Disaster Advisor
by digby
I speculated some time back that the Bush machine had anointed Giuliani and I think this pretty much proves it:
On October 30, Joseph Allbaugh was named Senior Advisor to Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign. According to a Giuliani campaign press release, Allbaugh “will advise the campaign on general strategy and homeland security.”
“Rudy Giuliani is the only candidate who will keep America on offense in the Terrorists’ War on Us,” the press release quoted Allbaugh as saying. “The leadership he showed after 9/11 was an inspiration not only to New Yorkers but to the country. He knows what it takes to keep America safe, and as President, he will ensure that our country never goes back on defense in this war.”
Giuliani said that the two of them had “worked closely together in the aftermath of 9/11 to ensure that everything possible was being done to help victims and their families. He has significant experience in emergency management and I will look to him for sound advice and expertise.”
The Politico reported that “The endorsement is valuable … because it gives the former New York mayor additional entrée to the Bush-Cheney organization. Allbaugh was one-third of the ‘Iron Triangle’ of Allbaugh, Karl Rove and Karen Hughes, the powers-that-be in the president’s original Austin-based presidential campaign.”
You remember Allbaugh’s most recent claim to fame, don’t you?
He was not there to hand out food or water; he was not there to participate in the rescue effort; and he was certainly not there to apologize for bringing the grossly incompetent Michael Brown to FEMA during his reign at the agency. On Wednesday, September 9, when Joseph Allbaugh, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), showed up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, he was there for one thing: to stir up business for his corporate clients.
Allbaugh had been to Louisiana, in his official FEMA capacity, after a number of other disasters including tropical storms Allison and Isidore and Hurricane Lili. Now, he was there as the head of the Allbaugh Company — a firm he co-founded with his wife, Diane, which specializes in advising companies how to get in on lucrative disaster relief projects. He was, the Washington Post reported, “helping his clients get business from perhaps the worst natural disaster in the nation’s history.”
Allbaugh told the newspaper that he was there “just trying to lend my shoulder to the wheel, trying to coordinate some private-sector support that the government always asks for.” The “shoulder to the wheel” mantra was repeated by Allbaugh’s spokesperson, Patti Giglio, who told The Hill “He is putting his shoulder to the wheel to mobilize the private sector, getting stuff in, getting what needs to be done done.” Giglio claimed that Allbaugh was not here to help his clients secure government contracts. “The first thing he says when he sits down with a client is, ‘Don’t hire me if you’re looking for a government contract.'”
Then why on earth would they hire him?
Those of you who have read The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Allbaugh is now among dozens of Giuliani advisors who are intent upon making as much war as possible and, in his case at least, pillaging the territory after American taxpayers have paid to have it razed and ready. And hey, if a natural disaster or terrorist attack comes along that they can use an excuse to pillage American territory, they’ll be happy to get in on that action, too. (It sure puts their denial of global warming in a different light, doesn’t it?)
Giuliani is Cheney’s natural successor. He’s a dark, Hobbesian, authoritarian creep, just like Uncle Dick, except he’s also an egomaniac with severe emotional problems. Anybody who thinks he’s a moderate is out of his or her mind. It’s time for the Democrats to start taking him on at least as hard as they’re taking on each other.
.