[StBernard] Conservative Review - Nagin, Brownie & Katrina

[Westley Annis]

               THE CONSERVATIVE REVIEW   
                   August 29, 2006   
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Nagin, Brownie & Katrina   
By Rich Galen   
Townhall.com   

Note: Before we begin, I want to note the release of Fox   
News reporter Steve Centanni by some religious zealots in   
Gaza. I have known Steve for a number of years. He has   
made a career of going to dangerous places to try and get   
to the heart of the crucial stories of our age.   

We should all say a prayer of thanks that Steve and his   
cameraman were released unharmed.   

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is a goofball. Louisiana   
Governor Kathleen Blanco is incompetent. Former FEMA   
director Michael Brown has an ego the size of a category   
5 hurricane.   

In a nutshell (emphasis on the first syllable) you have the   
leaders on the ground of the three levels of government who   
were involved in the preparations for, and the actions   
following, the landfall of Hurricane Katrina.   

As it turned out there was not a competent person among the   
three of them.   

You may remember that I went down to the region shortly   
after the hurricane hit, after the levies failed and after   
it became clear it was going to be a horror.   

It is in the nature of the news business - and in the nature   
of human beings - that we love to hear bad news about other   
people. In real live we call this: Gossip.   

Don't believe me? Why do you think 30-second negative   
political ads are so effective? They move votes because   
we love gossip. Oh. YOU don't love gossip, but everyone   
else in your office does.   

The good guys in all this were the rank-and-file FEMA guys   
(see "Marty and Joe" from September, 2005), the National   
Health Service folks, and the Coast Guard.   

One Guardian told me that in a "normal" disaster you show   
up with trucks loaded with food and supplies, and you show   
up with buses to take the stranded to safety - 30 to 45 at   
a time.   

But in this case, because the city was under water, it   
became an air-sea rescue operation. Instead of moving 45   
people at time, the Coast Guard helicopters could airlift   
two or three. "In the best of circumstances," I was told,   
"we're six percent - SIX percent - as efficient as we   
would be if we could get land vehicles in there."   

When reporters wanted to hitch rides on Coast Guard   
helicopters (one of the The Lad's responsibilities, by the   
way) only one TV crew could go. The Coast Guard insisted   
that space be reserved in case they found someone stranded   
on a roof top.   

The Coast Guard. The National Health Service. Rank-and-file   
FEMA folks. Heroes.   

Then there were the political people: Dopes.   

Governor Blanco spent a significant amount of her time, in   
essence, sitting in a corner her arms wrapped around her,   
rocking back and forth. She refused to allow the National   
Guard to be nationalized to join the troops commanded by   
Lt. Gen. Russell Honore.   

Ray Nagin not only didn't direct rescue and recovery   
operations, he was found hiding out in the Hyatt, fearful   
that his constituents, the residents of New Orleans, would   
storm the place and lynch him.   

"Brownie," who had already decided he was leaving FEMA to   
go into the private sector, was more worried about how his   
performance would influence the job offers he'd already   
received than how his agency was performing.   

I did Hannity & Colmes on Friday night to discuss Mayor   
Nagin's stupid crack that the lack of progress in New   
Orleans was no different than the "hole in the ground"   
which is how he described the remnants of the attack on   
the World Trade Center buildings.   

I said that everyone knows Nagin is a dope. But when he   
says things like that - and says things like New Orleans   
continuing to be a "chocolate city" - the rest of the   
country thinks he is not a serious guy and think that   
enough money has been spent on rebuilding a city which   
(a) has done nothing to help itself at all and (b) is   
being run by people who are goofballs.   

Katrina demonstrated the best and worst in people.   
Unfortunately, the worst were the people in charge.   

The best were the people who's names we will never know.