Though this is no shocker, a new book describes Karl Rove's SWIFT, carefully orchestrated political defense of the federal (non)response to Katrina and its aftermath. The book is noted on the New Orleans Times-Picayune website NOLA.com:
In a new book, "Machiavelli's Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove," author Paul Alexander quotes Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu and former Gov. Kathleen Blanco saying that Karl Rove, a top political adviser to President Bush, led a coordinated political attack of local Democrats in the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina hit.
In the book, Landrieu and Blanco say that Rove manipulated New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and gave political talking points to GOP U.S. Sen. David Vitter in an effort to deflect blame for slow storm response away from Bush and the White House and onto Blanco.
More below:
The section of the book devoted to Katrina and Rove's attack on Louisiana Democrats is posted on Salon.com and is a haunting read.
In short, on Tuesday, the day after Katrina hit, Rove enlisted Republican-friendly New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Republican Senator David Vitter (LA) to help him carry out an IMMEDIATE assault on the Democratic governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, in order to spin attention away from the Bush administration's reprehensible failure to deliver any help at all to those stranded in New Orleans. That is, the federal government, led by Rove's efforts, delivered spin FIVE DAYS BEFORE any federal troops arrived and four days before Bush himself arrived.
It is sickening to see so clearly that the failed rescue and humanitarian response to Katrina was occurring at the same time as a "successful" political response. Here are some excerpts from Alexander's book, as quoted on Salon.com:
Rove sold the story, as he had in the past, through the media. On Wednesday, while Blanco was trying to get help from the White House, her staff began receiving calls from reporters questioning her handling of the disaster, almost all of them citing as their sources unnamed senior White House officials.
On Thursday, as New Orleans remained underwater, with countless thousands of people stranded in their homes, on their rooftops, or at the Convention Center or Superdome, there was still no federal help. What continued unabated, though, was the assault on Blanco, questioning her handling of the disaster. "We were in life-and-death mode and every minute counted," Blanco says. "I found my staff having to do public relations in the middle of the most disastrous days Louisiana has ever experienced. The talking heads had been turned on. My staff was saying, 'My God, governor, they are crucifying you politically.'
We hear often about the failure of the federal response to Katrina. In light of that devastating failure, the success of Rove's "response" to Katrina is an irony of terrible proportions. Although the Bush administration has certainly taken a lot of heat for their negligence in the long run, Rove did successfully redirect the media narrative in the immediate aftermath. At any rate, what's stunning is the enormous effort thrown into political maneuvering and the enormous absence of relief and rescue efforts.
I live in New Orleans. I moved here only last summer, so I did not experience Katrina in the way that NOLA residents did. But I see a city that was abandoned, that was and continues to be treated as expendable by the federal government.
I post this story, not only to keep New Orleans in your minds, but also to highlight the practices of an administration that prioritizes political spin over human lives.