It's just too much fun not to keep pounding on DHS Secretary and lying prick Michael Chertoff based on Tim Russert's grilling of him, although Russert does let him off the hook too quickly in the following exchange:
CHERTOFF: ... And one last point I'd make is this, Tim. We had actually prestaged a tremendous number of supplies, meals, shelter, water. We had prestaged, even before the hurricane, dozens of Coast Guard helicopters, which were obviously nearby but not in the area. So the difficulty wasn't lack of supplies...
To which Timmy, to his credit, responds immediately:
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Secretary, you say prestaged. People were sent to the Convention Center. There was no water, no food, no beds, no authorities there. There was no planning.
Oooooo ... slap! How does Chertoff reply to being so obviously caught spewing bullshit?
SEC'Y CHERTOFF: My understanding is, and again this is something that's going to go back--we're going to go back over after the fact is-- ...
Jesus Christ. Waffle, waffle, waffle ... clearly stalling, trying to think of something to dig himself out of this hole. Fucking weasel.
SEC'Y CHERTOFF: My understanding is, and again this is something that's going to go back--we're going to go back over after the fact is--the plan that the New Orleans officials and the state officials put together called for the Superdome to be the refuge of last resort. We became aware of the fact at some point that people began to go to the Convention Center on their own, spontaneously, in order to shelter there. And I think it's for that reason that people found themselves without food and water and supplies.
If that's the case, why were people being explicitly directed to the Convention Center? You can read numerous news accounts of survivors clearly being sent to the Convention Center. What for, if there was nothing there for them? Tim misses that, but does catch the second bit of bullshit:
MR. RUSSERT: Well, Mr. Secretary, you said--hold on. Mr. Secretary, there was no food or water at the Superdome, either. And I want to stay on this because...
Yes, Tim! Good point. There was, according to everything I've read, fuck all "prestaged" at the Superdome for all of those survivors. So, yes, Tim, you should "stay on that"! But, sadly, he immediately wanders off course and lets Chertoff off the hook:
MR. RUSSERT: Well, Mr. Secretary, you said--hold on. Mr. Secretary, there was no food or water at the Superdome, either. And I want to stay on this because...
SEC'Y CHERTOFF: Well, my understanding--well...
MR. RUSSERT: I want to stay on this because this is very important. You said you were surprised by the levee being broken. In 2002, The Times-Picayune did story after story--and this is eerie; this is what they wrote and how they predicted what was going to happen. It said, and I'll read it very carefully: "...A major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It's just a matter of time. ... blah blah blah ...
And Tim goes wandering off on a tangent, foregoing the painfully obvious opportunity to rip Chertoff a new orifice. What a pussy.
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