Gov. Blanco strikes good tone

I've been an equal opportunity critic throughout this Katrina mess. I really do think there is plenty of blame to go around. The failure of the Feds to follow the National Response Plan was probably the most fatal mistake of all because it denied desperately needed resources for several critical days after the storm. And for that, Chertoff should be fired. But Blanco clearly made several mistakes in deploying the National Guard and streamlining aid to evacuees. With that in mind, it's great to see Blanco take full responsibility for errors made at the state level. If you want to see a genuine mea culpa - and not the weasely Bush version - see what she had to say: "At the state level, we must take a careful look at what went wrong and make sure it never happens again. The buck stops here, and as your governor, I take full responsibility."

Clearly, Republicans in Louisiana were impressed with her tone (the article quotes a GOP state rep approving of her speech), as are most Louisianans who just want to get in with the cleanup effort. Hopefully the national media will pick up on this as they've generally portrayed her in a poor light.

Blanco comments

•  She is taking on water on the right wing talk show

  circuit. Fatso Limbaugh, Hannity, Fox, Brit Hume, O'Reilly and Ingraham and the rest of the right wing slime rats are doing all they can to lay blame at her door steps.

  Saw her speak on C-span and she finally sounded like a leader. I heard comments today that she was giving Bush a pass, that pissed me off some. She should not allow Bush any wiggle room, look at him...he is making his 4th trip to the area since not showing up and letting people die, the WH finally can't, get away with this. Let him, hang. Nice that Blanco has stepped up.

  by alnc on Wed Sep 14, 2005 at 10:53:30 PM PDT

•  i still like my analogy

  even if i didn't have smoke alarms and plugged 85 appliances into one outlet and thus cause many of my own problems, that does not mean the fire dept. should show up and, BEFORE putting out the fire, ask me to sign over whatever possessions are left within my still burning house.

  i'll commend her for saying, per this analogy "if we had 85 appliances plugged into one outlet, the buck stops here and we have to do better and make sure that never happens again.  i am accountable to that."

  but i'd also like to see her go just a bit more on the offensive as far this is concerned:  if the fire dept. shows up to your burning house and they start asking you to fill out paperword instead of putting out the fire, then THEY take on the RESPONSIBILITY of the outcome.

  by BiminiCat on Wed Sep 14, 2005 at 11:07:47 PM PDT

  •  what if the fire dept is stealing pumpkins ...

    down the road from your burning house ???

    I've seen a photograph of that happening

    I think george's accounting is "In The Mail"

    soon the deaths are gonna add up, and we'll have two catagories

    deaths due to katrina

    and deaths due to george

    by knowthings on Wed Sep 14, 2005 at 11:38:33 PM PDT

    •  legally speaking

      there's enough precedent to say if a "fire department" as in the analogy above was negligent then all subsequent deaths are due to that negligence no matter how many appliances were plugged into a single outlet.
      

      by BiminiCat on Wed Sep 14, 2005 at 11:41:05 PM PDT