Just once more, for the record: the GOP spin that the governor of Louisiana and mayor of New Orleans never called for help from FEMA and the federal government is not just a lie, it's a baldfaced lie. (see this earlier post)
Randi Rhodes has assembled yet another gang of timelines on the Katrina fiasco, including this one from Wikipedia. Read them all ... twice. And while you're at it, read these:
(in which the governor specifically requests major federal disaster help)
Again: the governor of Louisiana executed the requisite declaration of emergency on August 26 -- two days before Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, which should have activated an immediate federal response. (Sorry, Freepers, but a city mayor cannot call in the federal cavalry.) Two days later, Governor Blanco wrote to President Bush requesting federal help. The president responded to Blanco's August 26 declaration with a federal emergency declaration the next day (and as Countdown illustrated in a brilliant video montage to day, he even went on television), promising federal help. FEMA's Michael Brown promised, too. But the help never came -- at least not until it was shamed into New Orleans by the news media.
Blanco's request came in plenty of time to lend federal assistance to Ray Nagin's August 28 mandatory evacuation order. FEMA and the Bush administration by that time had 48 hours to realize that this was a situation the city of New Orleans couldn't handle on its own. The federal government failed the people of New Orleans -- all the spin and deflections and disparagement of the victims in the GOP quiver won't change that. |
