Did Politics Influence Bush Administration on Katrina Response?

The AP reports that Micheal Brown, former head of FEMA and also known by his Bush nickname of "Brownie", told college students that politics influence the Federal government's response to FEMA. Brown claims that he recommended to Bush that all 90,000 square miles of the Gulf Coast be placed under Federal control for purposes of Katrina hurricane assistance. Brown claims that unnamed members of the Bush Administration wanted to put Louisiana under such control but not Mississippi. Why? Because, according to Brown, Louisiana had a white, female Democratic governor and Mississippi had a white, male Republican governor. (You can read the whole article by clicking on the link in this entry's title.)

The Bush administration is, of course, denying that politics motivated the Katrina response. Since, however, it seems that all policy in this administration is subordinated to politics, it makes sense. It will be interesting to see if Brown's remarks leads to Congressional hearings on the Katrina response. As Bush might say, "Heck of a job, Brownie", for bringing this to the public's attention.