Did Chertoff just admit it WASN'T the fault of state/local officials?

[jobycom]

From the AP story about his testimony today:

"Most of the blame for the federal response to Katrina has fallen on Brown, who resigned last month after Chertoff removed him from direct responsibility for Katrina relief and recovery efforts.

Brown blamed state and local officials in Louisiana for the slow response to Katrina when he testified before the committee last month. Chertoff disagreed.

"From my own experience, I don't endorse those views," he said."
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Does that mean Chertoff is admitting the state and local officials did it right? Is someone at the federal level FINALLY exonerating Nagin and Blanco from the horrendous smears of the right wing email spin machine?

I haven't found a transcript to see if AP took this out of context, or if Chertoff meant exactly what they say he meant. If that's what he meant, THAT should have been the title of the article, and a big headline to boot!

[louis-t]

1. He said he trusted FEMA 'experts'

[jobycom]

4. That's not really what he said

What he said was he was not a hurricane expert so during the preparation and recovery he relied on the FEMA employees who had more hurricane experience. Then he made the comment in the OP. All of which sounds like he's saying Brown screwed everything up, and he doesn't blame the state and local officials.

But the quote and story doesn't include enough to be sure of the context of the statement. I was hoping someone had seen the testimony or read the transcript or something.

He also says that both he and Bush were very involved from before the hurricane, which doesn't seem to be true, so he's still covering his butt. And the congresscritters called him on it.

[louis-t]

6. His definition of 'very involved' is questionable.

[xultar]

2. if you ctrl - c and ctrl v'd directly from AP like that it does look like

he disagrees with brown blaming LA STATE and Local...

Not to mention MS people are still struggling and living in rubble.

Is that the LA Govenor and NOLA Mayor's fault?

[jobycom]

3. That's what I did, but I don't like to trust AP with finding context of

statements. They've been known to slant and mistate.

[jobycom]

5. kick, for evening crowd