Louisiana Governor declard emergency, asked for Federal aid

[mburbank]

The administration has rfepeatedly said that the Federal Govt. could not respond any more quickly than it did because the Governor of Lousinana did not ask for their help.

THIS IS A FLAT OUT LIE.

The following is from a Syndney Bluemnthal article that sources te NYT, the Washington Post and Associated Press.

"On Sept. 3, the Washington Post, citing an anonymous "senior administration official," reported that Blanco "still had not declared a state of emergency." Newsweek published a similar report. Within hours, however, the Post published a correction; the report was false. In fact, Blanco had declared an emergency on Aug. 26 and sent President Bush a letter on Aug. 27 requesting that the federal government declare an emergency and provide aid; and, in fact, Bush did make such a declaration, thereby accepting responsibility. Nonetheless, these facts have not stymied White House aides from their drumbeat that state and local officials - but curiously, not the Republican governors of Mississippi and Alabama - are ultimately to blame."

[KevinTheOmnivore]

That last sentence is really the most important part, I think. You hear a lot of conservatives trashing the city of New Orleans, the local government, and state representatives. But you haven't heard much said about the folks in Biloxi, or elsewhere. They must not count as "local officials."

[mburbank]

Kevin, haven't you heard? There are no dead anywhre but New Orleans, evacuations and rescue effort went off without a hitch, no one was without food or water or stranded and the federal response was near instantaneous. It's only where powermad democrats acted to keep the Federal Government away that we see tragedy unfolding.