>I’m actually surprised the Bush Administration even let him go.
At least they picked a replacement who actually has some emergency response experience. However, I don’t trust anyone the Bushies pick.
Brown had conceded that all the resources the agency had in place before the storm were overwhelmed and that he did not anticipate the total breakdown in communications.
Seems to me CNN, MSNBC, and even FOX didn’t have any problems with communications. Their audiences seemed to know what was going on. At least the guy sort of admitted that the resources he prepared in advance were inadequate (to put it politely).
His limited, prior experience in disaster relief also became an issue. Before joining FEMA as deputy counsel in 2001, Brown, a lawyer, was head of the International Arabian Horse Association.
Did he have ANY experience in disaster relief or emergency response before coming to FEMA? Limited should be replaced with non-existent in that paragraph.
>This guy is useless. The sad thing is if Bush’s approval rating was a little higher, this guy would still have a job. He’d still be head of FEMA despite his lack of experience, incompetence and crappy resume. I’m not sure I would hire Brown to manage a men’s room…
>Saying David Paulson is more competent than Michael Brown is, as Shakespeare said, ‘damning with faint praise.” You could have put a monkey with a band-aid in charge and the overall competency of the agency would be raised.
Yes, Paulson has much more experience than Brown in handling emergencies. But his biggest claim to fame so far is from February of 2003, when he told America that they would be safe from terrorist’s chemical attacks–by duct-taping plastic sheets to their windows.
At about the same time, he went on record as saying that in the first two or three days of an emergency, Americans most likely will have to fend for themselves.
At least the dude’s honest.
As for me, I keep thinking about that scene in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” where Sean Connery and Harrison Ford are trying to escape a fire, and end up in a Secret Nazi war room:
“Our situation has not improved.”
Yeharr
>Holy cripes the duct tape guy is in charge of FEMA now?!? I remember when that came out. That’s comparble to the duck and cover crap from the 50’s to protect you from nuclear fallout.
The situation totally hasn’t improved.