Ah, Brownie.

by tristero

I didn’t see the hearings but if this description of what he said is accurate, one can only wish he had been half as good a FEMA chief as he is a Republican loyalist:

Mr. Brown said that he told a senior White House official early on of the New Orleans flooding, and that the administration was too focused on terrorism to respond properly to natural disasters…

The Bush administration, as a whole, he said, did not seem to care enough about natural disasters and had relegated natural disasters to a “stepchild” of national security.

“It is my belief,” Mr. Brown told the senators, that if “we’ve confirmed that a terrorist has blown up the 17th Street Canal levee, then everybody would have jumped all over that and been trying to do everything they could.”

Did they actually let him get away with that nonsense? Did nobody point out the obvious which Atrios immediately saw? That there is no essential difference between a response to a terrorist blowing up the levee or a hurricane blowing it? That you cancel your vacation and get your butt in gear ’cause you got a serious, serious emergency – thousands of lives are at stake – that requires the full attention of the fucking president?

Was Brown forced to concede that the Bush “intense focus on terrorism” is really a perverse obsession with the publicity at the expense of reality? Those of you who saw Brown testify – did anyone make that point?

Apparently not. Yes, Brown blamed the White House for the failure in Katrina rather than his own ineptitude; given the amount of trouble he’s in, he had no choice. Even so – this is incredible! – he re-emphasized, without contradiction or explanation, THE single most important Republican talking point:

Republicans make national security and fighting terrorism Priority 1.

And while he spewed this partisan bullshit, Democrats “gently” urged him to keep his chin up and “keep fighting!” Brownie, you truly have done a heckuva job.