How Brown got confirmed

September 9, 2005

There are, of course, two sides to the debacle that led Mike Brown to become the director of FEMA. One was the president deciding to nominate him and the other was the Senate — which had a Dem majority at the time — going along with the idea.

As it turns out, the Committee on Governmental Affairs, led at the time by Joe Lieberman, devoted all of 42 minutes to Brown’s confirmation hearing in June 2002. A whopping five members of the committee bothered to show up, and none of them gave Brown much of a grilling. Shortly thereafter, Brown was confirmed on a voice vote with no recorded opposition.

So, does this mean the Senate is just as responsible for this mess as the president? I don’t think so.

Clearly, the Senate did not do its due diligence when it came to reviewing Brown’s skills and qualifications. It should have. But I suspect there was probably a feeling lawmakers felt in 2002 that they’ve long since lost: trust.

Senators probably assumed that the president would want a capable director for FEMA. They assumed Brown was a good choice, in large part because Bush picked him. After all, it’s not as if the typical senator could have guessed that the president would nominate someone who lied about his background, failed at every professional endeavor he ever tried, and knew literally nothing about overseeing emergency management. In other words, the Senate counted on Bush to know what he was doing.

Is the right really prepared to argue, “Dems in the Senate were fools because they listened to Bush”?

After all, it’s not as if the typical senator could have guessed that the president would nominate someone who lied about his background, failed at every professional endeavor he ever tried, and knew literally nothing about overseeing emergency management.

You mean, the Senate didn’t think Bush was nominating himself, right?

  • CB wrote: “They assumed Brown was a good choice, in large part because Bush picked him.”

    Too bad I don’t teach a poly-sci methods course. This would be a case study for why citizens should be duly skeptical of truth claims by authority figures. Why? Because sometimes they are venal, sometimes they are totally without good judgment, and sometimes their own knowledge sources are wrong. And taking Bush’s word on this matter just cost as yet uncounted thousands of lives.

  • They deserve some of the blame, and most of it should land squarley on the shoulders of head DINO LIEberman.

    What are the requirements for being a member of the Democratic party, and at what point can Dean say, sorry Joe, but you’re out.

  • They confirmed him for Deputy Director, not Director if my understanding is correct. When he was made Director, there was no additional confirmation hearing.

  • Well, according to Atrios and CapitolBuzz, Brown’s been DEMOTED.

    Which means he’ll sit at a desk doing nothing but collecting a paycheck subsidized by you and me.

    Let’s hope that the next loser Bush appoints doesn’t kill as many people.

  • Yes, both the Washington Post and AP are reporting that Brown has been relieved of Katrina relief duties and has been sent back to Washington.

  • Bush as Bluto (to Flounder in the movie Animal House, after the roadtrip that trashed the car)
    Hey Senate, you fucked up. You trusted us.”
    Repeat after Katrina, after Abu Graib, after Authorization to Attack Iraq, after Bernir Kerik… oh, scratch that last one.

  • There’s another side to this:

    How many times have we heard Republicans say that the nominations should be confirmed by the Senate without too much oversight because the president should get the people he wants? As long at there is a Republican president they always argue that “advise and consent” boils down to merely consent, a rubber stamp approval of any and every nominee.

    Hasn’t this been the crux of the arguments over judicial nominations? This has been a constant thread through any nomination that has hit the spotlight (think, Ashcroft, Gonzales, et. al) since D’uh-Byah took office.

    Sure, Liberman deserves to be chastened, but some smart Democrat should be developing this as a theme to counter the other awful nominations that we know are likely in the future.

  • As I think I said yesterday, I’d kinda hate to see ShrubCo and CheneyCorp get off so easily (just tossing Brown overboard). I guess we should be grateful he hasn’t (yet) been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

  • I think the Brown situation is also pertinent to the Roberts for Supreme Court Chief Justice situation, too.

    Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable confirming a guy for Chief Justice who only has TWO years of experience as a judge? That’s it! Two years! The guy may be brilliant, but I think the highest judicial position in the land – and one that is appointed for life – should require a higher standard.

    Then again, this IS the Bush administration we’re talking about. Clearly, experience is not necessary.

    UGH.

  • Your point is well taken, CB, but I think you’re being a bit too dismissive of the Democrats’ failure to inquire into Brown’s qualifications. The phrase “due diligence” is a legal term that applies, among other things, to a corporate board of directors’ duty, as fiduciaries of the shareholders, to inquire into the likely outcome of any contemplated action before commiting the corporation. The exchange you describe in the Senate is exactly the sort of thing that could create a world of trouble for a board of directors that so readily acquiesced to the demands of a CEO. Surely the Senate’s fiduciary duties to the American people are no less stringent than those which apply to corporate directors toward their shareholders. Yes, the primary responsibility lies with Bush, but every senator in the committee who failed to meet the constitutional obligations of his or her office must share a part of the responsibility as well. Blind faith in authority does not make for a strong republic.

  • “Memory Serves” has a great point… dems couldn’t reject every incompetent. You have to choose your battles. Rovian attitudes permeate the news calling dems the “party of no” and “obstrucionists”. Heck, dems have had too much on their plate to hate, and not many in the mainstream were understanding the lack for apetite. Anymore I think dems should obstruct away. Who could blame them anymore?

  • Hey Drew, perhaps this is pertinent to the SCJ issue…considering how this administration rewards incompentence, I bet they’re going to nominate Brown for Supreme Court Justice! Ed Helms said something about dipping his body in bronze to give out as awards.

  • I agree with James Dillon. Just as there’s no arguing that the buck stops at Bush, the members of the Committee on Governmental Affairs have the responsibility to execute their duties to the best of their ability. Brown was obviously a ridiculous choice, but if they were doing their job, these Senators could have helped alleviate catastrophe.

    It’s interesting to see how so many “smaller” decisions by politicians of both parties (but mostly by the Executive branch) add up to the worst governmental failure in US history.

  • I would just love some twit conservative/republican to say its the senate dems fault for confirming Brown.

    Then we could block Roberts and every other appointee on the groups that the con/reps blame us for anything going wrong.

  • I think that if the Senate is supposed to confirm a candidate, at a minimum some kind of background check ought to be one. Some staffer could check past employment and whatever else might be relevant. What’s the point of a confirmation vote if some kind of independent Senate investigation isn’t done?

  • So what about the fact that Lieberman loafed on Brown’s confirmation hearings… and now Lieberman is going to co-chair an investigation looking into the Katrina failure?

    Seems to me… he should recuse himself, bow out…or just disappear dammit.

    His previous failure disqualifies him for his current responsibility.

  • The Senators should not get off so easy. Had they done their job, Brown would not have passed muster. Shame on them. And shame on us for letting them off. Wrong is wrong, regardless of the flavor of Kool-Aid you prefer.

  • Hold on just a second. When the Senate votes against a Bush appointee they are obstructionists. This was a position that may have required Senate confirmation but it was clearly a position where the President, absent obvious lack of qualification was entitled to appoint whoever he wished. Blaming the Seanate for this fiasco is like blaming the owner of Mrs. O’Leary’s cow for the Chicago fire.

  • This is very important because Bush expects all his nominations to be rubber-stamped. Dems can now make a convincing case that had they not trusted Dumbya on Brown, the human suffering would not be as horrible.

    If Dumbya can’t be trusted to nominate a competent person to head FEMA, how can he be trusted on any of his nominations? Does the name, John Bolton, strike a chord?

    Roberts needs to be filibustered. Break Bush now! Use the newly acquired Democrat political capital and squish him like a bug. His approval ratings are now lower than LBJ and Nixon in their fifth years. Don’t squander this opportunity to stand up for America.

    Let’s see some leadership and statesmanship.

  • FUCK COMITY. They absolutely *should* have, *must* have, opposed *every* incompetent boob that Shrub nominated, AND THEY STILL MUST DO IT NOW!

    I’m tired of this shit. Someone said it well: Democrats want to compromise to a draw; Repugs will fuck over their own grandmother in order to win. And THAT IS WHY THEY DO!

    They are not afraid of being belligirent, shrill assholes (hello? Limbaugh? O’Rielly? DeLay? SANTORUM!?– these guys *live* to be assholes!). We are. “Oh me oh my, we mustn’t be confrontational. Oh no. Wouldn’t be dignified. We’ll have to let their shitty, fucked-up nominees through, so that we aren’t being ‘obstructionist’. Of course.”

    THOSE GODDAMMNED PUSSIES! This is how you let a country fall apart.

    Sorry for the rant but I am hopping mad at those DLC shills and beltway fat-cats, for sucking the Corporate Teat and then taking a nice long baby-nap for 20 years while the Repugs have flushed my country down the goddamned toilet.

    Fuck them. Fuck comity. Fuck “bipartisanship”. I want every Democratic Senator in that city to throw their bodies in front of any idiot nominee Shrub puts forward, or I will go out of my way to make sure they are replaced with someone who will.

    These guys fucked up, and human beings died. They died in New York, they’re dying in Iraq, they’re dying in New Orleans, and they’ll be dying all over the place (or rotting in prison as “enemy combatants”) in even larger numbers if Shrub gets his way. That’s serious, and IMHO unforgivable. Don’t let him do it!

  • Don’t worry about DHS and FEMA, EWM has learned that Chertoff has the answer…

    The Color of Chaos
    Beleaguered FEMA implements color codes to forestall future failures.

    EWM – (September 9, 2005) As part of a massive restructuring of the FEMA side of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Michael Chertoff is implementing a color-coded system to direct staff on protocols to be followed for a pending natural disaster. The move was made in concert with FEMA Director Michael Brown’s recall to Washington to “pursue other opportunities” after the agency’s botched response to Hurricane Katrina…

    The colors will be communicated to FEMA personnel via GPS-controlled mood rings and the threat status will not be announced to the public…

    http://www.eyewitnessmuse.com/musings.php?p=147

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