Ok put this together with the story about Posse Comitatus
Supposedly Bush either DID or was thinking about "suspending" Posse Comitatus.
Now there was no apparent reason for him to do that at the time, so I highly doubted it. But now Im not so sure - Posse Comitatus says that the military cannot be used to enforce the law. This INCLUDES the NG EXCEPT when the NG is acting under the authority of a state Governor, which is why the NG can be used like this in NO - cause they are under the authority of Blanco.
If Blanco had agreed to allow the federalisation of the National Guard, then the NG could not be used in a law enforcement capacity UNLESS Posse Comitatus was suspended or repealed all together.
Is it possible that Bush was trying to use this disaster a means of justifying the destruction of Posse Comitatus?
That would explain why he gave her a 24 hour deadline - any later than that and the security situation would no longer be serious enough to justify the transfer of authority and suspension of Posse Comitatus.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4642563Now ask the right wing nut if Bush tried to get Barbour to turn over his state to the Federal government.
Ask the right wing nut what Bush's response as Texas governor would have been had Clinton ever made such a demand.
Ask the right wing nut why Bush put a power play above getting aid to sick and dying people.