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Fire Chertoff

By TChris, Section Huricanes Katrina and Rita
Posted on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 07:20:02 AM EST
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by TChris

An editorial in today's NY Times gives sound advice to the president: fire Michael Chertoff. In the wake of a report by an all-Republican Congressional panel that assigned blame for the inept governmental response to Katrina, Chertoff "stands out above the rest."

According to the panel's report, Mr. Chertoff has "primary responsibility for managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster," yet he handled his decision-making responsibilities "late, ineffectively, or not at all." A FEMA official named Marty Bahamonde sent word back to Washington on the same day Katrina struck, saying the 17th Street Canal levee in New Orleans had been breached. This was not based on a rumor; he had seen it with his own eyes from a Coast Guard helicopter. FEMA public affairs officials sent Mr. Chertoff's chief of staff an e-mail note that night. The former FEMA director, Michael Brown, says he notified the White House at the same time. Yet the next day, President Bush said New Orleans had "dodged the bullet," while Mr. Chertoff flew to Atlanta for a briefing on avian flu.

The president is more likely to give Chertoff a medal or a promotion than to admit that Chertoff wasn't up to the job, and we know he doesn't read newspapers. Still ...

It would be nice for the administration to finally send a message that if important people do a bad job, they go away.

The administration also needs to stop acting as if the Katrina crisis has passed.

But the best tribute possible to the roughly 1,400 people who died along the Gulf Coast would be to help those still suffering in Mississippi and Louisiana, and those evacuees stranded hundreds of miles from home. Right now, almost six months after Katrina hit, families are being forced to leave hotels and are moving into shelters in Louisiana. If that is not a disaster, we do not know what is.

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    Fire Chertoff | 22 comments (22 topical)
    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#1)
    by Slado on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 08:23:05 AM EST
    Let me get this straight. Chertof should resign now? Brownie wasn't enough? You've never called for the resignations or even public apologies of NO mayor Nagin or Governor Landry correct? Aren't they equally guilty of screwing up? Is it only republicans that should be blamed. Is it TL or the lefts opinion that no matter how corrupt or inefficient state and local authorities are it doesn't matter because the national agency should be good enough to overcome it?

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#2)
    by Steven Sanderson on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 08:29:33 AM EST
    Agreed, Chertoff deserves to be fired because of his bungling of the Katrina response, but Bush won't do so because of one undeniable fact: that when the city of New Orleans and many of it's inhabitants were dying Bush watched and did nothing for several days. What kind of "leader" would do that? No amount of contortionistic spinning can change that fact. Conservatives pride themselves on seeing things as moral or immoral, as good or evil. Bush watched while a city and it's people died and did nothing. That is not only immoral, it's pure evil.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#3)
    by Beck on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 08:31:13 AM EST
    I don't understand the issue with people leaving the hotels. Do they expect to be able to live in the hotels forever? At some point shouldn't they go get a job and find their own place to live? If six months isn't long enough, then how much time do they need? At what point should they realize that it's time to get on with their lives?

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 08:54:00 AM EST
    It is about time somebody called for Chertoff to be fired!! He was grossly negligent and detacted in his duty during the Katrina calamity. He must step dowm immediately!!

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#5)
    by scarshapedstar on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 09:20:24 AM EST
    You've never called for the resignations or even public apologies of NO mayor Nagin or Governor Landry correct? Aren't they equally guilty of screwing up?
    Uh... are they? What, exactly, do you base this assertion on? Not mobilizing Louisiana's vast, vast fleet of rescue helicopters? If we had any to begin with, Bush sent them over to Iraq long ago.
    I don't understand the issue with people leaving the hotels. Do they expect to be able to live in the hotels forever? At some point shouldn't they go get a job and find their own place to live? If six months isn't long enough, then how much time do they need? At what point should they realize that it's time to get on with their lives?
    You know, I wrote and rewrote several angry responses, but the hell with it. This kind of "compassionate conservative" simply will never accept reality. In his mind, Katrina was just an overgrown cloudburst and the city would be perfectly back to normal if it weren't for the inherent laziness of liberals and/or welfare queens. He must think there's 500,000 contractors running around New Orleans begging to tear down and rebuild houses, who can't find work because of all the lucky duckies holed up in hotels. I wish he would actually see New Orleans before making his armchair pronunciations about how everything's hunky-dory and what's the holdup. I know, I know, having even the slightest semblance of experience before speaking on a topic is an unfair burden to ask of a wingnut.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#6)
    by scarshapedstar on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 09:28:06 AM EST
    Has anyone else noticed that the people who say they woulda gone back home and rebuilt their house and found a new job by now are the same ones saying that New Orleans should be "moved"? Anyone notice a slight contradiction there?

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#7)
    by Sailor on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 10:12:45 AM EST
    The only difference between a terrorist attack and the hurricane is that chertoff had several days notice about the hurricane. And exactly the same problems with communications and other 9/11 commission findings happened 4 years later. They didn't learn anything except how to enrich their cronies better. Yes, chertoff should be fired and bush, cheney, rice should all resign. republicans; bad on human rights, bad on the economy, bad on national security.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#8)
    by Slado on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 10:32:32 AM EST
    Based on the posts so far I gues the asnwers to my questions are no. Local leaders are not at fault for not evacuating the city, not taking care of their own levee systems, not calling for the National Guard sooner, for local commisioners county clerks etc... obstructing the goverment at every turn...on and on... First let me say Chertoff did a bad job, Bush did a bad job, nagin did a horrible job and Landry did a bad job. There is so much blame to go around that no one person can take it all because everyone handled this poorly. If Chertoff and Bush are the only ones to blame then should we be praising Nagin and Landry? Is that the position of the left? Does anyone for a second doubt that if Rudolph Guliani had been mayor of NO this would have gone better? OF course you don't but you won't admit it because you'd rather take aim at the easy target, the us gov't, because the guy you hate is in the WH. Pitiful.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#9)
    by TChris on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 10:51:38 AM EST
    Voters will "fire" Nagin and Landry if they believe Nagin and Landry were incompetent. Voters can't fire Chertoff. It's up to Bush to do that.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#11)
    by rdandrea on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 11:55:59 AM EST
    Nice troll, Slado, but unnecessary. The voters will fire Nagin this April. Nobody elected Chertoff, therefore somebody at a higher pay grade needs to fire him.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#12)
    by Slado on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 12:34:20 PM EST
    Touchee to Tchris and rdandrea. I am resigning my position effective immediately. Plenty of blame to go around including the press that completely misreported the story in a rush to get it out and have never corrected most of the myths that they passed along as fact.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 01:02:13 PM EST
    Not only should Chertoff resign, but so should White House head of Homeland Security Frances Townsend, her Chief of Staff Ken Rapuano, and Bush's Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Card told Michael Brown "You'll have to take that up through the right channel" when contacted by Brown. What a disgrace. Townsend was chosen by Bush to investigate what went wrong. Only there is a problem with that....She WAS PART OF THE PROBLEM. Her Chief of Staff Ken Rapuano abandoned his post in the White House Situation Room at 10pm Tuesday night knowing that the levees around New Orleans had bursted that day. He went home to bed and thousands drowned that night. How inept!! Furthermore Townsend found it more important to leave the country to make speeches about terrorism the very day "Brownie" resigned, despite knowing that New Orleans was in utter chaos. Bush should also be impeached for lying by pretending he didn't know the levees broke until Wednesday while cutting birthday cakes in Arizona for John McCain and playing guitar in California. The buck stops at his desk.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#14)
    by Beck on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 01:02:15 PM EST
    Maybe the problem is that I am looking at the hotel issue logically instead of emotionally. As a matter of fact, I do live in Ohio. We have available housing, and we have available jobs. Between here and Louisiana there are 48 other states with houses and jobs. It is very hard to lose one's home. I know, I have been in a situation where my house became permanently uninhabitable. You can be sad for awhile, but eventually you need to move on, life is ahead of you, not behind. Now, as has been pointed out above, there is not much low-cost housing available in New Orleans, and there is no prospect for any to be available anytime soon. So logically, what does one do if one is temporarily living in a hotel, waiting for housing to become available in New Orleans? Especially when it is clear that there is no good prospect for housing to be rebuilt any time soon? At risk of being called a "compassionate conservative" again, may I suggest that a person seek to live elsewhere other than New Orleans? At least temporarily for a couple of years? I know it is very painful to be away from home, but what are the alternatives? Sit around in a government-paid hotel room for a few years until apartments are rebuilt? Is it evil to suggest that people should take control of their own lives?

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#15)
    by Rick B on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 01:45:05 PM EST
    Fire Chertoff? Don't be silly. To this administration and the Republicans in general, government does not work. So why shoud a man of good ideology be fired when he can't make it work? He is appointed to government only to exercise power and help the flow of funds from government to favored friends before he leaves government and becomes one of the favored friends. Firing Chertoff might make it difficult to justify giving him lucrative government contracts in the future. Oh, and as long as he is such a good guy and has put up with the nasty period of time working for the government, he deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a pension.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#16)
    by Sailor on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 03:11:11 PM EST
    As a matter of fact, I do live in Ohio. We have available housing, and we have available jobs. Between here and Louisiana there are 48 other states with houses and jobs.
    I can understand someone in Ohio thinks that every state is the same, but La, and especially NO are unique. Unique in their laws (derived from Napoleonic code, not English common law), unique in their heritage, (Creole, Acadian, Spanish, Haitian ... etc.), And the solution isn't hotel rooms, it is temp housing, cheap temp building materials. NO residents deserve to have their city back. Oh, and fire chertoff.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 03:26:49 PM EST
    Oh, and fire chertoff. what was the name of the dirty cop they tried to give the job to first? I forget. Anyway, can you imagine if he'd been running things?

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 04:49:20 PM EST
    I always thought he was stupid for resigning a life time appointment for this thankless job. Sure, great public service move, but it is questionable if he was the best fit for the job anyway. If you resign, I'm sure they will find a new slot for you on the bench.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 05:21:20 PM EST
    I guess local governments cant be held responsible? What a farce. You do know that over a weeks warning, that they willingly ignored, to their own detriment. But it is all the fault of Bush. I sure wish I had a weeks warning in 1994 when the Northridge earthquake hit, and I didn't even blame President Clinton for it. I guess that's the difference between Republicans and Democrats.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#20)
    by Sailor on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 06:56:35 PM EST
    I guess local governments cant be held responsible? What a farce.
    Gee, are you realy complaining about a report that only republicans had input on?

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#21)
    by wg on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 07:20:30 PM EST
    Chertoff appears a mixed bag. He is clearly not a very good bureaucratic infighter, Brownie was running circles around him. Bush and his White House made that possible by tacitly approving Brownie going outside channels thus preventing effective oversight of Brownie operations in New Orleans by Chertoff. It is George the Supreme Bungler who is to be blamed for New Orleans federal fiasco because he allowed Brownie an incompetent bureaucratic aggrandizer par excellence to run a private show down there. There is a little indication that Chertoff is making much progress at DHS which is not surprising given the mess this agency is. Thank Lieberman for that, DHS is his brain child. On the plus side we don't have to suffer color coded terror alerts and duct tape advisories of his predecessor any more. There were worries that given his law enforcement background (prosecutor, nominal FBI overseer at DoJ, judge) Chertoff would try to make DHS similar to Stasis in East Germany. The worry is still there especially in the public perception of DHS (viz Belafonte's Gestapo analogy) but little hard evidence for that. True, the outfit is quite secretive, so who knows what's really going on under the surface. Some indications are worrisome, jackbooted, overbearing DHS agents popping out here and there, pervasive surveillance, 350 thousand people on terror lists, out of control no-fly lists, etc. But this is where the entire government is going these days so why solely blame Chertoff's DHS. There is always a risk that Bush would replace him with somebody worst, no need to look far, remember that Gen. Ripper character from DHS appearing at Brownie hearings? You don't want that.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 10:15:59 PM EST
    Sailor I know, I was shocked too.

    Re: Fire Chertoff (none / 0) (#23)
    by Thaumaturgist on Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 11:37:23 PM EST
    Fire Chertoff? First they gave up Brownie; now they're ready to give up Chertoff (and maybe Richard Bruce Cheney, but that's another issue.) We're just enabling the scapegoating.

    Fire Chertoff | 22 comments (22 topical)