It's not exactly blackmail, but...

[Spence]

I wonder if President Bush still thinks Michael "Brownie" Brown is "doing a heckuva job":
Former disaster agency chief Michael Brown is indicating he is ready to reveal his correspondence with President Bush and other officials during Hurricane Katrina unless the White House forbids it and offers legal support.

Brown’s stance, in a letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, follows senators’ complaints that the White House is refusing to answer questions or release documents about advice given to Bush concerning the Aug. 29 storm.
...
“Unless there is specific direction otherwise from the president, including an assurance the president will provide a legal defense to Mr. Brown if he refuses to testify as to these matters, Mr. Brown will testify if asked about particular communications,” the lawyer wrote.
...
Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., who blasted the White House last month for what he called attempts to stonewall the Senate inquiry, said he expects Brown, now a private citizen, “to answer every question the committee puts to him truthfully.”

“I see no basis for him to refuse to answer any of our questions, and I hope the White House will not try to direct him not to answer our questions,” Lieberman said.

Contacted Wednesday, Brown referred questions about the letter to Lester. The lawyer described his client as “between a rock and a hard place” between the administration’s reluctance to disclose certain high-level communications and Congress’ right to demand it.

“Mr. Brown is going to testify before Congress. If he receives no guidance to the contrary, we’ll do as any citizen should do — and that is to answer all questions fully, completely and accurately,” Lester said.Source (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11255379/)

The deal offered appears to be this: Give me some political cover by ordering me not to tell everything I know to the Senate and then pay all my legal bills if I'm held in contempt or even indicted for perjury or making false statements to the Congress...OR I'll tell everything I know.

[BurgundyNGold]

You gotta love that.

[akhhorus]

This is blackmail, is there a better textbook example of political blackmail than this?

[Ibleedburgundy]

This guy has a death wish. :devil2:

[RedskinsDave]

This guy has a death wish. :devil2:

Why, did he cross Clinton somehow?

[BurgundyNGold]

This guy has a death wish. :devil2:
Maybe he'll get a sudden bout of depression and turn up toes up off of the GW Parkway? ;)

[Spence]

These guys can't just come out and tell the truth about anything:In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush administration officials said they had been caught by surprise when they were told on Tuesday, Aug. 30, that a levee had broken, allowing floodwaters to engulf New Orleans.

But Congressional investigators have now learned that an eyewitness account of the flooding from a federal emergency official reached the Homeland Security Department's headquarters starting at 9:27 p.m. the day before, and the White House itself at midnight.Source (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/10/politics/10katrina.html?_r=2&ei=5094&en=d6fcffd6820bf50d&hp=&ex=1139547600&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1139581822-gXnr+h71/HvC3dZEaG9MWg&pagewanted=print)

[CNYSkinFan]

Even Stevie Wonder saw this one coming:



WASHINGTON - Former federal disaster chief Michael Brown testified Friday that he notified top White House and Homeland Security officials on the day that Hurricane Katrina roared ashore that "we were realizing our worst nightmare" and that New Orleans was seriously flooding.

He dismissed as "just baloney" and "a little disingenuous" claims by agency officials that they didn't know about the severity of the damage until the next day.

Testifying before a Senate committee, Brown said he agreed with members who characterized him as a scapegoat. "I feel somewhat abandoned," said Brown, who quit under fire as chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency just days after the storm ravaged much of the Gulf Coast of the United States.

Brown suggested the administration's fixation with fighting terrorism may have been to blame, in part, for the slow government response.
Because of a focus on terrorism, natural disasters "had become the stepchild of the Department of Homeland Security," he said.


Translation: The bribe didn't work it's time to blame the White House for my ineptitude....which by the way is actually a valid argument since they did hire him.

EDIT: Ooops here is the SOURCE (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060210/ap_on_go_co/katrina_congress)

[OCSkinzFan]

I understand that the creation of another inept layer of federal bureaucracy (ironically created by a Right leaning Repub. Admin) hampered efforts to efficiently expedite rescues and other aid to N.O., but what was the White House supposed to do better? Declare a state of emergency earlier? I think Bush is generally incompetent, but on Aug. 29 what was W supposed to do? Put on hip-waders and ride around in a john-boat during the flooding?

Or is this just a dumb and dumber version of Department of Homeland Security vs. FEMA over who was the dumber-est so the government looks like they're going some sort of job or something so they can keep the checks flowing (like the Spice on Arrakis).

[RedskinsDave]

No OC, what it is is an attempt to paint all the problems that were long before and will be long after Katrina a problem of the current admin when, in fact, it is the other party that has been running that area forever.

[OCSkinzFan]

No OC, what it is is an attempt to paint all the problems that were long before and will be long after Katrina a problem of the current admin when, in fact, it is the other party that has been running that area forever.
Oooohh right. I see your point.
Everything bad is that dirty Bill Clinton's fault.

Thanks for your erudite clarification.

[redskin_rich]

Or is this just a dumb and dumber version of Department of Homeland Security vs. FEMA over who was the dumber-est so the government looks like they're going some sort of job or something so they can keep the checks flowing (like the Spice on Arrakis).
Would that make dubya the Maud'Dib?

*shuddering*

[RedskinsDave]

Oooohh right. I see your point.
Everything bad is that dirty Bill Clinton's fault.

Thanks for your erudite clarification.

It goes back farther than him but he can be included, although I didn't mention his name at all. Very erudite of you to do so.

[OCSkinzFan]

The worms of Arrakis are lobbists.
Cheny is the Barron Vladimir Harkonnen
W is Feyd-Rautha.
Condi is their mentat

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."



Geek factor nine out of ten.

[OCSkinzFan]

It goes back farther than him but he can be included, although I didn't mention his name at all. Very erudite of you to do so.:rolleyes: but NEVER w

[RedskinsDave]

:rolleyes: but NEVER w

No one said that either but don't let your erudition stop you now.

[Axegrinder]

[Flashback to August 3,1999]
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/1999/08/03.html

[Axegrinder]

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13843338.htm
WASHINGTON - As Hurricane Katrina's deadly floodwaters kept rising in New Orleans streets last August, the two top federal disaster chiefs feuded while other officials wouldn't talk to each other, according to testimony Friday at a Senate hearing.
In his first testimony since leaving the government payroll, former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, who's been roundly criticized for his handling of Katrina, said he felt like a scapegoat for a government-wide failure and squarely blamed his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
"I was literally constrained by Secretary Chertoff," Brown said. "My hands were tied."
Brown said he tried to bypass his boss and work directly with the White House, a tactic he said had worked in the past. But White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told him he had to work with Chertoff, Brown said.
****
Why did Brown have to work with Chertoff,while the wiretappers don't have to work with the courts?

[RedskinsDave]

Why did Brown have to work with Chertoff,while the wiretappers don't have to work with the courts?

Excellent non-sequitur. :rolleyes:

[Axegrinder]

Excellent non-sequitur. :rolleyes:
Double standard in the "supposed" protection of this country!

[RedskinsDave]

Double standard in the "supposed" protection of this country!

Yeah, okay. They're not related.

[Axegrinder]

Yeah, okay. They're not related.
The Admin chooses to use redtape with one event[Katrina],while not with the other[spying].
That's convenient unless it blows up in their face.

[RedskinsDave]

And still a non-sequitur. :rolleyes:

[dukeuch]

I understand that the creation of another inept layer of federal bureaucracy (ironically created by a Right leaning Repub. Admin) hampered efforts to efficiently expedite rescues and other aid to N.O., but what was the White House supposed to do better? Declare a state of emergency earlier? I think Bush is generally incompetent, but on Aug. 29 what was W supposed to do? Put on hip-waders and ride around in a john-boat during the flooding?

Or is this just a dumb and dumber version of Department of Homeland Security vs. FEMA over who was the dumber-est so the government looks like they're going some sort of job or something so they can keep the checks flowing (like the Spice on Arrakis).

i guess part of the issue is at what point are the folks who appoint the leaders of the "dumb and dumber" departments held responsible for their dumb appointments and innefective oversight?

[OCSkinzFan]

i guess part of the issue is at what point are the folks who appoint the leaders of the "dumb and dumber" departments held responsible for their dumb appointments and innefective oversight?
Nothing is ever Bush's fault. Non accountability has been a career path to the top for him.

[OCSkinzFan]

And still a non-sequitur. :rolleyes:
No, it's inductive. :rolleyes: