove the ? at the beginning sentence of my last post and replace it with a period.
Crisis management? For whom?
I think Halliburton.
It looks like Halliburton got the contract before the residents of NOLA got water.
Crisis management? For whom? (again)
I think the wealthy.
We are seeing the results of the conservatie idealogy by completely ignoring poverty, but we MUST repeal the estate tax.
When there is a crisis, at least we know where this administrations priorities are.
"I think the president thrives on being a crisis manager. I think that's what he's good at. I think that's what we saw after 9-11." Snoring O'Donnell
She could be right, assuming she's referring to the political crisis bush created by not responding to the life and death crisis he helped create. The reality is that what happened in NO isn't a crisis to Bush. The poor, Black, democrat voting people who drowned, died of dehydration or starvation or from lack of medical attention don't matter to Bush. Now, hurricanes in republican voting districts in FLA, now that is a crisis!
The only crisis that bush sees here is a press corp coming out of it's collective coma, and a public that might notice that he isn't wearing any clothes. Hence the photo-op trips down south.
O'Donnell has been quite the water carrier for the Admin. lately. Bush is a crisis. He managed to screw up the energy crisis in CA, 9/11, the "war on terrorism", and now this. It is disgusting that anyone, much less someone that should know better, still has faith that this guy is a crisis manager. That is unless you figure he is a crisis manager, just not an effective one. While golfing, again, thousands may have died.
He's had a lot of practice managing crises. Every waking minute he's on the earth provokes one crisis after another.
What a sick little apologist she is. Disgusting. These MSM types continue to cover for this administration. Amazing.
i notice you all let matthews off the hook. why? here is nora o'donnell, making a statement that is catagorically and demonstrably false, and matthews rolls his eyes ceilingward and allows her to get away with it. this means one of two things: 1. matthews agrees with her., or (more likely) 2. matthews doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground about this president's historic lack of preparedness for any crisis, in his entire life.
matthews could have pointed out the days gw spent flying around, essentially in hiding, after 9/11, letting guliani steal his thunder. he could have pointed out the lies, distortions and horrible planning associated with iraq. as gov. of texas, he responded to a crisis in the schools by appt. a hack as head of the school system, who proceeded to establish a fraudulent system of ascertaining school competence. this didn't come out until dr. paige was made head of the federal education dept.
matthews could have pointed out all these examples of bush's failure to lead in a crisis. he didn't. instead, he allowed ms. o'donnell to spout her nonsense unchallenged. it's this kind of obliviousness and ignorance by the MSM, for the past 15 years, that has allowed the republicans, and their right-wing allies, to take over the country.
o'donnell did her job. as expected, matthews failed to do his.
As chief white house correspondent, what exactly is O'Donnell's job? Is it to be the female version of Carl Cameron?
The only crisis this administration is managing is the crisis of Puddinhead George's falling poll numbers, and even that is slipping through their greasy little fingers.
NBC needs to start referring to Ms O'Donnell as "GOP Strategist" and not "white house correspondent" for Pete's sakes!
As lousy as she is, I wonder if the Republicans might say thanks but no thanks.
NBC needs to start referring to Ms O'Donnell as "GOP Strategist" and not "white house correspondent" for Pete's sakes!
by Romario
I got one, she's the white horespondent.
While Braggart–Bush, fanfaronading his thrasonical peeps, with that always–vainglorious insolence, parodies leadership…how many more Americans—the old, the sick, the young…these innocents—will be forgotten in the aftermath? To languish, then perish & die while his toadies obfuscate rescue, aid & comfort, so readily yet still withheld? Throughout this nightmarish ordeal, who feels shame to call themselves American? And who should feel shame?
Nora O'Donnell is a republican hack and has been for years. It's amazing that she's been recently promoted to being NBC's washington bureau something.
She used to be on various political talk shows representing partisan republican views and now she's supposed to be a non-partisan journalist. Full of crap!
It's amazing how even Chris Matthews considers himself a journalist. Total B*llsh*t!!
This is not the first time Ms O'Donnell has shown herself to be a White House flack and flunkey...with a pretty face and a perky delivery. Her vacuous approach to news continues. Tuesday afternoon she was interviewing a hurricane victim and cracked a joke at which she chuckled and smiled in her always-chipper style. The joke was something about the lack of transportation, directed at a man who had expressed interest in getting to California -- or Chicago. That's the most I can remember because I was nearly rendered unconscious. I do recall however that the despondent, homeless man didn't "get it" and did not laugh. Somebody, please stop this woman. SHE is a national crisis.
Crisis manager vs. crisis creator, you decide.
o'donnell and rush are sharing the same drugs. let's not forget bush's shining moment hiding behind that book in the classroom the morning of 9-11, and that was at least fifteen minutes after he heard about the first plane hitting. perhaps if he had actually read any of those warnings, he might have had a clue. the fact is bush never held meetings on terrorism, while clinton at times held them daily. bush ignored the hart-rudman panel, appointed by clinton, and instead put cheney in charge of terrorism, and he held no meetings. to call these people incompetent would be a compliment. sen diane feinstein in july 2001 said on cnn that she had called cheney's chief of staff, scooter libby, to discuss some information and libby told her he could arrange a meeting in six months. and she replied we don't have six months. we didn't.
I think it is simply amazing how grossly O'Donnell can oversimplify the nature of the Bush presidency.
First, she makes her comments using a false premise that 9/11 and the disaster in New Orleans came completely out of left field. Such a belief is false because there is ample evidence that not only did the Bush administration de-prioritize terrorism and levee strength prior to disasters that brought these respective issues to forefront of the public consciense, but that this administration used these events or will use them for crass political gain.
These events could have been mitigated or perhaps prevented if the Bush administration had actually concerned itself with the TRUE threats to this country and listened to the experts, a.k.a. Richard Clarke and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Yet all O'Donnell wants to do is say how the administration stakes its legacy on crisis management. How myopic! The truth is that Bush was a lameduck at the time of these disasters and showed NO leadership when it counted most. A true leader ACTS when informed of a crisis, instead of sitting in a chair for seven minutes and attending political events for days afterwards. Bush only acts belatedly and only for political opportunism, not out of benevolence or genuine concern.
"The truth is that Bush was a lameduck at the time of these disasters and showed NO leadership when it counted most. A true leader ACTS when informed of a crisis, instead of sitting in a chair for seven minutes and attending political events for days afterwards. Bush only acts belatedly and only for political opportunism, not out of benevolence or genuine concern."...by blueblood
The TRUTH is that President Bush was SLOW on the mark. He missed a great opportunity to be an inspirational leader.
We are all aware of how American bureaucracy works and the red tape involved. The ball was DROPPED many times from BOTTOM to TOP. Local government was inept before, during, and after the hurricane. So was state government. Nor did all federal agencies RISE to the occasion . And usually it's those people and agencies that handle things while the President's role is mostly that of symbolic and inspirational leadership. All seemed to work well enough during last years Florida hurricanes, but this time the scale was that much larger and the cities and towns along the Gulf were in danger of obliteration, and it's citizens were trapped, with little being done to assure their rescue.
The BLAME GAME and a great deal of the criticism of all involved is mostly along hardening partisan lines and in some cases fatuous at best. To DENY that the local and state governments were not initially responsible to warn, evacuate and shelter New Orleans's citizens and to dump the entire blame upon the federal government is deceptive, disingenuous, and dishonest. In turn, to EXCUSE the delayed response of the federal agencies or the seemingly apathetic attentiveness (at least at first) of the President is also deceptive, disingenuous, and dishonest.
The fact remains that New Orleans had a PLAN for hurricane evacuations. It was NOT enacted. That is where the beginning of the tragedy of this disaster BEGAN. Those (the Federal government) that could have compensated for the lack of leadership at the local and state level WAITED far too long on the sidelines.
Plenty of BLAME to go around folks. BUT if we can ONLY point fingers, and refuse to LEARN from the MISTAKES then we are DOOMED to repeat those same blunders , miscalculations, and fatal errors.
There is no doubt in my mind that Bill Clinton would have been a far greater force during these times, as there is no denying that George Bush lacks a natural compassion or empathy, HOWEVER lets TRY to judge the AFTERMATH with what is being accomplished NOW...and SAVE our incriminations of the President, FEMA, the Governor and Mayor till AFTER we cheer on the work to save, or relocate citizens is accomplished, and PLANS to restore the GREAT CITY of New Orleans are in the works.
After that, the BLAME for the FAILURES by ALL involved should be driven by constructive criticism rather than vindictive ACCUSATIONS driven by ideology and bias. Just my opinion....
I have an idea, instead of accusing people of playing the BLAME GAME, let's refer to it as grown ups would, ACCOUNTABILITY.
As I see it, I am not BLAMING anyone, I am holding elected officials ACCOUNTABLE.
Well, I do call it blame. Well-deserved blame, since the Pres. of the country in which the tragedy occurred is hardly exempt from blame. But accountability will do quite nicely as well.
New Orleans tried to evacuate people during Hurricane Georges. The roads out of New Orleans are not capable of getting everyone out in time, and it is better to put people in local shelters than it is to leave them on highways during storms.
New Orleans did send buses out to designated locations to pick up people and take them to the SuperDome. They told them to bring their own food and water as it was a shelter of last resort and was not equipped to feed people. New Orleans expected the Red Cross to come in after the hurricane had passed by to feed people, but FEMA would not let the Red Cross into the city.
In order to get most of the residents out of New Orleans, FEMA needed to step up and evacuate people, perhaps busing some of those poorest of the poor to the Airport. Maybe using Chinook helicopters to fly them inland 30-50 miles where they could get on a bus and avoid the gridlock just outside of New Orleans. Shelters had to be set up for all the evacuees to go to that could not evacuate themselves, and that is the role that FEMA should have taken on. There was a crisis before the hurricane hit, and FEMA and George Bush did not do all they could do. George Bush was being a politician on the visit to the West Coast, not a crisis manager who is President of all of the United States, not just President of those that are not poor.
In order to get most of the residents out of New Orleans, FEMA needed to step up and evacuate people, perhaps busing some of those poorest of the poor to the Airport. Maybe using Chinook helicopters to fly them inland 30-50 miles where they could get on a bus and avoid the gridlock just outside of New Orleans. Shelters had to be set up for all the evacuees to go to that could not evacuate themselves, and that is the role that FEMA should have taken on. There was a crisis before the hurricane hit, and FEMA and George Bush did not do all they could do.>>monkey<<
Bad Bad Bush. Bad Bad FEMA.
Oh things were so much better under Clinton...boo hoo.
Or maybe thet weren't?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1999 Hurricane Swamped Clinton's FEMA
Democrats led by Sen. Hillary Clinton are blaming the Federal Emergency Management Agency for failing to respond adequately to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
But FEMA didn't do much better under much less taxing conditions, when the floods that followed Hurricane Floyd left tens of thousands stranded up and down the Eastern seaboard, wondering what happened to federal rescuers.
New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida were hit hard when Floyd slammed the coast on Sept. 16, 1999. It was the worst storm to hit the U.S. in 25 years - yet it killed only 61 people. That death toll expected to be dwarfed by Katrina. Clinton FEMA Director James Lee Witt won high marks for hurricane preparation, but the flood that followed swamped his agency.
A full three weeks after the storm had passed, Rev. Jesse Jackson interviewed Witt on his CNN show "Both Sides Now" - and complained that flood victims were still suffering from a "misery index."
"It seemed there was preparation for Hurricane Floyd, but then came Flood Floyd," Jackson began. "Bridges are overwhelmed, levees are overwhelmed, whole town's under water . . . [it's] an awesome scene of tragedy. So there's a great misery index in North Carolina."
Witt explained that the storm's devastation was unparalleled, prompting Jackson to ask what was being done for the thousands of families left homeless by Floyd.
Though nearly a month had passed since the storm first hit, Witt said his agency was just beginning to address the problem.
[link to www.newsmax.com]
Newsmax?
Pahleeez.
They are down in the gutter with Drudge.
sgt. pepper: "new jersy, virginia, north carolina, and florida were hit hard on sept. 16, 1999 when hurricane floyd slammed the coast." "it was the worst storm to hit the us in 25 years." um, wrong and wrong. floyd did not hit florida. it passed well off the coast not even producing hurricane force winds. and hurricane andrew in 1992 was a far worse storm. try not making statements that are so easy to refute.
I would just like to say that it was not the flooding that we are complaining about. It is the four days of inaction by this adminstration, that we are angery about.
-by Monkey
Your analysis is spot on!
I grew up on the Tx-La border sandwiched between the Nuches and Sabine rivers. I-10 into New Orleans (NO) runs through the Atchafalya swamp via 2 bridges, approximately 36 mi long (East from Baton Rouge).
I have driven into NO numerous times (as recently as May 29, 2005, this year).
No way in hell you are going to be able to evacuate ~500,000 persons ~72 hours or less using cars and Buses! The drive to Baton Rouge was taking 5-9 hours for the cars. Add 1,200+ buses and who knows how long?
The shoulders on the 36 mi bridges are narrow and ANY mechanical or fuel problems (car or buses) would cause major delays. Obviously, converting I-10 to outflow only, from NO, would have lower the evaluation time! I sure would not want to be caught on the Atchafalya swamp bridges during a major storm (100+ mph winds).
bush is not a "crisis manager" before, during, or after. donation arranger maybe. everybody remembers during the period running up to the millennium we were warned there could be a possible terrorist attack and one was stopped. contrast that to what the 9-11 commission said about the summer of 2001 when they noted "the system was blinking red" [chapter 8], and "threat reports surged in june and july.." [page 256]. but during that time "the public was not warned". [page 265]
"He could bounce back if he does a good job." Tough to bounce back from thousands dead. That is, thousands dead needlessly because Bush ignored clear warnings of a flood in New Orleans and has been slowly dismantling our government and its capacity to respond to disasters. How does she expect him to "bounce back" -- by bringing these people back to life? She, like Bush and many other Republicans, has no compassion or empathy for people. She thinks politics is all a game where several thousands of Americans dead is something you can "bounce back" from if you "do a good job." Sad. After the ignored warnings of 9/11, the failure to plan for a post-war reconstruction in Iraq, and this fiasco in New Orleans, where Bush is still in denial, the Republicans are done for at least another 25 years. It will be just like Hoover. That's what happens when you care about anything but people, i.e. tax cuts for the super rich and large corporations, stem cells, fetuses and "morals." Morals. Hah. These people like Bush should be ashamed of their "morals" and what they have done to people. But they just don't care about people.
Excerpts from a recent NYT editorial by Krugman which pretty much captures it:
"September 5, 2005 Killed by Contempt
By PAUL KRUGMAN Each day since Katrina brings more evidence of the lethal ineptitude of federal officials. I'm not letting state and local officials off the hook, but federal officials had access to resources that could have made all the difference, but were never mobilized.
Here's one of many examples: The Chicago Tribune reports that the U.S.S. Bataan, equipped with six operating rooms, hundreds of hospital beds and the ability to produce 100,000 gallons of fresh water a day, has been sitting off the Gulf Coast since last Monday - without patients.
Experts say that the first 72 hours after a natural disaster are the crucial window during which prompt action can save many lives. Yet action after Katrina was anything but prompt. Newsweek reports that a "strange paralysis" set in among Bush administration officials, who debated lines of authority while thousands died.
* * *
But the federal government's lethal ineptitude wasn't just a consequence of Mr. Bush's personal inadequacy; it was a consequence of ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good. For 25 years the right has been denigrating the public sector, telling us that government is always the problem, not the solution. Why should we be surprised that when we needed a government solution, it wasn't forthcoming?
* * *
Which brings us to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In my last column, I asked whether the Bush administration had destroyed FEMA's effectiveness. Now we know the answer.
Several recent news analyses on FEMA's sorry state have attributed the agency's decline to its inclusion in the Department of Homeland Security, whose prime concern is terrorism, not natural disasters. But that supposed change in focus misses a crucial part of the story.
For one thing, the undermining of FEMA began as soon as President Bush took office. Instead of choosing a professional with expertise in responses to disaster to head the agency, Mr. Bush appointed Joseph Allbaugh, a close political confidant. Mr. Allbaugh quickly began trying to scale back some of FEMA's preparedness programs.
You might have expected the administration to reconsider its hostility to emergency preparedness after 9/11 - after all, emergency management is as important in the aftermath of a terrorist attack as it is following a natural disaster. As many people have noticed, the failed response to Katrina shows that we are less ready to cope with a terrorist attack today than we were four years ago.
But the downgrading of FEMA continued, with the appointment of Michael Brown as Mr. Allbaugh's successor.
Mr. Brown had no obvious qualifications, other than having been Mr. Allbaugh's college roommate. But Mr. Brown was made deputy director of FEMA; The Boston Herald reports that he was forced out of his previous job, overseeing horse shows. And when Mr. Allbaugh left, Mr. Brown became the agency's director. The raw cronyism of that appointment showed the contempt the administration felt for the agency; one can only imagine the effects on staff morale."
[link to www.nytimes.com]
I was just watching The Daily Show and you want to talk about ineptitude? Colbert made the point that by the time this disaster is over, Bush's plan will be to build a billion dollar dam in Alabama so he can fight the flood waters there instead of NOLA.
It is pretty sad that comedy pretty much sums up our federal government.
Throw this Wingnut on the pile, along with Susan Estrich, the Fox Babes, Amy Rohbach, Dayrn Kagan, Kyra Phillps and Candy Crowley as letting their love the RNC and GOP talking points just keeps on coming. This is the 5 or 6th time Nora O'Reilly has been caught cheerleading, instead of reporting.
Oh, well she is doing what most former journalists are now doing.....working for the RNC.
Procrastinators in general tend to see themselves as thriving in being crisis managers.
Acutally, she just forgot a word. She meant to say "crisis CREATION manager."
Ever since it happened, and especially from now one, when I think of O'Donnell, I get the image of her as a panelist on Matthews' syndicated show, her mouth open wide enough for a root canal laughing at some hilarious remark she just made. Don't remember the topic anymore, but suffice it to say it was in regard to a serious issue and the humor eluded me.
Everytime one of these worthless eltitist commentators says something annoying all the way to outrageous, I recommend the Daily Howler website where the guy who runs it specializes in mocking the cocktail party press corp "fops" who can't do their jobs for fear of losing their charmed status. I guarantee he's a lot funnier than this less than useless "reporter."
[link to caveshadows.typepad.com]