Karl Rove book is off the mark, Kathleen Blanco and Mary Landrieu say
by Robert Travis Scott - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Republican presidential adviser Karl Rove unleashed a flood of denunciation for Louisiana leaders' handling of Hurricane Katrina in his memoirs released Tuesday, while his local critics responded by saying the book won't rescue the Bush administration's reputation for how it dealt with the disaster. A senior adviser and campaign strategist for George W. Bush, Rove released "Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight" to bookstores Tuesday. The 596-page book covers major events in his life and political career, including an inside White House view of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the invasion of Iraq. Readers in Louisiana might flip first to chapter 29, a 17-page account of the local and federal response to Katrina. It contains carefully qualified admissions of fault on the part of the White House as well as renewing the partisan finger-pointing about who was to blame for the delays and failures of the emergency response and recovery. His barbs aim foremost at former Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, both Democrats. "As events unfolded, it became clear that Ray Nagin was no Rudy Giuliani and Kathleen Blanco was no Haley Barbour, the (Republican) governor of neighboring Mississippi who responded with enormous skill and alacrity when Katrina smashed his state," Rove wrote. "No amount of federal aid could get around Louisiana's dysfunctional political habits." Blanco, Nagin and their staffs failed to communicate effectively with each other and with federal authorities, causing confusion about what was needed, Rove wrote. "To be fair to the governor and the mayor, they faced a unique situation; no American city of the size of New Orleans had ever been submerged before. Nevertheless, they were simply not up to the challenge," Rove wrote. Blanco countered Tuesday by calling Rove a propagandist. Rove also took aim at Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, who joined Bush, Blanco and Nagin on Air Force One at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport four days after the storm. During that meeting, Landrieu "broke in with a wild, emotional outburst about how children were dying on rooftops and in attics all over New Orleans," Rove wrote. "She established a pattern early on of making outlandish, totally unsubstantiated charges and ridiculous requests."