Come on, Mr Brown

The latest story on Fox News about Michael Brown's testimony:

"Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., told Brown: "You have been selected as the designated scapegoat. ... You try to do your best. But we are, after all, human beings. And human beings make mistakes."

Really? Funny, that’s not what the Left was saying in the immediate aftermath. I seem to remember them saying there is no excuse for the government’s poor response. Now they say “oh we’re all human, everyone makes mistakes.” What a bunch of hypocritical bozos. I think Senator Lautenberg will find what's next very interesting.

A letter sent from Senator Lautenberg to Governor Jon Corzine on Sept 27, 2005:

"Michael Brown was never qualified to head FEMA and proved himself totally inept for the job. It is an insult to taxpayers to pay him as a consultant to the agency. The only reasonhe should still be in DCis to be held accountable in a court of lawfor the lives his ineptitude cost the victimsof Katrina."

January 19, 2006: Michael Brown said this:

"These are not FEMA roles," Brown said at the time. "FEMA doesn't evacuate communities. FEMA does not do law enforcement. FEMA does not do communications."

But the White House does? Which is it Mr. Brown?

"Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., implied that the federal government was happily allowing Brown to take the blame, to which Brown said, "I certainly feel somewhat abandoned."

Ahh…isn’t that sweet. I can almost see Pryor walking over and giving Brown a hug. The fact is, Brown was the head of FEMA. It was HIS job to coordinate the Federal response. If the President wasn’t aware of what was going on, or if the President was misinformed, it was HIS job to correct that. The White House is not responsible for responding to natural disasters, FEMA is. If what Brown says is true, then FEMA should be disbanded and all relief efforts in the future should be coordinated from the Oval Office. Is that what the Left wants?

Brown's appearance in front of the Senate investigative panel came as new documents reveal that 28 federal, state and local agencies — including the White House — reported levee failures on Aug. 29, according to a timeline of e-mails, situation updates and weather reports.
That litany was at odds with the administration's contention that it didn't know the extent of the problem until much later. At the time, President Bush said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

This very statement by the President may be pointed at by the Left as a smoking gun, but I think it’s clear evidence that Brown failed at his job of FEMA director. Bush said he didn’t think anyone anticipated this, which makes it obvious that Brown didn’t make the White House aware of it…that’s HIS JOB. If he failed to do that, then the Secretary of Homeland Security should have done it…but obviously he failed too. I’m glad he resigned. I only regret that Chertoff hasn’t done the same. If I were Bush, I would’ve cleaned out the entire Department.

News story Sept 27, 2005:

"Mr Brown told the congressional panel that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin were not co-ordinating their efforts and had been "reticent" in calling mandatory evacuations.
"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," he said.

So at that time it was Nagin and Blanco, now it’s Bush. Ironically, the Democrats have now found favor in Brown.

Same story:

Following the hurricane, US media and Democratic politicians strongly criticised Mr Brown - saying he lacked disaster expertise."

Now they say “It’s not your fault, you’re only human.” Funny how that tone changed once Brown started pointing fingers at Bush. I'm not saying Brown deserves all the blame, but at the federal level, it stops at the cabinet level