well at least he called it katrina

unlike the 'first lady' who called it CORINNA (twice). he's STILL a gatsu piedi though. a BIG one at that!

Cheney backed removing FEMA boss from Katrina duty

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept 10 - U.S. Vice President
Dick Cheney' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Dick Cheney on Saturday said he supported the decision to remove Michael Brown as head of the federal relief effort in the stricken Gulf Coast but refused to say if Brown would eventually be dismissed. Department of
Homeland Security' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Michael Chertoff on Friday put Vice Admiral Thad Allen, chief of staff of the
U.S. Coast Guard' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> U.S. Coast Guard, in charge of the relief effort on the ground, sending Brown back to continue administering the
Federal Emergency Management Agency' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington.
The Bush administration has been under fire for being slow to aid hundreds of thousands of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama residents who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina and the floodwaters that followed when the levees in New Orleans broke.
"Mike Chertoff made those decisions and I certainly support him," Cheney told reporters at the Austin convention center, which is housing about 1,500 evacuees. Some have called for Brown to be fired, but Cheney deferred to Chertoff.
Brown, who has been FEMA's director since 2003, has been singled out for especially harsh criticism, even from some Republicans such as Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record) who said he had been "acting like a private, instead of a general."
The New York Times said Cheney heard complaints about Brown in private meetings with state and local officials and emergency personnel during a trip on Thursday to Mississippi and Louisiana.
In Austin, protesters gathered outside the convention center shouting, "Cheney, you are scumbag" and carrying signs that said "Fire Cheney too" and "Relief not Repression."
Cheney said the evacuees he spoke to in Texas did not raise concerns about the FEMA shake-up but detailed their stories of escaping the devastation.
"Not one of them mentioned any of it," Cheney said in response to a question. "They're all very thankful where they find themselves right now."
He said the federal government will help state and local governments pay for costs of educating children evacuated from their homes, "so that the burden doesn't fall totally on the local school system."
President George W. Bush' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> President George W. Bush travels to the Gulf Coast region on Sunday.
Cheney spent about 20 minutes touring the Austin convention center, walking past the rows of cots with neatly arranged blankets, pillows and sleeping bags.
Among those he spoke to was Telisha Diaz, 23, who said she had spent "four long days" in the New Orleans convention center, but said the Austin experience had been much better.
Michael Craig, 43, who came from New Orleans with his fiancee and three children, said he told Cheney about the evacuation and talked of how he thought it could have been made better.
Cheney held up Texas, which took in tens of thousands of evacuees from Louisiana in places like the Houston Astrodome, as a model of effective crisis management.
"There are a lot of lessons we want to learn out of this process in terms of what works," Cheney said.
"I think we are in fact on our way to getting on top of the whole Katrina exercise," he said, but added, "we've got a lot of work ahead of us obviously."