Quick response of James Witt?
Posted by Moonage on 19 Sep 2005 | Tagged as: Katrina
I swear, the more I think about it, the grumpier I get. I’m talking about this line from Bill Clinton:
Maybe the Mayor, maybe the Governor, but all I can tell you is that when James Lee Witt ran FEMA, because he had been both a local official and a Federal official, he was always there early, and we always thought about that. But both of us came out of environments with a disproportionate number of poor people.
I think that we were sensitive to the racial issue, but I think we were sensitive to the economic issue. And you can’t have an emergency plan that works if it only affects middle class people up, and when you tell people to go do something they don’t have the means to do, you’re going to leave the poor out.
OK, enter wavy lines taking us back a few years……..
"It seemed there was preparation for Hurricane Floyd, but then came Flood Floyd," Jackson began. "Bridges are overwhelmed, levees are overwhelmed, whole town’s under water . . . [it's] an awesome scene of tragedy. So there’s a great misery index in North Carolina." Witt explained that the storm’s devastation was unparalleled, prompting Jackson to ask what was being done for the thousands of families left homeless by Floyd. Though nearly a month had passed since the storm first hit, Witt said his agency was just beginning to address the problem. "We’re starting to move the camper trailers in," he explained. "It’s been so wet it’s been difficult to get things in there, but now it’s going to be moving very quickly. And I think you’re going to see a — I think the people there will see a big difference over within this next weekend."
That "Jackson" is Jesse Jackson. Not exactly anti-Clinton. And there is a a LOT more:
"I hate to do this to you so early in the morning," host Carol Lin began apologetically. "But I want to show you some video of Hurricane Floyd. This was the evacuation scene out of Florida last year. And you can recall, some three-million people in three different states were hitting the highways, jammed back-to-back trying to get away from the danger. And much of the local as well as the federal government was criticized for this backup. What is being done this year to prevent something like this from happening again, keeping people out of harm’s way?"
Here’s a list of some more articles regarding Floyd. It’s about as non-partisan as you can get.
Not one of them tout the quick response of James Witt.
Not one.
1 Comment »
on 20 Sep 2005 at 1:11 am 1.Bryan Kerwick
said …
It’s election season and the Ex-President is in form as per usual.
Have you ever seen anyone play the race card before with such skill and tact? This is from whom many consider Americas first Black President. Why should this irritate you so? It’s politics at it’s best performed by the master.
All Bill is doing is Hillary’s dirty work concerning the Federal Government’s perceived lack of competance regarding this disaster. When all is said and done, the real blame will go where it belongs and that will be that, however, getting some mileage out of this politically for Hillary is of utmost importance while appearing above the usual political bickering.
One must really marvel at how well this husband and wife team really understand how to play the political game so well. They are truly without peers at it.
While most weel informed people understand the role of FEMA is not of a first responder, a majority of Americans get their information from the mainstream media which is decidedly anti-Bush and make FEMA out to be the problem in this situation. They also will have people beleive that the Bush Administration is responsible for this disaster based on global warming policies. These sre also the same people bitching about the price of gasoline. Talk about a fickle public! What surprises me is that we let them get away with it ALL THE TIME.