Chris this is for you, and for my good buddy Boyd, and for the Boyz at Woozbang and everyone else out there who does not think we should be pointing fingers, or that the deaths of so many of those people who perrished in New Orleans, should not be put squarely on the doorstep of George W. Bush:

From The Situation Room, where Jack Cafferty continues to impress the hell out of me:

Wolf Blitzer: We'll continue to watch these pictures. Meantime, let's check in with CNN's Jack Cafferty. He's in New York and he's got another question for this hour. Jack?

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed, I do, Wolf. Thanks very much. Somewhere along the way, FEMA became a dumping ground for the president's political cronies with little experience in disaster relief. The agency's first director was Joe Allbaugh, he was President Bush's 2000 campaign chairman. Allbaugh brought in the current failure, Michael Brown. His previous work was with Arabian horses. The number two guy, Brown's top deputy at FEMA is a fellow named Patrick Rhode. He worked for the 2000 election campaign. The number three guy at FEMA is Brooks Altshuler. He used to work in the White House. His job was planning presidential trips. And FEMA's long-term recovery director is a guy named Scott Morris. He produced television and radio commercials for the Bush campaign. The federal agency charged with handling national emergencies is staffed at the very top by a bunch of political hacks with virtually no experience that qualifies them to respond to something like Katrina. But I digress. Some people are now suggesting making the military responsible for organizing the efforts, things, in fact, picked up noticeably and considerably in New Orleans once they got there. So here's the question this hour. Should the military be put in charge of handling domestic disasters such as hurricanes?

BLITZER: You know, Jack, what happened in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew in Florida, the first President Bush was severely criticized for supposedly not doing enough for Floridians in the immediate aftermath of Andrew. And some pundits suggested later that he lost Florida to Bill Clinton in that election precisely because of that reason. You remember that?

CAFFERTY: I do. And I can remember a mayoral election in New York that turned on the fact that snowplows didn't get into some of the outlying neighborhoods soon enough after a particularly heavy snowstorm. And that mayor was promptly voted right out into the street, as it were. So the voters do remember. If the damage that's inflicted upon them is severe enough, they tend to remember. And when they go to the ballot box, sometimes they try to get even.

BLITZER: As we watch the vice president make his way, I believe, to microphones to report to us what he's seeing and what he's hearing, I just want to point out, there is some suggestions that this president learning from his father's mistake, wanted political associates of his to be in charge of FEMA to make sure the response would be perfect, especially to Floridians in the aftermath of hurricanes because that's where a lot of hurricanes sent.

CAFFERTY: Well, it didn't work out so well, did it?

BLITZER: Sometimes it doesn't necessarily work out that way.

CAFFERTY: Where are the qualifications of these people? None of these guys is qualified based on the stuff I'm reading to head up an emergency management agency. One of them worked with Arabian horses. The rest are all guys off the campaign trail, planned presidential trips, produced TV commercials. Don't you need somebody at the top running the organization that has some semblance of an idea of what the hell is required when there's an emergency?

BLITZER: All right, Jack. We got the point.

CAFFERTY: I got carried away.

So to all my Conservative Buddies out there, can anyone tell me why the President last week, in the middle of the carnage, had the stones to say that the FEMA Director was doing a good job? Anyone want to tell me why some of the most important positions in this country when it comes to taking care of our citizens is in the hands of rank amateurs. That is what I meant when I called the situation an embarrassment.

I welcome comments from anyone who wants to prove me wrong, but I will bet a case of Apples that not one has the courage to approach this subject.

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Tracked on September 9, 2005 01:41 PM