Heckuva Job

Turns out they didn't even need to have predicted the damage that would occur because of Hurricane Katrina. Sure, it would have been nice if anyone had listened to the scientists, but a leopard doesn't change his spots, you know? Putting that aside, the New York Times reports today that the White House was told how extensive the damage was in the immediate aftermath, yet Bush still went to San Diego for a speech and played a little guitar at some fund-raiser.

"FYI from FEMA," said an e-mail message from the agency's public affairs staff describing the helicopter flight, sent Monday night at 9:27 to the chief of staff of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and recently unearthed by investigators. Conditions, the message said, "are far more serious than media reports are currently reflecting. Finding extensive flooding and more stranded people than they had thought — also a number of fires."

Michael D. Brown, who was the director of FEMA until he resigned under pressure on Sept. 12, said in a telephone interview Thursday that he personally notified the White House of this news that night, though he declined to identify the official he spoke to.

It's not like we don't know that they're corrupt and incompetent, it's just weird to hear it from one of their own.