Gulf Coast Governors Leaving National Guard Idle

[TomCADem]

Source: CBS

"Actually we asked the White House to approve the initial 6,000," Jindal said. "What they came back and said is the Coast Guard and BP had to authorize individual tasks."

But Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander in charge of the government's response to the spill, said Jindal is just flat wrong.

"There is nothing standing in the governor's way from utilizing more National Guard troops," Allen said.

In fact, the Coast Guard says every request to use the National Guard has been approved, usually within a day. Now Jindal's office acknowledged to CBS News the governor has not specifically asked for more Guard troops to be deployed.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/24/eveningnews/main6615414.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

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OMG! CBS News is actually outing Bobby Jindal on his complaints about the federal government, and how he is simply sitting on the resources he complains he needs. Maybe the news media might actually point that Bobby Jindal sponsored the 2006 DOER Act, which relaxed regulations on Deep Ocean drilling the first place?

Probably not. That is too much truth at once.

Of, of course, Haley Barbour is denying that there is an environmental disaster, so unlike Jindal, he is not even going through the motions of demanding National Guard troops. Jindal simply postures for the cameras, then leaves the resources unused and demands the lifting of regulations such as the moratorium on oil drilling.

[rzemanfl]

1. All of these cleanup efforts appear to be nothing but window

dressing anyway. It is getting to be time to come to grips with the impending death of the Gulf of Mexico. These governors are probably holding the National Guard in reserve for the future riots.

[hayu_lol]

2. I would suggest that both Barbour and Jindal are trying ...

to keep as much of the BP largesse(15 million to Barbour and 25 million to Jindal)for themselves as they can.

It is just the way politicians operate.

[jody]

3. We the People elected Obama and gave him authority he can use to stop bickering. Enough already

Obama either lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.

[gateley]

5. They've given them what they asked for - he even said:

"I urge the governors in the affected states to activate these troops as soon as possible," Mr. Obama said.

Yet Jindal would rather play politics. Now that he's essentially been busted by CBS, I hope he gets some tough questions to his face and his people realize he's the one who's been holding up the assistance.

Obama has done what he should have done. In this instance, I think the blame and frustration should like with Jinda.

[jody]

7. You do know if a governor activates guard troops the state pays, if Obama activates then fed pays?

Why should any Gulf state already devastated and facing more of the same be expected to pay for something caused by federal negligence?

[gateley]

8. It says BP pays, so neither the State nor the Government will be footing the bill. nt

[jody]

12. Thanks. n/t

[TomCADem]

16. Defending Jindal?- See This?"Governor Bobby Jindal vetoes bill to make BP oil spill records public"

Still don't know why liberals continue to buy into the corporate media narrative painting Jindal as a hero:

http://www.examiner.com/x-55364-Bobby-Jindal-Examiner~y2010m6d25-Governor-Bobby-Jindal-vetoes-bill-to-make-BP-oil-spill-records-public

[HockeyMom]

4. This is going to devestate Florida

whose economy is so totally dependent on tourists and snowbird $s.

[onethatcares]

6. oh yes, you have that right.

it's been bad enough with the economy, and the rest of the things coming down the pike. But we have a legislature that is totally out of touch with everything but their wallets.

This state is bancrupt. Can you imagine having people buy fishing licences to fish from shore or their own docks, but cutting taxes on yachts priced above 300K? We did it. Well, kiss fishing good bye cause when this stuff rolls into west central floriduh, no one is gonna want to touch any of the seafood from here. There goes another 20,000 jobs or so.

[3waygeek]

18. Is the oil expected to hit west Florida?

I haven't heard anything about that yet. My folks live in Cape Coral near Pine Island, and they don't seem to be too concerned. Then again, they're total wingnuts so the environment doesn't really register with them.

[SoapBox]

9. CONTACT Ba-Ba-Ba-Bobby HERE!

...want to ask him what the heck is up?

Here is his contact page:

http://www.gov.state.la.us/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&navID=91&cpID=28&catID=0

[radhika]

10. Jindal/Barbour just want to create up a diversionary....

dust-up about Big Bad Obama and the tyrannical Federal Government. Yawn.

[Quixote1818]

11. This is a BIG STORY! Major damage to Republicans. Huffington Post has it as their lead. nt

[jwirr]

13. I am super depressed today because we seem to have lost any

honesty that once existed in this nation. Alls fair in politics. A judge can have obvious conflicts of interest. Congressional repugs can sabotage the well-being of the nation and it's people for political gain. Gulf governors can let the Gulf die so they can claim President Obama is refusing to help. They steal elections. Insult the middle class and poor and the list goes on. The oil is still flowing and may not be able to be stopped. When shit hits the fan they will calmly blame it all on us liberals. Was there any real good news today?

[groundloop]

14. FINALLY some of the truth comes out

IMHO, the one thing President Obama needs work on is showmanship. Jindal has him beat at that, and has been using it. When Jindal was getting on national news hollering at President Obama and the federal government to help Gibbs should have been all over him asking why he hasn't used the National Guard troops that were made available to him.

[KoKo]

15. Hard to know what to think of this. I have a personal antipathy to General Allen

..so, maybe it's just me. I would like to see General Honore have some function in all of this...but maybe he's just a "BAD GUY" too... It's hard to know.

We all want it FIXED...but it isn't being FIXED and there's something wrong that the Media reports this along with the Daily Weather Reports. Not Good.

[markpkessinger]

17. Another Republican "Rising Star"

The GOP's attempt to market Gov. Jindal as figure of national political significance arises from the same flawed, racist, sexist political calculus that led them to appoint a Michael Steele and that led McCain to select a Sarah Palin as a running mate. In the case of Steele, they thought that, merely by being African American, he would give the GOP a measure of credibility with minorities. In the case of Sarah Palin, they thought that, merely by virtue of the fact that she is a woman, she could lure a significant number of disappointed Hillary Clinton supporters into voting Republican. Both choices reflected their cynical regard for voters, and both spring from a right-wing fantasy about "white liberal guilt" and the supposed "identity politics" of which they constantly accuse Democrats of engaging in. They have convinced themselves that the only possible motivation for white voters to cast a vote for Obama must be some deep seated "white liberal guilt"; and likewise, they convinced themselves that the only possible motivation for supporting Hillary Clinton had to do with "identity politics."

In the end, it becomes clearer and clearer that the real practitioners of "identity politics" are, in fact, the Republicans, as they continue to believe that the rest of the country is as hung up about voting for "one of their own" as are the Republicans themselves.