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FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

Older posts [back to 2002]

Previous Articles by Derek Newton: Ten Things Fox on Line 1 Stem Cells are Intelligent Design Katrina Spin No Can't Win Perhaps the Most Important Race Senate Outlook The Nelson Thing Deep, Dark Secret Smart Boy Bringing Guns to a Knife Fight Playing to our Strength  

The Blog for Thursday, September 08, 2005

"Jeb!" Embarasses Himself

    "Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, breaking his silence Wednesday on the federal response to Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi, rushed to FEMA's defense saying criticism of the agency is misguided." "Governor Bush defends FEMA response". Jeb!"'s defense of FEMA is embarassing.

    The St Pete Times editorial board (though not directly responding to "Jeb!"'s lame FEMA defense) begs to differ:
    Nearly everyone [except "Jeb!"] agrees that the Federal Emergency Management Agency didn't live up to its name after Hurricane Katrina. Most troubling was not that the agency failed to manage this emergency, but that its failure was inevitable. Over the past four years, FEMA has been intentionally downsized, underfunded, politicized and diverted from its role in responding to natural disasters. ...

    Under President Clinton, the agency took on a more active role, not only responding to emergencies but encouraging communities to prepare for them. For example, FEMA helped West Coast cities strengthen buildings to withstand earthquakes, saving lives and property.

    Beginning in 2001, however, the agency lost its way. Even before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Bush showed little interest in FEMA's mission. Later, he further weakened the agency by cutting its budget and downgrading it from Cabinet level to an appendage of the Department of Homeland Security. Now 75 percent of FEMA's budget is related to terrorism, and the administration pushed the agency to relinquish its role in natural disasters. ...

    And then there was the appointment of Michael Brown to head the agency. Before coming to FEMA, Brown supervised judges at horse shows. But he was also a friend of Joe Allbaugh, Bush's 2000 campaign manager and later FEMA director. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that an agency run by political appointees rather than experts would stumble so badly. And although Bush stands by "Brownie" (an appropriate nickname), Brown has lost his credibility and should be removed from a job that is beyond his capabilities, once the situation in New Orleans is stabilized.
    "FEMA's failures". The Sun Sentinel chimes in, arguing that
    no agency deserves more blame than the one that was put in charge of the federal response: the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
    "FEMA's Disaster" The the Tampa Trib notes that Dubya's appointee,
    Michael Brown, undersecretary for emergency preparedness and response, was over his head in the job before the flood was a foot deep. He should have the decency to resign. His public comments have been bewildering; he seemed to know less about what was happening than did the average TV viewer.
    Heck, even former Bush family retainer Katherine "Harris [is] 'Disappointed' With Hurricane Response"; and, if a Republican has lost the Orlando Sentinel's Kathleen Parker, well, you're introuble: "By his performance in this time of extreme stress, Bush may have revealed a truer self than we were meant to see." "Shock, awe".

    Irresistable Quote: "President Bush, who didn't respond soon enough after Hurricane Katrina, wants to investigate why President Bush didn't respond soon enough after Hurricane Katrina." "Bush all game, no blame".

8:45 AM

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