Daily Kos

Southern Dem Reps. Taylor and Melancon Call On Bush To Appoint Independent Katrina Commission

by Armando

Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:05:15 PM PDT

Via Stakeholder:

September 22, 2005

The Honorable George W. Bush
President
The White House
Washington, DC 20502

Dear Mr. President:

As you know, much of Louisiana and Mississippi have been destroyed by the wind, water and blunt force of the largest natural disaster in our nation's history. We have suffered a national catastrophe that rivals some of the biggest challenges our nation has ever faced.

We saw this tragedy unfold first hand. We were on the ground in our districts working alongside our constituents and sharing their frustration as we watched the fumbles and failures of our government.

It is abundantly clear that the preparations and response to Katrina were lacking. How they were lacking and who should be held accountable are questions that should be asked and answered as honestly as possible.

We applauded your decision after September 11th to create an independent commission to honor the families of the victims. We believe that the victims of Katrina deserve no less than the victims of September 11th.

We believe that the real work of uncovering the failures that compounded the Katrina tragedy must be taken out of the hands of the politicians and partisan committees in Washington and put in the hands of experts.

For that reason, as the representatives of the homeless, the inundated, the destroyed and the dead, we ask you to give your full support to the formation of an independent, non-partisan commission.

Sincerely,

Charlie Melancon
Member of Congress

Gene Taylor
Member of Congress

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Permalink | 62 comments

  •  Malencon (none / 0)

    is the representative for St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes. He beat Tauzin's son last December.

    I think most people know who he is, but some may not.

    "Our country right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right" - Carl Schurz

    by RBH on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:07:29 PM PDT

  •  see (3.50 / 2)

    now that's how you tie katrina and 9/11.  

    if bush wants to tie this to his war on terrah and 9/11, every democrat, hell, everyone should remind him that at least with the 9/11 families they were able to get a bipartisan whitewash vs. just a plain ole partisan one.

    You can lead an elephant to water but you can't make 'em think.

    by bill in wa on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:07:35 PM PDT

  •  Dear Charlie and Gene (none / 0)

    Don't hold yall's breath, boys. I run this damn country the way I want to, and no commie commission's gonna say crap about it . . . least not till after the lections next November.

    W

    Jesus Swept, by James Protzman. This December.

    by Anglico on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:11:22 PM PDT

  •  Not to be picky (none / 0)

    but whatever happened to putting (R) and (D) next to pols' names? It changes the whole context of the post.

    What is a band without skyscrapers?

    by Anti Warhol on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:11:24 PM PDT

  •  9/11 vs. Katrina victims..... (none / 0)

    look at how much money the families of 9/11 survivors received.....
    look at how much money the families of Katrina victims will receive....not even a $2,000 debit card.

    unbelievable that this can happen in the same country.

    where is the justice?

    Republicans are not a national party anymore.

    by jalapeno on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:11:50 PM PDT

    •  look at.. (none / 0)

      the sheer numbers of the people affected.

      while there were a lot of effected people vis a vis 9/11, katrina has effected the lives of people from 3+ STATES not just 1 city.

      You can lead an elephant to water but you can't make 'em think.

      by bill in wa on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:55:02 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  Not only that, (none / 0)

        but the huge give-a-way to 9/11 survivor families was a politically inspired gift, calling attention to the compassion and love that big W feels for their loss.  But that was then, this is now.  OK, it's done, let's move on... oh, sorry about the levees and all that... but you were underprivileged anyway, so it's working out well for you, right?

        And you might, you know, hurry the hell out of Texas as soon as you get your debit cards.

        I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat. Will Rogers.

        by tomathawl on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 03:51:58 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        •  oh i'm not saying that is shameful.. (none / 0)

          cause it is.. i was just making the point that the amount raised divided by the number of people effected is a lot larger for the 9/11 families vs katrina.  beyond that, bush knows that poor aren't really a constituency of the republican party so there is almost no upside to helping them besides making sure that middle of the road republicans don't bolt because he's been so damn stupid.  

          now had this happened 4 months before an election, you wouldn't be able to find enough dump trucks to hold all the money in.

          You can lead an elephant to water but you can't make 'em think.

          by bill in wa on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 08:08:26 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

  •  They're doing the right thing. (none / 0)

    It will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes. They couldn't care less about doing the right thing. If Mr. Taylor and Mr. Melancon don't have an (R) after their name, it means absolutely nothing.

    However, these things need to be done, properly, if only to say they were done. I would normally argue that rejecting this might somehow cost the WH, Bush or the Republicans 'political capital', but lately, I just don't see that as a reality.

    Thanks, Congressmen. Your efforts are noticed.

    by bobbycodemonkey on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:13:27 PM PDT

  •  Blah (4.00 / 7)

    be about as persuasive as signing another fucking petition from John Kerry. I am sure Bush will consider it carefully like all the other letters Dems have written him.

    how about these 2 dem jackasses get themselves on TeeVee and take it to the people.

    How about calling Bush a pussy for wanting to hide from another independent commission. THAT might get some attention. If folks dont like the word "pussy" how about COWARD.

    Buckeye State Blog

    by Pounder on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:19:58 PM PDT

    •  "yella" [nt] (none / 0)

      surf putah, your friendly neighborhood central valley samizdat

      by wu ming on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:31:04 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    •  I'd like to see them call out Rumsfeld (none / 0)

      for his continued use of our National Guard to augment his active duty forces.  No commission picked by the president is ever going to ask why he had to continue to conscript guard units over two years after the invasion.

      He took 35% of the Louisiana guard and all their equipment and gave the state nothing in return.  You would think the state officials could of struck a deal that said "you can use our National Guard troops but if we get in trouble here at home you need to provide the equivalent support".  How different New Orleans might of been if seasoned National Guard units would have been immediately available?

      Rumsfelds stubborn insistence that he could wage a long term war without more active duty troops can now be seen as a failure.  Rumsfeld failed to defend our homeland during a time of great disaster and should be fired.  Since Bush is incapable of firing incompetent people for fear they might turn on him next, the commission will be stage managed by the Repubs. to avoid any messy issues like Rumsfelds pathetic leadership at the Pentagon.

      by Gilpin Guy on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 08:57:12 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  I first read that opening line of the letter..... (none / 0)

    to be  "As you may know...."

    Funny how the mind plays tricks on ya....  

    -9.13, -8.56

    Support Irony. Torture Rumsfeld.

    Hail Eris.

    by Transmission on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:25:50 PM PDT

  •  What the Hell.... (none / 0)

    This letter gives Bush credit for the 9/11 Independent commission. Bullshit. If it was from the pressure from the families, the entire episode would have fallen into total propaganda from the right and been swept under the rug. I am glad these two are speaking up, but lets keep the facts straight and not let people rewrite history.

    It's Obamazing!!!!!!!!!!!!

    by Chamonix on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:26:40 PM PDT

    •  The Only Independent Inquiry (none / 0)

      Might be mounted by the LA Times or possibly Front Line. Any government effort, no matter how independent, will grind along like a dumb glacier until the entire country breathes a collective sigh of relief at its finish in the late fall of 2008.

      Why would a government that can't even function when faced with a SIMPLE problem like rescuing old people from a flood possibly be able to function when faced with a COMPLEX problem like investigating itself?

      "The best way to determine what a person wants is by surveying what he gets." -Erle Stanley Gardner

      by KOTCrum on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 06:43:48 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  Fat Chance (none / 0)

    Bush will just sneak another drink.

    by leftyboy666 on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:28:17 PM PDT

  •  armando (none / 0)

    hang in there, man.

    We are not "compassionate conservatives." We are "fighting liberals." And we'll kick your ass.

    by Pachacutec on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:44:58 PM PDT

  •  They deserve our support (none / 0)

    As a matter of national security, we need to understand why the government response was so slow and so inadequate. We also need accounabilty to foster what might be called a culture of competence within our government.

    I also want to support these guys who are, as they so eloquently put it, "the representatives of the homeless, the inundated, the destroyed and the dead."

    Homeland: as in Bantustan, or as in home of the brave and land of the free?

    by homeland observer on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:46:50 PM PDT

  •  asdf (none / 0)

    I hear Andy Card strategically placed the memo next to Bush's most beloved items: his comic books and brand new Crayola coloring kit.

    Maybe that way he'll actually read something important.

    by GregNYC on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:50:32 PM PDT

  •  I guess they didn't get the memo (none / 0)

    ...the memo whereby southeastern Louisiana will get a five year plan imposed on it by Stalin Norquist to create more test farms for Lysenkoism American Enterprise Institute maquiladoras"enterprise zones".

    Renewal. Not mere reforms. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. Martin Luther King Jr.

    by killjoy on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:57:03 PM PDT

  •  We Need These Guys (none / 0)

    Taylor and Melancon are both redstate dems who are a bit conservative, but it's good to get them out there on their issue.

    "Political musings with a view of the Market" Pike Place Politics

    by mcty1725 on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:57:58 PM PDT

  •  Armando (none / 0)

    Just a hint -- Keep watch on Gene Taylor. Saw him on C-Span. He's going places, IMHO. There is something about him. Honesty, perhaps?

    Also, the letter may have been a bit flattering to Bush, but when you are dealing with a mad man and he has a gun to your head, you flatter the hell out of him and hope he sees things your way.

    I doubt that they really think it was Bush's idea for a 9/11 investigation.

    2012

    by Maine Atticus on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 03:03:18 PM PDT

  •  Oy (none / 0)

    The honorable George W. Bush? Who might that be?

    by MadEye on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 03:05:04 PM PDT

  •  Yes - why were poor folks left to die Mr. Bush? (none / 0)

    There must be an independent commission. If the Republicans felt compelled to spend millions of dollars on an independent commission to publicly tar and feather Bill Clinton for screwing the intern, I'd think over 1000 people dying helpless to evacuate on their own terms in Louisiana and Mississippi is worth an independent commission too ... if you bastards in teh Republican party really give a damn about your fellow Americans.

    Jamie Whitaker Obama for President, 2008

    by zennedjim on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 03:17:02 PM PDT

  •  need to add something else (none / 0)

    on how the congress is preparing to pay for the reconstruction by offering carpet-baggers like gambling casinos a free lunch while still being able to stick it to the poor, medicare patients, and the environment yet again.

    stop the bizarro world, I want to get off(1)

    (1) - for the benfit of FBI anti-obscenity squad members scanning this site: when I say 'get off' I don't mean like porn site 'get off' - ok?

    by hardisun on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 03:29:49 PM PDT

  •  Found myself in a waiting room today... (none / 0)

    ...wherein lay the new issue of Rolling Stone.  It had some cheers and jeers about Katrina coverage.  Gave Olbermann the "Best Rant", saying it became an instant classic on the internet.  Other decent comment on the commentary, too.  Interviews with several displaced musicians; and on New Orleans music.

    And a full-page story on global warming and hurricanes, which closed with (paraphrase rather than exact quote):

    If you think Katrina is about what happens when a house gets inundated by a flood, you're missing the point.  Katrina tells us that on Greenhouse Earth, we all live in New Orleans.

    A good article, addressing both those who continue to insist that there's no such thing as global warming, and those who say it's easier and cheaper to "adjust" to it rather than do the hard work to retool how we live.  (The collective "we" on the planet.)

    I couldn't find it on the web.  Too new.  But keep an eye out for it - it's succinct and hits all the right notes.

    John McCain voted against health care for kids.

    by Land of Enchantment on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 03:32:00 PM PDT

  •  Melancon and Taylor are wimps (none / 0)

    The way to get Bush's easily-diverted "I like shiny objects" attention is to word any letter written to him in much stronger language. First off, Bush blocked, more than once, any attempts to establish a 9/11 commission and when he finally got around to doing it, it was far from bipartisan. When he was finally dragged in to testify, he did so attached to Cheney at the hip so the two of them must have made for quite a ventriloquist act. The reason, and I mean the only reason why he grudgingly cobbled this farce of a commission together in the first place was because of growing public pressure to appear to be doing something to get answers.

    Don't forget, at the same time this joke of a commission was doing its "digging, this cocksucker fed us one mountain of bullshit after another until we were gullible and beaten down enough to believe that Saddam not only had ties to al Qaeda, had WMD's and orchestrated 9/11, but if he'd tried hard enough he could've convinced us that he also had something to do with the Lindbergh kidnapping.

    We've got to let this asshole know that the left side of the ailse means business. He and Rove and people like them still think that there's no such thing as an anti-war movement and I doubt that even the hundrdds of thousands of people converging on DC for this w/e's peace rally will be able to pierce that bubble of insularity that people like Rove only reinforce.

    It is abundantly clear that the preparations and response to Katrina were lacking. How they were lacking and who should be held accountable are questions that should be asked and answered as honestly as possible.

    Oh, God.

    "Lacking"? That's a little too euphemistic, especially for my taste. "Lacking" meaning people died needlessly, meaning that nursing home residents and hospital patients died in their beds and wheelchairs, all because Bush had to divert $250,000,000 in funding that the Army Corps of Engineers needed to fix the levee that could've prevented this disaster. Moaning, gleaming, glistening clusterfuck is how I'd term the lack of preparation and response (and even that's a euphemism), which is still going on today. Read this: http://www.mirror.co.uk/archive/archive/tm_objectid=16147117%26method=full%26siteid=94762-name_page. html

    You want to know who's responsble? Look at the name in the upper left-hand corner, the one that follows the absurd word "Honorable." That's who's responsible. The same cocksucker who's using this disaster to put New Orleans into something very akin to federal receivorship where the poor are going to be fucked once again by Hurricane George.

    JP
    http://jurassicpork.blogspot.com

    Defending bad taste and liberalism since 2005.

    by jurassicpork on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 03:51:39 PM PDT

  •  The Truly Honorable Ms. Bunnatine Greenhouse (none / 0)

    we should demand that she lead the independent investigation. Who better?

    I've tried and tried to get in touch with her attorneys through whistleblower.org, because I believe that the blogosphere could rally round her as the head of the investigation. no response from them yet, though.

    could there be such a thing as Dems putting together our own investigation, funding it, and asking her to head it? Waiting around for bush or the republicans to become ethical is a waste of time, although I do think we need to call them on it with letters and demands that reach the ears of the media and therefore the American people...that should happen regardless...

    just trying to think out of the box, because the damn thing is shrinking more by the minute...

    Americans Abroad: Yes You Can Vote for Barack Obama! click my name for more...

    by Terri on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 04:02:41 PM PDT

  •  Unfortunately (none / 0)

    this administration is deaf. The repugs have already started their own investigation. And a request by anyone will not matter. I am watching with interest what will happen with Rita, I have already noticed that everyone is on high alert.

    Some how this administration will come out smelling like roses on their ability to adapt to Rita and Katrina will fade away.

    All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. Thomas Jefferson

    by kidshaleen on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 04:44:42 PM PDT

  •  Why Would We Want A W Whitewash? (none / 0)

    There is zero chance any commission appointed by Bush will get anything done.

    The PEOPLE need to appoint an independent commission to get a real investigation done.

    I'd like to see folks we in the blogosphere respect, including ZERO politicians, create a group to do this investigation.

    Kos?

    by Persimmon on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 05:05:54 PM PDT

  •  It'll never happen (none / 0)

    Bush only agreed to the 9/11 commission when it was a political fete accompli and he had no real choice. His administration will never allow a truly independent, nonpartisan investigation with subpoena power.

    cheers,

    Mitch Gore

    Wanna win in '08...?

    Put your money where your mouth is.

    by Lestatdelc on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 05:11:03 PM PDT

  •  Hopefully (none / 0)

    writing the letter was cathartic because it ain't going to make a bit of difference.

    It's not easy being a Floridian

    by lawstudent922 on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 05:16:54 PM PDT

  •  Bargaining Chip (none / 0)

    I think the reps' letter needs to be seen in light of the fact that they agreed to sit on the Republicans' Katrina whitewash a very short time ago.

    http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2005/09/index.html#007772

    They have just made the difference between the cover-up and an independent investigation painfully obvious. There'll be no veneer of bipartisanship if the reps leave the Republicans to talk to themselves in the hearings. Smell the headline. "Bipartisan No Longer: Democrats Pull Out of Katrina Investigation, Cite Need for Independent Commission".

    From The Hill, via TAPPED:

    "Democratic leaders have given the three Gulf Coast members a pass to participate in the committee, even as they say that the rest of the Democratic caucus will boycott the panel until it is given equal representation and subpoena power."

    "Those members have to represent their districts. They have to speak for their constituents that were so affected by this. As leader, she is trying to give them the strongest voice possible," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) spokeswoman Jennifer Crider, referring to Pelosi's preference for an independent commission to examine the response to Katrina.

    Was Pelosi in on it from the beginning?

    Letters and Papers

    by Dan A Lewis on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 05:20:25 PM PDT

  •  Taylor and Charlie (none / 0)

    I think those two know what the folks in the Gulf Coast or "back home" know what is going on better then nearly any of the Congressman.  Taylor and Charlie M. both had their homes destroyed by Katrina along with Senator Lott, Rep. Jefferson, and others so if Bush doesn't listen to those two in particular he isn't listening to the people in their districts as well.   Taylor in particular has helped Bush out on several controversial issues such as the gay marriage amendment (Taylor represents the same district that Lott use to for the record, as irrelevant as that fact may be) so Bush should respond to this letter promptly (hell, he should respond whether or not Taylor helped him or not) not just with a cordial tone, but also with making the areas that were affected a place where people can trust their federal government to help them in such a dire situation whether the chief executive has an (R,D, or whatever) behind their name.  

    http://action.chrisdodd.com/o/1318/my/donate.jsp?supporter_my_donate_page_KEY=126 Support Chris Dodd and help him stay in the race!

    by YoungIADem on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 07:52:12 PM PDT

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