A Second Helping of Brownie

Last month a poll was released that showed the pulse of the country's response to the leadership, or lack thereof, of the Bush misAdministration. It was bad enough for me to feel an inkling of pity for Junior and his scary band of goons (just an inkling, half a speck perhaps).

"His strong points as a president were being seen as personally credible, as a strong leader. That has all but disappeared," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, whose latest independent poll found a dramatic decline in Bush's credibility.

A majority of Americans, 56 percent, believe Bush is "out of touch," the poll found. When asked for a one-word description of Bush, the most frequent response was "incompetent," followed by "good," "idiot" and "liar." In February 2005, the most frequent reply was "honest."

"The transformation from being seen as honest to being seen as incompetent is an extraordinary indicator of how far he has fallen," Kohut said.

The height of incompetence was on full display as the gulf coast region was battered by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. FEMA's bureaucracy ruled the day and the resources needed by the people were not delivered in an effective way (some speculate that it was on purpose). In fact, the response was so bad that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives were lost due to their lack of organization and leadership.

So tell me, given that horrible track record, why would anyone think that this is a good idea?

The leaders of a Louisiana parish devastated by Hurricane Katrina may bring in hired help from an unlikely source - heavily criticized former FEMA director Michael Brown.

Brown, who resigned two weeks after Katrina hit Aug. 29 and has taken the brunt of the blame for FEMA's poor response, is set to make a pitch to the St. Bernard Parish council on Thursday. Brown says he will outline how he could help the parish "get things moving again."

"They've been left by the wayside," says Brown, now a consultant since leaving the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Part of Brown's mission, if he is hired, will be to help the parish cut red tape and get help from FEMA.

Maybe the crazies aren't so crazy after all, this can only mean that the apocalypse is finally upon us.

Tags: Michael Brown, FEMA, hurricane, New Orleans