FEMA Director Mike Brown has officially been pulled from the scene of and sent back to Washington. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who was named Brown’s deputy just two days ago, will take over responsibilities.

Allen seems to receiving high praise on the cable networks so far. Part of that is probably just simply positive response to Brown’s removal, but today’s Washington Times editorial on the Coast Guard seems even stronger in hindsight.

Wonkette textsays sources are telling her President Bush may fire FEMA Director Mike Brown today. Meanwhile, Time Magazine finds Brown’s already light resume may have been inflated.

There has been no shortage of letters from Buzz readers who are upset with my criticism of Brown. Here’s where I’m coming from and how I arrived there. First and foremost is intellectual honesty. Were Brown serving under a Democratic administration conservatives would have been quick to criticize him and with fair reason. Second, a number of Buzz readers have pointed to Brown’s past positive experience. Fair enough. But national security is very much a “what have you done for me lately?” issue, much as it should be. If Brown and FEMA did not meet their job requirements in dealing with Hurricane Katrina, then it seems to me criticism is appropriate. And I’m not talking about far left, morally hollow criticism from individuals like Jesse Jackson, Kanye West or MoveOn. I’m talking about reasonable and fair criticism that seeks answers and solutions to whatever mistakes might have been made.

You know, I was on board with some of the criticism of FEMA Director Mike Brown. That is, until I listened to the “FEMA for Kidz Rap” song hosted on their site. This was one disaster I certainly wasn’t prepared for:

"Disaster . . . it can happen anywhere,
But we've got a few tips, so you can be prepared
For floods, tornadoes, or even a 'quake,
You've got to be ready - so your heart don't break."

"Disaster prep is your responsibility
And mitigation is important to our agency."

"People helping people is what we do
And FEMA is there to help see you through
When disaster strikes, we are at our best
But we're ready all the time, 'cause disasters don't rest."

Yes, those are the real words. You can listen to the full “rap” here.

The negative stories are what make the big headlines. But the Washington Times has a good editorial today on how the Coast Guard performed about expectations during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:

“The Coast Guard faced many of the same challenges as other government agencies in responding swiftly to Hurricane Katrina – and yet it was able to outperform all of them. It too was forced to move its aircraft and vessels out of the storm's path. Its staging station Gulfport, Mississippi, was completely destroyed by the storm. The Guard was also operating outside of its regular functions, which are to patrol waterways and assist commercial and recreational boaters in trouble – not launch search and rescue missions in flooded urban areas, with all the attendant hazards and challenges, including fallen telephone and electrical lines. Yet, the Coast Guard has rescued more than 22,000 people in the areas affected by Katrina.”

For anyone who might have missed this, Senator Chuck Schumer has tried to directly use Hurricane Katrina as a fundraising tool for Democrats. Schumer posted a petition on the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee website calling for FEMA head Mike Brown to be fired. The petition included a request to donate to the DSCC. After being contacted by the Associated Press, Schumer had the fundraising request removed.

First lady Laura Bush has described the allegations of apathy and racism against President Bush as “disgusting.”

"I think all of those remarks are disgusting, to be perfectly frank, because of course President Bush cares about everyone in our country. And I know that. I mean, I'm the person who lives with him. I know what he's like and I know what he thinks and I know how he cares about people.”

I’ll be on NRA News with Cam Edwards at 5:40EST today. Please tune in and listen if you can.

From my count, there were about 200 protesters on hand. A MoveOn organizer told me he thought there were between 200 and 300 but acknowledged, “you’re going to hear numbers higher and lower than that.” Hey, to his credit, that’s a guy that knows how protests get covered. But one statistic stands out: MoveOn only had two Katrina survivors on hand. And while there’s little doubt both do not support the president (Katrina survivor Iona Renfroe told reporters as much), they kept their criticism somewhat muted when compared to the other protesters.

Nonetheless, Iona Renfroe has said some pretty bad things. She accused the president of saying Katrina victims were “not worth saving” when no one in the administration has uttered something so vile. Renfroe also acknowledged to the crowd, “I made a conscious decision not to leave,” when evacuation orders were given. She had access to a vehicle and places to go for safety but chose to ignore the warnings. She also was rescued within 48 hours of the storm. I do not mean to be insensitive, but Renfroe ignored warnings and they used rescue efforts and resources that could have gone to people who didn’t have the option of leaving. And now she says the federal government owes her answers? Sounds like the other way around to me.

There was one counter protester on hand who showed up today to support President Bush. As soon as the first reporter moved to talk to this woman, dozens of protesters surrounded her and tried blocking the reporters from asking questions. One woman who was protesting ran up to this woman and screamed, “Shame on you for supporting a murderer!” Several of the protesters engaged reporters afterwards as to why they were interviewing this woman. When I spoke to her, she was already pretty shaken up and asked me to not publish her name. “I just came here to support the president, I don’t think this should be political.” She told me. I asked her if she thought the MoveOn protesters were taking advantage of a tragedy for political gain. “Yes, that’s exactly what I think they’re doing. I never come to Washington. I’m not a protesters or someone that is political. I just don’t think it’s right that they would try to make this about President Bush or anyone else for that matter.”

I just got back from the MoveOn Hurricane Katrina protest at the White House. First impressions: The MoveOn organizers were pretty savvy as usual. They had MoveOn members/Katrina survivors on hand that delivered mostly apolitical statements to the press. The group then walked over in front of the White House for pictures and media availability:

But the actual 250 protesters on hand were something quite different. As usual, there was a variety of groups angling for attention: The National Organization of Women, Code Pink, Iraq and Karl Rove protesters were on hand:

The protesters shouted phrases that included “Shame on Bush!” and “Fire Brown!” One woman repeatedly screamed, “This was willful murder by Bush and the administration!” I saw a MoveOn spokesman pull this woman aside briefly but she was back shouting the same thing a few minutes later.

One man in attendance held up this sign:

Code Pink was handing out leaflets for the Cindy Sheehan/International ANSWER anti-Bush protest scheduled for September 24th on the National Mall:

By now, most Buzz readers have probably heard about the $2,000 debit cards FEMA plans to issue to Hurricane Katrina victims. Well, there’s a mile-long line in Houston where folks are lining up to get their cards. Only they’re not coming from FEMA, they’re coming from the Red Cross. Read all about it on Blogs for Bush.

MoveOn issued a release today claiming they have no intention of producing a TV ad connecting John Roberts to Hurricane Katrina:

“USA Today ran an inaccurate headline in this morning's paper saying that we plan to produce a TV ad that uses the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to criticize Supreme Court nominee, Judge John Roberts. We have no plans, and have never had plans, to produce such an ad. We stand by our criticism, however, that Judge Roberts' record indicates a lack of commitment to protecting and defending civil rights."

Even more surprising, MoveOn actually takes responsibility for the apparent error:

"We regret any misunderstanding that may have arisen because of anything that our staff member might have told USA Today's reporter. We continue to have the highest regard for that reporter's integrity."

Kudos to the Washington Post and reporter Michael Grunwald for today’s story showing how Louisiana’s state delegation diverted funds away from reporting levee’s in the years leading up to Hurricane Katrina. The Post also reports that federal money going to Louisiana’s hurricane prevention efforts actually increased during the first five years of the Bush administration. But politicians like Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu “have kept bringing home the bacon” even using Iraq funding requests to bring more pork home for pet projects:

“In Katrina's wake, Louisiana politicians and other critics have complained about paltry funding for the Army Corps in general and Louisiana projects in particular. But over the five years of President Bush's administration, Louisiana has received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about $1.9 billion; California was a distant second with less than $1.4 billion, even though its population is more than seven times as large.

Much of that Louisiana money was spent to try to keep low-lying New Orleans dry. But hundreds of millions of dollars have gone to unrelated water projects demanded by the state's congressional delegation and approved by the Corps, often after economic analyses that turned out to be inaccurate. Despite a series of independent investigations criticizing Army Corps construction projects as wasteful pork-barrel spending, Louisiana's representatives have kept bringing home the bacon. … Overall, the Bush administration's funding requests for the key New Orleans flood-control projects for the past five years were slightly higher than the Clinton administration's for its past five years.”

MoveOn is hosting a Hurricane Katrina protest outside the White House today at 1pm. MoveOn’s Tom Matzzie writes in the group’s release:

“Later today, a delegation of MoveOn members who were evacuated from New Orleans will deliver a petition to President Bush demanding he stop blaming the victims of Hurricane Katrina and focus on helping them. You're invited to join them at a peaceful protest and picket outside the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue at 1:00 PM today, Thursday. Together we'll send the message that the White House blame-shifting is shameful and raise awareness about public anger over the Bush administration failures.”

“Last night I met the Hurricane evacuees who will join us today. Iona Renfroe, from New Orleans, was rescued via helicopter from the rooftop of her neighbor’s two-story house last Wednesday. Iona told me, ‘It just makes me so angry that my country, my government would say that I’m not worth saving.’”

MoveOn also announced they will be providing signs to protesters that read, “Shame” and “Help Hurricane Victims”

Needless to say this is a disgusting piece of propaganda on MoveOn’s part. At no time has the federal government stated or even hinted that people trapped by Hurricane Katrina are “not worth saving.”

I’ll be on hand today for the protest reporting and taking pictures. I’ll also try to get MoveOn on the record defending their above claim.

USA Today reports MoveOn.org will begin airing an ad on Monday that attempts to tie the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts to the fallout from Hurricane Katrina. MoveOn spokesman Ben Brandzel said, "The connection is obvious. The images after Hurricane Katrina show we still live in a society where significant racial inequities exist. We believe John Roberts' record on civil rights ... is clearly not the direction our country needs to head now."

It’s a desperate and sick move on MoveOn’s part, but not surprising. It’s not the only way this week in which they are attempting to profit from the tragedy of Katrina. In fact, MoveOn is hosting a Katrina protest at the White House this afternoon.

The Aspen Times and Denver’s ABC affiliate Channel 7 report both a church and a college have cancelled proposed visits by Cindy Sheehan. A third visit was cancelled as well which resulted in Sheehan removing a visit to Colorado from her schedule altogether. From the Aspen Times:

“Some 40 to 50 people discussed the issue at a church meeting before the council voted. Some church members threatened to leave the church if it let Sheehan speak there, and that would have hurt the church financially, said church member Mo Barz.”

“Barz, who considers himself a strong supporter of the church, said he was among those who might have left the church if Sheehan had been allowed to speak there. ‘I was definitely against having her. I felt all along the church should rescind any agreement they had to have her be there.’”

And ABC Channel 7:

“Sheehan was scheduled to speak at Mesa State College in Grand Junction on Sept. 15. After the school received complaints that she would be appearing on campus, the school issued a statement saying it did not support or sponsor Sheehan's visit. Sheehan's camp then canceled the visit. She also canceled a stop in Paonia.”

A lot of us half joked half wondered if Cindy Sheehan’s gang would attempt to profit politically from Hurricane Katrina. Sheehan already made reference to the disaster being the fault of President Bush because of his environmental and foreign policies.

Now, Veteran For Peace has driven their “Impeachment Tour” bus into Louisiana. So long as they exclusively stay focused on fundraising efforts, they cannot be criticized for caring. But just by nature of being there under the auspices of a politically themed “tour” it’s hard to take seriously.

Buzz reader Robert writes in with a strong point on how and why FEMA has been able to better respond to Florida hurricanes than Hurricane Katrina. As I mentioned earlier, FEMA did not have the necessary experience to adequately address issues in Louisiana. Ultimately, a large part of that valuable experience comes through cooperation with state officials. FEMA’s had it in Florida, but all reports indicate that relationship of cooperation has been missing in Louisiana:

"Eric: I think that as this tragic event is scrutinized, it will be evident that the failure of the first responders, state and local, doomed any chance at an acceptable response. The difference in FL last year was that the state does have the experience to anticipate the needs resulting from a hurricane, and was therefore better able to pluck the strings of FEMA deployment as dictated by actual needs. The states prefer the ability to do just that, and it has been the direction of FEMA in the GW Bush administration. But if the state and local gov'ts have no plan and no idea, FEMA can never take up that slack. The local/state govts in this instance did not even make a token effort to activate a plan that both agreed to a long time ago. I do not mean to imply that FEMA was ready for this storm, but decisions (more probably lack of decisions) made locally precluded effective catastrophe management."

Hotline editor Chuck Todd has a good column today on the vacuum of leadership in wake of Hurricane Katrina:

“The leadership vacuums have been evident on a number of fronts - from inside the Bush administration to the Democratic Party to the state of Louisiana and, finally, inside the black community”

Todd then asks, “Why was the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response to the Florida hurricanes in 2004 so much steadier?”

He lists a number of possibilities: election year considerations, ties between President Bush and Governor Bush, geography and economics. However, one point I haven’t seen in this debate is experience. Neither the federal government nor the Louisiana state government was adequately qualified through experience to handle this type of emergency. In one sense the reality could be more troubling than even the left’s harshest allegations. It’s not that either government ignored the threat; it’s what preparation they did seems to have amounted to so little when it mattered most.

Buzz reader Stan writes in regarding my point that it’s hard to be in the position of defending FEMA Director Mike Brown right now:

“Eric: The fact remains that despite his prior lack of experience Brown has been on the job at FEMA prior to Katrina proving his capability ... remember the four (4) hurricanes that hit Florida last year? No complaints there that I recall. In fact, mostly raves.”

I agree with Stan on this point. When President Bush took office there was a desire to return authority back to the states when dealing with natural disasters. Many state government officials felt in previous experiences FEMA played its role with too heavy a hand. However, there are cases when the federal government must act.

No matter how conservative your views are on the role of government (and mine are obviously pretty conservative) when a disaster crosses state lines it certainly seems to qualify for federal intervention. Isn’t this the same standard we use for ATF regulations? Unfortunately, in this case when FEMA was called into action the initial response was less than desired. Even President Bush has said as much. Just as excessive criticism is dangerous and wrong, pretending things went well when they didn’t doesn’t make sense.

From Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco’s 2005 State of the State address -- A billion dollars in tax cuts for local businesses:

“I said then that we – as leaders of this government – must live within our means. That we should tighten our belts and restrain our spending to cope with tough fiscal times – just the way Louisiana families do. And, we are. I said then that we should cut out-of-step taxes to change our business climate. And, we did – a billon dollars worth.”

The number of references to levees or hurricane prevention? Zero. How would this platform be treated if Governor Blanco were a Republican?

(Hat tip to Buzz reader IQVPart).

Don’t miss Jim Geraghty’s strong takedown of author and New Orleans resident Anne Rice over on the main site today. It’s harsh, perhaps controversial and entirely necessary. Rice has said the federal government “failed us” in light of Katrina’s fallout. Geraghty responds:

“I’ve heard a great deal of complaint in recent days that the federal government may not have allocated enough money to speed up the upgrades to those levees. This does, however, raise the question of why city and state residents were waiting around for the federal government to send enough money to upgrade this, instead of paying for it themselves. I mean, it was only your homes, businesses, and lives at stake. Perhaps these upgrades would have been expensive. If only this city had some sort of events to attract tourists, from which to collect taxes.”

“Anyway, your state and local officials decided to spend your tax dollars on something else that they (and presumably you) found more important, and then they waited for the rest of the country to pay for these life-preserving necessities.”

Democrats are piling on their criticism of FEMA Director Mike Brown. But perhaps in this single case they are actually on to something. Stories like this just keep coming in.

It’s hard to defend a man appointed to protect American citizens in federal emergencies whose previous “experience” includes horse judging and being ex-FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh’s college roommate. Am I exaggerating? Unfortunately, I am not. From the Boston Herald:

“Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Brown spent 11 years as the commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association, a breeders' and horse-show organization based in Colorado. ‘We do disciplinary actions, certification of (show trial) judges. We hold classes to train people to become judges and stewards. And we keep records,'’ explained a spokeswoman for the IAHA commissioner's office. ‘This was his full-time job . . . for 11 years,’ she added. Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures. ‘He was asked to resign,’ Bill Pennington, president of the IAHA at the time, confirmed last night.”

There’s a consistent theme of cronyism and failure running through Katrina’s fallout at both the state and federal level. It’s bad enough whenever this happens, but there is no excuse and there should be zero tolerance for unqualified officials being appointed to positions that involve national security. Isn’t this what got Jim McGreevey booted from office?

UPDATE: Joe Allabaugh now says he and Mike Brown were friends in college but not roommates. However, they have remained friends and had a close history in Texas/Oklahoma politics. From last night's transcript of ABC News' "World News Tonight":

"A correction on a report last night about FEMA Director Michael Brown. We and other news organizations reported that Brown was college roommates with a man who recommended him for the job, former FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh. Allbaugh told us that was not correct. They were friends, but not roommates. Although Allbaugh said he is a registered lobbyist for Halliburton on disaster relief, he has not lobbied FEMA directly for Halliburton contracts."

New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin writes:

“Let's take a break from the joy of Bush bashing to reveal the dirty little secret of New Orleans: Its local government deserves an F for its planning and response to Katrina. And one other thing: The New Orleans police force would be a joke if it weren't a disgrace.”

I don’t think writers and reporters like Goodwin either are trying to defend President Bush or blame Louisiana state officials. However, the elite media and some Democratic politicians have wrapped the cloth of this tragedy around their own anti-Bush bias. If all circumstances were the same but John Kerry was president, would the criticism be as strong? If Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin were Republicans, would the criticism of them have been stronger?

At any rate, the media seems to be slowly catching up to the fact that there is plenty of blame to go around at both the federal and local levels.

Today’s new Gallup poll on Hurricane Katrina finds:

"Despite widespread criticism of the response by Bush and, separately, the federal government, to the problems caused by the hurricane, the public seems on balance only mildly critical. Forty-two percent say Bush did a 'bad' (18%) or 'terrible' (24%) job, but 35% rate his response as either 'great' (10%) or 'good' (25%)."

When respondents were asked who is most to blame for problems in New Orleans after Katrina, 13 percent blame President Bush, 25 percent blame state and local officials. However, 38 percent say that no one is really to blame. 29 percent believe federal officials should be fired for mismanagement of the crisis, while a full 63 percent disagree.

Fox Finds McCain Love

Fox News has their own new polling data out. President Bush stands at 45 percent approval, just one point away from his lowest showing in a Fox poll. Once again, Democrats are over sampled in this poll, 41 to 39 percent over Republicans. If you assume a more balanced survey would have returned higher numbers for President Bush, you end up with him showing something around a 47 percent approval and 48 percent disapproval rating. Still nothing to write home about, though slightly better than the current results show.

However, Fox also did a sampling of a few 2008 prospects. In the poll, John McCain came out strongest with a 57 percent approval rating and only 15 percent disapproving. Hillary Clinton had a 50/40 percent showing.

The national media has focused nearly all of its Hurricane Katrina fallout blame on the federal government. Lots of folks are calling for the resignation of FEMA Director Mike Brown. Some individuals like Jesse Jackson, Kanye West, Pierce Brosnan and Sean Penn have accused President Bush of not caring or even of being racists.

As usual, the public is more insightful and less alarmist than those in the elite media would like them to be. In the same ABC News/Washington Post poll, 67 percent of respondents do voice their displeasure with how the federal government has handled the Katrina fallout. However, a full 75 percent say the state and local officials failed in their duty to protect the citizens of Louisiana.

A New ABC News/Washington Post poll shows the public giving President Bush a 46 percent approval rating on handling Hurricane Katrina. 47 percent voice their disapproval. But when you look at how voters were sampling, there’s an interesting coincidence. Democrats made up 32 percent of respondents were Democrats and 31 percent were Republicans. So, a poll with one percent more Democrats surveyed finds a one percent greater disapproval total for President Bush?

Would the results have been any different regardless of the issue?

Blogs for Bush points out the inconsistency of Democrats in responding to Hurricane Katrina. In Katrina’s aftermath, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are calling for increased delays in the confirmation hearings of John Roberts. However, when Democrats had more power in the Senate, things were different. Only days after 9/11 Democrats moved forward with judicial appointments, including two from Pennsylvania where one of the hijacked planes went down.

Arlen Specter just announced the John Roberts hearings have been delayed until next Monday, September 12th.

Michelle Malkin has a great round-up debunking some of the more obscene myths being circulated amidst the Hurricane Katrina fallout.

Bob Williams writes in the Wall Street Journal:

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible -- local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter will hold a press conference in exactly half an hour to announce the revised hearing schedule for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.

For a group that supposedly doesn’t care about African-Americans, conservative bloggers seem to be raising a lot of money for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

According to Truth Laid Bear, as of this posting conservative bloggers have raised $1,159,363. In contrast, liberal bloggers have raised $161,152 so far. Recently, liberal bloggers wasted almost no time in raising $451,888 for failed Democrat House candidate Paul Hackett.

Does this mean liberals only care about helping African-Americans 10% as much as conservatives? Of course it doesn’t. But it does serve as counter evidence to those who claim a lack of sympathy and the weight of burden for Katrina belongs exclusively to those on the right side of the political spectrum.

Admitted philanderer and political opportunist Jesse Jackson says President Bush and Republicans don’t care about black people. Multimillionaire recording artist Kanye West echoed Jackson’s sentiment during last week’s MTV Video Music Awards. But what have either done to assist in recovery efforts? Rather than use their influence and opportunity to move others into action, both have played on a growing sense of fear and ignorance about who is to blame for the mistakes made in responding to Hurricane Katrina.

While most of us outside the danger zone can simply ignore their comments, there is no doubt individuals like Jesse Jackson and Kanye West carry influence on hundreds upon thousands of Americans. If their words compel an individual to commit acts of violence against government officials, is this any different than yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater?

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann is no stranger to making outlandish allegations against the Bush administration. His most-recent blog entry is generating a lot of attention on the left. In it, Olbermann joins the chorus of liberal critics blaming the White House for all fallout related to Hurricane Katrina.

Interestingly, Olbermann’s main point of evidence comes in the form of semantics. On Saturday, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff “said it all”, beginning his briefing on Saturday by saying: "Louisiana is a city that is largely underwater...”

Olbermann shows a flair for turning something so small into something large by declaring, “If ever a slip-of-the-tongue defined a government's response to a crisis, this was it.” …

“In forgetting that, the current administration did not merely damage itself — it damaged our confidence in our ability to rely on whoever is in the White House.”

So, in the midst of a true crisis, one of our busiest government officials makes a verbal gaffe and Olbermann thinks this has shaken the nation’s confidence in our public leaders? Well, if ever a blog entry defined one desperate TV host’s shameless attempt to jump on the blame-Bush-first bandwagon, this was it.