The End of New Orleans: So Much for Mike Brown

Posted on Friday, September 9, 2005

Well, it looks like the FEMA Director is getting a time-out:

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen will replace Michael Brown, the embattled FEMA director, as the on-site head of hurricane relief operations in the Gulf Coast, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced at a news conference in Baton Rouge Friday afternoon.

Brown will head back to Washington from Louisiana to oversee the big picture, the official said.

"Oversee the big picture". Right.

I'm sure the recall has nothing to do with Time Magazine discovering Brown's resume is full of misrepresentations:

Before joining FEMA, his only previous stint in emergency management, according to his bio posted on FEMA's website, was "serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight." The White House press release from 2001 stated that Brown worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 "overseeing the emergency services division." In fact, according to Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, Brown was an "assistant to the city manager" from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. "The assistant is more like an intern," she told TIME.

An intern.

At FreeRepublic, where they have apparently not yet gotten the memo from the GOP Attack Machine that Brown has been declared expendable, they're defending him with a fairly unique argument: hey, who doesn't lie on their resume?

Michael Brown has been officially 'thrown under the bus'.

But even if he did 'fudge' a little on his credentials, he's not the only one who has made themselves out to be something they're not.

Lying about military records have been a favorite among cheaters, particularly because no one wants to challenge the honor of someone who fought to defend our country... Executives at major corporations have been embroiled in scandals by misstating earnings, taking kickbacks, and...lying on their resumes... Know someone with a degree from Columbia State University? It's probably a fake, federal authorities say.

Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations, eh? (sigh)