Brown resigns

September 12, 2005

CNN and ABC both report that Mike Brown has resigned as head of FEMA. More soon.

Update: The AP makes it sound as if Brown’s resignation was voluntary.

Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown said Monday he has resigned “in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president,” three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

“The focus has got to be on FEMA, what the people are trying to do down there,” Brown told The Associated Press. […] “I’m turning in my resignation today,” Brown said. “I think it’s in the best interest of the agency and the best interest of the president to do that and get the media focused on the good things that are going on, instead of me.”

Yeah, it’s the media’s fault Brown had to go. Nothing to do with his incompetence, just misplaced media focus. Right.

Second Update: Brown is specifically claiming that the resignation was his idea, not the White House’s. He reportedly spoke on Saturday to White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, who did not request his departure, according to Brown.

If this is the White House spin, I think it’s a mistake. Bush is passing up the opportunity to pretend to be a leader. Considering widespread and bipartisan disgust with Brown, Bush could now say, “We had a weak link in the chain, so I made a tough decision.” Instead, by leaving the choice up to Brown, it makes it seem as if the president was content to leave this obviously incompetent and unqualified official around indefinitely. This won’t resolve the political problem; it will exacerbate it.

And forget all about his having lied on his resume in the first place. What a two-bit phony. But then that’s all of ShrubCo and CheneyCorp.

  • What, nothing about wanting to spend more time with his family?

    Now we get to pay his handsome pension for the rest of our lives. Your tax dollars at work.

  • I just posted as much elsewhere. The administration, which is usually so good at PR (and not doing their jobs while covering up the truth), has consistently misjudged things this summer/fall. Bush could have met with Sheehan right away and diffused that situation, could have flown to DC before Katrina hit instead of the damning trips to AZ and CA (cake and guitar), not made stupid remarks about Lott’s house and partying in N.O. (prez’s men should have made him stick to their talking points), and they could have fired “Brownie” last week.

    Finally, finally, folks are seeing who these people really are: rich & powerful, beholden only to their rich & powerful friends, and screw the rest of us, esp. the poor and the minorities.

  • And to think that little more than a week ago we heard the infamous words of our President, “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job!”

    And that was just a couple of days after we also heard from our President, “Nobody anticipated the breach in the levees.”

    Hmmm. Can we trust anything Bush says anymore?

    I didn’t think so.

  • He’ll be working for Allbaugh before the month is out and within a year they’ll pin a medal on him.

  • Very classy of him to site his own ass and that of the president but not the people in Mississippi and Louisiana his utter incompetence has so lethally and tragically failed.

  • Is it possible that it has played out this way, because the President would not fire Brown, but some staff people made it happen anyway? Maybe “friends” just told Brown what he had to do, and none of it came from Bush ? ? ?

    I am thinking about the Rumsfeld “Global struggle against violent extremists” trial balloon. Maybe a bit of staff rebellion is brewing, against the moron-in-chief.

  • I don’t care why/how (though I would be nice to think he was fired) – all I have to say is……

    DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOUR A** ON THE WAY OUT!!!!!!

  • Does anyone find it ironic that during the Clinton years the Republicans went on ad nauseum about personal responsibility; and yet when they took power they have never taken responsibility for anything? I mean seriously, nothing has ever been their fault. Remember Bush during the debates last year when asked if he regretted any of his decisions. It’s as if the very worst of the world’s sociopaths found each other and somehow managed to hijack the US government.

  • He probably has a big money job waiting for him right now. That’s how it work’s. So what unqualified person is in charge of FEMA now? BUSH?

  • As happy as I am about scoring some political points and getting an incompetent idiot out of a job that he shouldn’t have been in, one sad fact remains. Within a few months he’ll probably be rubbing elbows with all the other lobbyists on K Street.

  • But remember, it is the state’s responsibility for controlling national emergencies. So if the Chinese or Russians invade Oregon, it is up to the Governor of Oregon to hold back the invasion. And if the invaders are successful, it serves those unprepared Oregonians right. Makes sense to me. That’s what FDR or Truman would have done, right? Or Nixon or Reagan?

  • Weak link, never.
    Our leader has never made a mistake, including the “brownie” stain nomination. I would imagine GWB is a little ticked off at Brown’s departure. It really is an admission of failure, wether he left on his own or was asked to leave.

  • Doesn’t matter why he is gone…good riddance. Now we have to worry what other incompetent/syncophant/supporter Bush will appoint to the role.

    While people are still talking about accountability and “no one could have predicted…”, how come the media isn’t out there saying…what if this was a terrorist attack…what if the terrorists had waited for the hurricane so that they could have blown up the levees? Where is Homeland Security and FEMA should the terrorist hit a major city during a natural catastrophe?
    Or is that the State’s job too?

  • One down, more to come…. Little by little the Bush administation is starting to crumble. Brown may be small potatoes but it is a start.
    Soon there could be a torrent of resignations and removals. At least one can dream.
    Bush himself, on the other hand, is still performing true to form.
    When asked DIRECTLY what he had to say about Brown’s resignation he only made meandering comments about the school he was visiting.
    Can’t he ever give us a decent answer about anything? I wish that some brave soul had yelled out: “Answer the question, dingbat!!”
    To think the Oval Office once had leaders who could actually think and communicate intelligbly! This is what it is now reduced to. A stinking travesty.

  • Anyone think maybe Brown resigned on his own because the cushy job suddenly became too much like actual work? From reading his resume, he doesn’t seem to have much experience with that.

    I, too, am glad he’s gone, and glad Bush didn’t capitalize on the chance to pretend to actually be in charge of something. But it does nothing to mitigate the damage already done, and nothing to make me feel any more optimistic about the federal goverment’s ability to respond to the next disaster, whether terrorist or manmade.

    I hope the media won’t lay off the story just because the main stooge has left the building. As they say, a fish rots from the head down, and Bush selected this zero in the first place. There were plenty of mistakes made with regard to Katrina, but none worse than the before and after actions of the president himself.

    Shannon

  • The biggest joke is that he’s been replaced by David Paulison.

    Think you’ve never heard of Paulison? Think again. Remember the guy who told the whole country to buy reams of plastic sheeting and duct tape? I shit you not. That guy is the new head of FEMA.

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