Demagogue

The current issue of Harper's magazine includes transcripts of e-mail messages that were sent to or by Michael Brown, the former FEMA director, before and after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast on August 29. They are quite revealing in terms of where FEMA's focus was as the hurricane approached:

From: Michael Brown
To: Sharon Worthy
Date: August 26, 2005

Tie or not for tonight? Button-down blue shirt?

Then, on the very day Katrina struck land:

From: Cindy Taylor
To: Michael Brown
Date: August 29, 2005
Subject: I know it's early, but ...

My eyes must be deceiving me. You look fabulous -- and I'm not talking about the makeup!

From: Michael Brown
To: Cindy Taylor
Date: August 29, 2005
Subject: Re: I know it's early, but ...

I got it at Nordstroms. Email McBride and make sure she knows! Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

From: Michael Brown
To: Cindy Taylor, Marty Bahamonde
Date: August 29, 2005
Subject: Re: New Orleans Update

If you look at me in my lovely FEMA attire you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god.

One of the recipients of that last e-mail was Marty Bahamonde who, according to this article, spent "most of his time in the squalor of the Superdome." At one point, Bahamonde received an e-mail from Homeland Security headquarters advising him that Brown, who was then in Baton Rouge, couldn't be bothered because he was trying to eat dinner before a scheduled interview with MSNBC.

According to the article:

The e-mail instructed that "it is very important that time is allowed for Mr. Brown to eat dinner," adding that since the restaurants were busy he would need "much more than 20 or 30 minutes."

Bahamonde fired back an e-mail to fellow FEMA workers dripping with sarcasm. "I just ate an MRE (meal-ready-to-eat) ... with 30,000 other close friends, so I understand her concern about busy restaurants," he wrote.