Thursday, September 08, 2005
Speaking Of The Katrina Disaster...
Oh, man. This story's breaking all over the place -- and not on Friday afternoon, either. Thing is, I almost wonder if Rove's decided to throw Drownie (I mean Brownie) over the side, in the hopes that the press might revert to being their docile selves again? Guess what, Rover -- that crap might have worked six months ago. It won't work now. Not after Bernie Kerik. And most especially not after folks like Anderson Cooper got to see rats gnawing the bodies of people who less than two weeks ago were alive and going about their business. No wonder why Ken Mehlman could only muster a tepid counterattack on Howard Dean today. The RNC must be wondering if it's time to start putting daylight between themselves and the Chimpcompetent.
PHILLIPS: But if you, if we go back, I mean, we can go back year after year after year, and we can talk about FEMA and what went wrong within FEMA and should FEMA be under the Department of Homeland Security.
But if we want to be historical here, and we want to go back in time, I mean, we can go back to "The Times Picayune" and the investigation that it -- when it -- when reporters revealed that time after time, monies were asked for from all types of various politicians, of the politicians you worked side by side with, laws that you yourself vote on, and monies that should have gone to Louisiana to take care of the problems with regard to the flood control systems.
And I think it's unfair that FEMA is just singled out. There are so many people responsible for what has happened in the state of Louisiana.
PELOSI: Well, that's true. That is true. And I'm sorry that you think it's unfair. But I don't. I think it's unfair to the people who lost their family members, their lives, their livelihoods, their homes, their opportunity.
And FEMA has done a poor job. It had no chance. It was (INAUDIBLE)...
PHILLIPS: But what about all those warnings...
PELOSI: ... may I please respond?
PHILLIPS: What about all the warnings from the Army Corps of Engineers...
PELOSI: But the Army Corps of Engineers...
PHILLIPS: ... years ago, saying there's a problem with these levees, there's a problem with this city.
PELOSI: Kyra, Kyra, Kyra...
PHILLIPS: It's Kyra. It's Kyra.
PELOSI: ... if you want to make a case for the White House, you should go on their payroll. But the (INAUDIBLE)...
PHILLIPS: I'm not making a case for the White House, by all means, believe me.
PELOSI: ... that the White House has cut this year 72 percent of the request from Louisiana for flooding money. The White House has cut the Army Corps of Engineers by a large percentage in this last fiscal year.
But the point is not to argue about that. The point is, where do we go from here to help these people? The last thing the American people need is bickering right now over this, except to make their rescue safer, to a return to normalcy for them. And (INAUDIBLE)...
PHILLIPS: So you think taking Mike Brown out of FEMA right now and replacing Mike Brown...
PELOSI: Essential.
PHILLIPS: ... with somebody else...
PELOSI: That's absolutely essential.
PHILLIPS: ... will change this entire dynamic and solve the problem.
PELOSI: I do, indeed. I think it's a question of the judgment of President Bush that he would have somebody in this crucial position who has no qualifications for the job. And if you need any further evidence of that, you need only look to the performance of FEMA.
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