NO FLIPS, ONLY FLOPS

FEMA Main Man Michael Brown Recalled to Washington [story]  Look for White House spin to start soon. Oh, it has already begun.

[Homeland Security Secretary] Chertoff explained the recall of Brown and his replacement by Allen as dictated by a move to "the next phase of operations" in the hurricane relief effort. He said the FEMA director needs to be in Washington to carry out broader responsibilities, including potentially managing "other kinds of disasters" and dealing with additional hurricanes. He suggested that the change would also meet the need for a "seamless interaction with military forces" in the relief effort.
"Mike Brown has done everything he possibly could to coordinate the federal response to this unprecedented challenge," Chertoff said. The FEMA director "has got a lot of other responsibilities," he said, adding, "We cannot afford to let our guard down. I want to make sure FEMA continues to be run the way it needs to be." [more]

SHORT STORY NOT SO SWEET FROM THE HERETIK: Mike Brown was bad at his job so we are moving him to new jobs where he can do worse. [hat tip: Cruel Animal]

MORE ON BROWN GOING DOWN

PAM'S NOSE KNOWS: I smell a medal, payoff, or lucrative consulting gig around the corner.

STEVE SOTO/LEFT COASTER Points Out White House Inability to Admit Mistakes It's even worse.  Unable to admit error, Bush doesn't have the guts to fire Brown, so he is relieving him of command over the Katrina effort and is sending him back to Washington, where his ability to lead the agency is forever compromised. Do these pathetic f*cks in the White House think this shows accountability? The guy is a lying political hack who can't run the agency well enough to perform its essential functions, yet he is replaced on the ground and sent back to the Beltway to still run the agency? Yeah, that should work. [more]

AND OH, ABOUT THE FAKE RESUME Yep, it looks like Inerrant Boy is about to heave ol' Brownie over the side—resumé problems are always a prelude to, um, spending more time with the family [more at Corrente]

AGITPROP GETS AGGED ABOUT THE RESUME Not only does he fail to mention his three-year gig at the International Arabian Horse Association (from which he was fired) but he claims to have experience in disaster and emergency management. Well, at least he's good at making creative resumes [more]

[PEPPER] Michael Chertoff glossed it over by saying he will be directing FEMA "nationally." Go back to the desk. Go back to gladhandling, and stay out of the way!

Comments

[Shakespeare's Sister]

LOL! Christ, that picture is funny!

[Night Bird]

Washington Post acknowledges The Heretik

[seriously ill]

It gets worser and worser every day.

[ol cranky]

experience in disaster and emergency management

that he has, he handled the disaster of getting fired and the emergent need for a new job by getting his old college roomie to get him a job.

[Chuck]

GREAT tie-in!

The Lord duh-bya with the Trump comb-over and phrase! PERFECT! LMAO!

[Agi T. Prop]

Blame game = Blame others while decrying others' attempt to blame you (a.k.a. The Shame Game)

[cruelanimal]

Oh, this is so great. Absolutely brilliant image. Thanks so much.

[Aaron]

Brown's firing is too little too late I'd say. He'll obviously wind up being the scapegoat for the Bush administration, but the responsibility for allowing people to die is only superficially his and that of the president. True, Bush chose to hire someone who was not qualified, and he must bear the preponderance of the culpability for that act. There is no doubt that if the state and local governments had had the logistical support which they required, lives could surely have been saved. But unfortunately the buck does not stop with the president.

The people of the United States, the electorate and those who choose not to vote as well, are ultimately responsible for those lives lost along the Gulf Coast which could otherwise have been saved. That's right the people of the United States are to blame for what happened in New Orleans and elsewhere, for it is the people who allowed George W. Bush to become the president of the United States, not once but twice. Therefore in the final analysis the responsibility lies with us.

Although a number of factors conspired to create this sorry situation, there are no acceptable excuses for allowing people to die needlessly within the borders of most powerful and economically sound country on the face of the globe. WE THE PEOPLE are responsible for electing a leader who genuinely believes that cutting taxes is of greater importance then maintaining our country's infrastructure.

In an undeniably real sense, returning the tax money of the wealthy is in large part responsible for the multiple failures which occurred across the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. Sadly those tax rebates not only cost us lives, but will undoubtedly cost the country's economic base far more over the long term not to mention the enormous expenditure of taxpayer funds it's going to take to get the south back on its feet.

Simply viewing the current situation from a cost-benefit analysis, it would've been vastly cheaper to have applied those tax dollars to the reinforcement the levees in Louisiana and the buttressing FEMA's resources and organizational structure, then it will be to pay for the additional cost of fixing the current mess.

Washington tries to evade political responsibility for Katrina’s devastating impact