Ritual Sacrifice Malfunction

In a modern accountable democracy even the scapegoat doesn't get fired. How very compassionate. Who said there were no more caring conservatives?

The man the President appointed as head of FEMA failed to adequately fulfil his responsibilities to the citizens of the United States of America. His punishment? He gets sent back to Washington to head the public relations response to the criticism he's been getting. It is, perhaps, not surprising. After all, it has even been suggested that certain of Mr Brown's "qualifications" are highly questionable.

Well, that sort of thing just won't do. We can't have anyone noticing that the President appointed an incompetant, underqualified, but loyal, Republican foot soldier to a position of such importance. No, that just wouldn't do at all. The President is infallible, as I'm sure you're aware. It is inconcievable that he could have made such an enormous error of judgement...

Ah, the joys of the political appointee system. Just as well nothing like that happens in the UK.

Here's a little more detail to get some perspective on the effectiveness of the federal response. From Reuters (via).

A Canadian search-and-rescue team reached a flooded New Orleans suburb to help save trapped residents five days before the U.S. military, a Louisiana state senator said on Wednesday. The Canadians beat both the Army and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. disaster response department, to St. Bernard Parish east of New Orleans, where flood waters are still 8 feet deep in places, Sen. Walter Boasso said.

This is according to Louisiana state senator Walter Boasso and there's a lot of muck flying around at the moment. This is obviously an attempt by the Democrats to shift the blame back in the direction of the Whitehouse, right? Wrong.

It seems that some Republicans do still have the integrity to go "off message". I wonder if senator Boasso has had a phone call from Washington since he made those remarks?