Daniel Day Simpson, Edmond (11/9/2009 7:41:27 AM)

9/11 may have played half the part in torpedoing Bush but the final blow was Katrina. If the democratic party have not paid Blanco and Nagin then they really do need to cut that commission check. Blanco and Nagin were able to directly affect the elections and get Obama elected. Not that McCain had a great chance but the images of people on their roofs in the lower 9th ward were enough to push anyone to bama's side. But it was Nagin's job as mayor to make sure those people had evacuated 2 days earlier when the order came down. He let them stay in those homes and then they needed the massive rescue seen on CNN. Then those people blamed Bush for their homes flooding. It was a one-two knockout punch. Then Blanco came along and made a horrible sham of the relief efforts. She diverted shipments to the wrong locations, opened up shelters at the wrong locations and countermanded national guard orders.
I should note that that cannot happen anymore. Thanks to what Nagin and Blanco did in Katrina, mayors and governors no longer have absolute control in disaster situations. Thanks to numerous homeland security laws passed after Katrina a limited martial law exists in disaster zones without the president doing anything. So if something like the May 3rd tornado happens in Oklahoma then FEMA is the commanding agency. Brad Henry cannot redirect shipments, evacuation orders, or shelter assignments. When the Fema personnel show up the governor must relinquish command to them. Gustav was the ultimate test of the new laws. With a new republican governor Nagin was like a puppy dog. He was a whipped man. When you saw him on television telling people to evacuate from the lower 9th ward he was doing it with much chagrin. There were a half dozen U.S. Marshals near him at all times. There were orders to take him via a helicopter to the USP in Pollock, Louisiana if he got in the way of FEMA efforts again.
Did you know that Jeraldo Rivera was taken by helicopter to the F.C.I in Forrest City, AR when he dressed as a firefighter and got into the Murrah building to take secret photos of the relief efforts. They held him for 3 days until the perimeter security system could be fully implemented. He was released with a federal court order to stay 10 MIRA from the Murrah sight.

wk, (11/9/2009 9:35:55 AM)

Great. Just what we need - more federal government control because they're always looking out for our best interests.