We believe that part of the deplorable Blanco’s response to Katrina was possibly dictated by this: Hurricane Katrina was intended to be a bit of political theater that got wildly out of control. The plan was designed for a normal hurricane, not one of Katrina’s magnitude; no one intended loss of life.

Think about it. Hurricane season comes around every year. President Bush’s strong suit since 9-11 has been his response to emergencies and national security matters. How to dent that armor? Are you so naive that you believe that Democratic Party strategists do no planning to make hay on the seasonal issues of the day?

What would be the elements of such a plan? First, you need a state governed by a Democrat. Second, you need talking points. Here are a few: (1) Bush is incompetent; (2) Bush doesn’t like poor people; (3) if the National Guard is needed, find a way to delay and shout that all the Guardsmen are unavailable because they are in Iraq. We suspect that point (3) was meant to be particularly important, in light of recent polls.

Here are the talking points in motion, from Howard Dean, via Radioblogger:

(1) Incompetent: “I don’t think the president is personally…did a horrible job. The president didn’t seem to be informed. I think he had incompetent people working for him. You know, Michael Brown [whose performance on four prior hurricanes was just fine, by the way] has become a national joke…..Not only did he…apparently according to Time Magazine now, this morning, he’s falsified his credentials to get the job. The president still won’t fire him. What is it about this president, who has people like Karl Rove, who gave away the identity of a CIA agent in a time of war, who has people like Michael Brown working for him that he won’t fire him. These people ought not to be working for anybody, never mind the government of the United States of America.”

(2) Doesn’t like poor people: “I do not think that this president cares about everybody in America. How…it’s one nice…I’m sure the president is a nice man on a personal level. His policies have been devastating to middle class and poor people in this country, white black and brown. The people who were affected in this disaster, the people who are holed up in the Astrodome, look at the kinds of things that have been said about them. Look at what the Republican representative from Louisiana said this morning in the Wall Street Journal, that finally God has gotten rid of, or has cleaned up the public housing in New Orleans. It’s not enough to be a nice guy. I’m not disputing the fact the president’s a nice man. And maybe even has compassion in his personal life. The truth is that Americans have suffered deeply under this presidency, 80% of Americans. And that black people, hispanic people, poor people, and old people have suffered disproportionately.”

(3) Iraq: “I was Governor for almost twelve years. I think we had seven or nine emergencies during that time, states of emergency, under three presidents. And I can tell you that what you need when there’s an emergency, is National Guard. The National Guard was in Iraq….And the equipment was in Iraq.”

Preposterous, you say, and outrageous too! How dare we suggest such a thing? Well, we didn’t come up with the idea on our own. It was, in fact, suggested to us by none other than Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans. His personal plea to the President aboard Air Force One was sufficiently powerful that Bush called a huddle with the deplorable Blanco so that they could decide on immediate action, as we have noted previously. Here, once again, is Nagin’s account of what happened:

The president looked at me….He said, “No, you guys stay here. We’re going to another section of the plane, and we’re going to make a decision.” He called me in that office after that. And he said, “Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor.” I said – and I don’t remember exactly what. There were two options. I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision….She said that she needed 24 hours to make a decision. It would have been great if we could of left Air Force One, walked outside, and told the world that we had this all worked out. It didn’t happen, and more people died.

President Bush was offering soldiers immediately to save lives and allieviate suffering in response to the desperate pleadings of Mayor Nagin. The deplorable Blanco was governor of the state and in a position to make an easy decision. Yet she said she needed 24 hours. Here’s our question: who did the governor need to consult with? Who was pulling the strings of the depolable Blanco? We hope a board of inquiry provides the answer to this very interesting question.

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