Brown is clearly unqualified for his job . . . but who's fault is that? .

obviously, Brown must be removed and someone who knows how to manage a disaster brought in . . . but who should get the lion's share of the blame here? . . . the unqualified guy who accepted a political appointment from the president, figuring it would be something akin to an ambassadorship and not involve a whole lot of work? . . . or the person who -- knowing full what FEMA's role is, and how crucial it is -- appointed him? . . .

every call for Brown's ouster diminishes the case for Bush's removal . . . the head we should be calling for is Bush's -- citing, as one of the reasons, his appointment of a thoroughy unqualified individual (who, btw, should be fired, too) to run a critical federal office . . .

Brown had zero qualifications for the job. He got it because he was Allbaugh's pal. Plain and simple.

This is from an AP article. NO help until AFTER the storm!
And look what Brown's priority is...perception. You see, because * only hires political operatives, all they know is how to run a disaster...as a campaign.

snip...

Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims.

<http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050907/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/katrina_disaster_response>

edited to add link

The buck is supposed to stop there - but apparently - it was stolen.

At work, there is a kindly older Republican security guard, who asked me if I knew that Brown's only qualifications to be director of FEMA was being a horse judge. I just smiled and said he was also a lawyer and Bush appointed him. He just shook his head.

Competence and experience is not an issue when political appointees are rewarded with positions of public trust in which they cannot be trusted. The Republican majority rubber stamps Bush appointements for which the nominees are totally unqualified. Brown got slammed in the revolving door before he could escape to his next private sector plum. Maybe we will now have a minimum standard of qualification for all critical federal offices.

function-nots in key positions to diminish the work of governance so they can then call it "incompetent" and hand it over the business.

Why Ben Stein immediately equated horrid FEMA response with the idea of medicare.

That was one of the payoffs of hiring someone totally unqualified like Brown. The other is that they can completely control how he thinks since, with no expertise or experience, he has no ability to judge what FEMA should look like.