Mike is Brown and sounds like a bell.

The theme of this post

Once again I am referring to a Monty Python joke, namely "What is brown and sounds like a bell? Dung."

I could end this post right now, but I will provide some support for my assertion.

Don't play the blame game.

Tuesday, Brownie did a "heckuva job" testifying before a Congressional panel. You can get the entire transcript here. Before discussing his testimony, let's revisit the Bush administration's position on playing the "blame game." Scotty Boy McClellan set out the policy in a press briefing on September 7, 2005. Showing just one statement by Scotty would sum up the Bush administration's stance, but then you could not be entertained by the insistent, emphatic nature of McClellan's bullshit. So here is most of the exchange:

Q: Scott, does the President retain confidence in his FEMA Director and Secretary of Homeland Security?

MR. McCLELLAN: And again, David, see, this is where some people want to look at the blame game issue, and finger-point. We're focused on solving problems, and we're doing everything we can --

Q: What about the question?

MR. McCLELLAN: We're doing everything we can in support --

Q: We know all that.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA.

Q: Does he retain complete confidence --

MR. McCLELLAN: We're going to continue. We appreciate the great effort that all of those at FEMA, including the head of FEMA, are doing to help the people in the region. And I'm just not going to engage in the blame game or finger-pointing that you're trying to get me to engage.

Q: Okay, but that's not at all what I was asking.

MR. McCLELLAN: Sure it is. It's exactly what you're trying to play.

Q: You have your same point you want to make about the blame game, which you've said enough now. I'm asking you a direct question, which you're dodging.

MR. McCLELLAN: No --

Q: Does the President retain complete confidence in his Director of FEMA and Secretary of Homeland Security, yes or no?

MR. McCLELLAN: I just answered the question.

Q: Is the answer "yes" on both?

MR. McCLELLAN: And what you're doing is trying to engage in a game of finger-pointing.

Q: There's a lot of criticism. I'm just wondering if he still has confidence.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and blame-gaming. What we're trying to do is solve problems, David. And that's where we're going to keep our focus.

Q: So you're not -- you won't answer that question directly?

MR. McCLELLAN: I did. I just did.

Q: No, you didn't. Yes or no? Does he have complete confidence or doesn't he?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, if you want to continue to engage in finger-pointing and blame-gaming, that's fine --

Q: Scott, that's ridiculous. I'm not engaging in any of that.

MR. McCLELLAN: It's not ridiculous.

Q: Don't try to accuse me of that. I'm asking you a direct question and you should answer it. Does he retain complete confidence in his FEMA Director and Secretary of Homeland Security, yes or no?

MR. McCLELLAN: Like I said -- that's exactly what you're engaging in.

Q: I'm not engaging in anything. I'm asking you a question about what the President's views are --

MR. McCLELLAN: Absolutely -- absolutely --

Q: -- under pretty substantial criticism of members of his administration. Okay? And you know that, and everybody watching knows that, as well.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, everybody watching this knows, David, that you're trying to engage in a blame game.

Q: I'm trying to engage?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes.

Q: I am trying to engage?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's correct.

Q: That's a dodge.

I included this excerpt not to show that McClellan never answered the question (such failure is hardly breaking news), but rather to show that the Bush administration absolutely did not want to play the "blame game" and sharply criticized those that did. Not only that, but Brown his ownself told Congress "Now, I'm not here to point blame. I'm not here to point fingers. I'm here just to tell the truth."

A player just gots to play--and I'm gonna be a hater.

• In general
  

The lead paragraphs from the following news reports give a good summary:

Reuters: The former head of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, who resigned under a hail of criticism over the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, blamed local officials on Tuesday and said his agency had done a good job.

AP: Former FEMA director Michael Brown aggressively defended his role in responding to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday and blamed most coordination failures on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

Chicago Tribune: Michael Brown, the Bush administration's ousted emergency management chief, went before Congress on Tuesday unbowed by fierce criticism of his handling of Hurricane Katrina, admitting few errors of his own and laying most of the blame for the debacle of early relief efforts on local officials in Louisiana.

And this is not playing the blame game? Silly me--I forgot that the Bush administration gets to criticize the behavior of others and then turn right around and engage in the same behavior. Before showing what Brownie actually said, I will address something I am sure some of you are thinking, namely how could Brown's comments reflect on the Bush administration since Brown resigned as the head of FEMA? Well, the answer is simple: Brown still works for FEMA.

As reported by CBS and the AP, even though Brown resigned on September 12, such resignation did not become effective until two weeks later, and even then the plan was to keep him at FEMA for an additional month so that the agency could get the "proper download of his experience." But wait--there's more. CNN reported that "Brown told congressional investigators Monday that he is being paid as a consultant to help FEMA assess what went wrong in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina[.]" And he is getting paid $148,000 a year for his services! Only in the Bush administration would this be possible.

Be that as it may, the main point here is that Brownie is still part of the Bush administration, so his comments before Congress can to some degree be attributed to the Bush administration. In light of that, here is a discussion of some of what Brown had to say. Much of what follows can be found in the transcript and the articles already listed plus articles from the New York Times and Washington Post. Other sources are noted and linked.

• "It's not my job."
  

Brown asserted that most of what went wrong was not FEMA's responsibility or fault:

And while my heart goes out to people on fixed incomes, it is primarily a state and local responsibility. And in my opinion, it's the responsibility of faith-based organizations, of churches and charities and others to help those people.

When asked by Tom Davis (R-Va.) what FEMA should have done to help evacuate New Orleans, restore order in the city, and improve communication among law enforcement agencies, Brown retorted, "Those are not FEMA roles. FEMA doesn’t evacuate communities. FEMA does not do law enforcement. FEMA does not do communications." Really? Brownie needs to read A tangent from the extended rant (a "rantgent" perhaps), Another part of the rantgent, and Back to the rantgent. Those posts show that DHS and FEMA stated that such matters were the primary responsibility of the federal government and that Gov. Blanco did many things she was supposed to do under the law (including asking for federal funds and assistance in a timely manner).

• "It's not my fault that Blanco and Nagin screwed up."
  

Brownie also took the noble step of admitting something he did wrong:

I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin to sit down, get over their differences and work together. I just couldn't pull that off.

*******

My biggest mistake was not recognizing, by Saturday (before the storm made landfall), that Louisiana was dysfunctional.

What a guy. In other words, it's not Brown's fault that Blanco and Nagin screwed up. Brown also noted that the response to Katrina went more smoothly in Alabama and Mississippi. Blanco’s press secretary, Denise Bottcher, said that “Mike Brown wasn’t engaged then, and he surely isn’t now." A spokeswoman from Nagin's office responded by saying that "The governor and the mayor were totally on the same page." Nagin said, "To try and spin this and say Louisiana is the only place that had problems is disingenuous." Indeed, Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) agreed by saying "You can try to throw as much as you can on the backs of Louisianans, but I'm a witness as to what happened in Mississippi. You folks fell on your face. You get an F-minus in my book."

• "Blanco and Nagin botched the evacuation, and that caused every other problem."
  

Brown also opined that Blanco and Nagin failed to give mandatory evacuation orders until the day before the storm hit, and that the inadequate evacution was the "tipping point" for all the bad things that happened.

What an asshole.

At first glance, Brown seemed to say that no evacuation orders were issued until Sunday, August 28. Such an assertion is wrong. First, as discussed in Another part of the rantgent, Blanco declared a state of emergency on August 26--three days before the storm made landfall--"in order to support the evacuations of the coastal areas and the remainder of the state to support the State Evacuation and Sheltering Plan." Second, at 2:50 pm on August 27, Blanco ordered contraflow on all evacuation routes out of the greater New Orleans area. "Contraflow" means not allowing inbound traffic on inbound roads and instead using those roads for outbound traffic. By 4:00 pm, the contraflow plan was implemented, and, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, that plan had alleviated most of the traffic problems. Third, as reported by the Times-Picayune, Mayor Nagin ordered a voluntary evacuation of New Orleans on August 27 at 5:00 pm:

Nagin said late Saturday that he's having his legal staff look into whether he can order a mandatory evacuation of the city, a step he's been hesitant to do because of potential liability on the part of the city for closing hotels and other businesses.

"Come the first break of light in the morning, you may have the first mandatory evacuation of New Orleans," Nagin told WWL-TV.

Indeed, Nagin issued a mandatory evacuation order the following morning (the day before the storm hit). Because of these facts, Brown used the phrase "mandatory evacuation."

But was Brown citing a distinction without a difference? In other words, would issuing a definitive, express, no-doubt-about-it mandatory evacuation order have made a difference? As we have seen, while some who stayed in New Orleans did so of their own free will, many were unable to get out of town and/or had no place to go.

And more to the point, how does the failure to get everyone evacuated exonerate FEMA and Brown? The only possible explanation is that if absolutely no one had been in New Orleans when the storm hit, there would have been almost no need for FEMA to do anything. However, the fact that people were there does not in any way explain why FEMA operated with all the efficiency of the Keystone Cops.

Here are two accounts of FEMA's performance. The first is from Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard from his September 4 appearance on "Meet the Press."

Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

The second account comes from Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu on September 3:

Yesterday, I was hoping President Bush would come away from his tour of the regional devastation triggered by Hurricane Katrina with a new understanding for the magnitude of the suffering and for the abject failures of the current Federal Emergency Management Agency. 24 hours later, the President has yet to answer my call for a cabinet-level official to lead our efforts. Meanwhile, FEMA, now a shell of what it once was, continues to be overwhelmed by the task at hand.

I understand that the U.S. Forest Service had water-tanker aircraft available to help douse the fires raging on our riverfront, but FEMA has yet to accept the aid. When Amtrak offered trains to evacuate significant numbers of victims -- far more efficiently than buses -- FEMA again dragged its feet. Offers of medicine, communications equipment and other desperately needed items continue to flow in, only to be ignored by the agency.

Now tell me just how these actions and inactions by FEMA were caused by a failure to issue a mandatory evacuation order more than a day before the storm hit. Let me rephrase that: don't even bother to try because there is no feasible explanation.

And then there is the bus fiasco as described in Back to the rantgent...

For more examples check out this September 12 post from Kevin Drum.

• "At first I couldn't do anything because Blanco's request for relief was inadequate, but I'm such a great guy I did something anyway."

This shows that Brownie is pretty much an idiot. During his testimony, he claimed that Blanco failed to include New Orleans and some of the adjacent parishes in her request for federal relief. Here is the exchange between Brownie and Rep. Stephen Buyer (R-In.):

BUYER: I would like to ask some questions about the pre-landfall. So I'd like to know why did the president's federal emergency assistance declaration of August 27th not include the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines?

BROWN: Under the law, the governor makes the request for the declaration and the governors of the states specify what areas, what counties they want included in that declaration.

And, based upon the governor's request, that's the recommendation that we make to the president. So if a governor does not request a particular county or a particular parish, that's not included in the request.

BUYER: All right.

Orleans Parish is New Orleans. I was listening to my colleague, Mr. Jefferson's, questions about when they talked about, you know, they asked for this assistance for three days and then president responded the very next day, not the day that it was made -- the request -- but the governor of Louisiana actually excluded New Orleans from the president's federal emergency assistance declaration?

BROWN: Again, Congressman, we looked at the request. The governors make the request by...

BUYER: Let me ask this. Since you went through the exercise in Pam, was that not shocking to you that the governor would excluded New Orleans from the declaration?

BROWN: Yes.

BUYER: When that request came in excluding these three parishes, did you question it?

BROWN: We questioned it. But I made the decision that we were going to go ahead and move assets in regardless because we have the ability to add those parishes...

BUYER: Regardless. Define regardless to me. What does that mean?

BROWN: Well, under the Stafford Act, once that declaration is made under the delegation of authorities, the director of FEMA can add counties on.

And so I just made the decision regardless of what the governor did, that if we needed to add counties on, we would do that.

There is just one problem with Brownie's testimony...IT IS COMPLETELY FALSE. Let's take another look at Blanco's letter to Bush by which she requested a federal emergency declaration and requesting federal assistance.

I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005, and continuing. The affected areas are all the southeastern parishes including the New Orleans Metropolitan area and the mid state Interstate I-49 corridor and northern parishes along the I-20 corridor that are accepting the thousands of citizens evacuating from the areas expecting to be flooded as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

(emphasis added). Thus, the irrefutable written evidence shows that Blanco's request included the three parishes Brown claimed were excluded. Those of you needing further proof should look at this map. (Thanks to Judd at Think Progress.) So, Brown not only falsely blamed Blanco, but he also took credit for something he did not do.

Again, what an dung-hole.