Letters to the Editor

Letters posted here are associated with the following article:
No promotion for FEMA faker
Phony up a news conference, lose your new job.
Tim Grieve [2007-10-29]
The letters thread is now closed.

  • Ahem, ahem.

    Coughcough patsytakingthefall cough.

    Excuse me, I seem to have some Republican corruption caught in my throat.

    -- Jaycg9
    [Read Jaycg9's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 12:43 PM

  • Correction

    Phony up a news conference, get caught, lose your job.

    -- Ransom
    [Read Ransom's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 12:54 PM

  • "Personal preparedness (and responsibility)"

    I almost feel sorry for Philbin. There's plenty of stink to go around on this one: the phony reporters and the one asking the questions are just a start. I'm curious to see where Philbin winds up next.

    Meanwhile, from an Oct. 24 Washington Post webchat with Philbin: "Personal preparedness (and responsibility) is key and something that we at FEMA are focusing on."

    Personal preparedness and responsibility. Tee hee.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/10/24/DI2007102400890.html

    -- mizbinkley
    [Read mizbinkley's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 01:04 PM

  • Its about time

    I am so tired of these charlatans getting away with this silly shit. It seems everywhere I go, the little guy gets screwed for doing the right thing, like being a whistleblower, fighting for employee rights or just telling the truth, while the cronies and Suits trample on our lives and liberties, snatching one plum assignment after another.

    I'd love to see the rest of those clowns on my list in the UI line.

    -- Herself
    [Read Herself's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 01:05 PM

  • Holy Accountability, Batman!?!?

    Could this possibly set a new direction for the way this administration is run or would this promotion actually have gone through if the phony press corps had not been outed? Perhaps the candidate did not score well enough on the Loyalty scale to be granted immunity from public scrutiny.

    -- kenwaz
    [Read kenwaz's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 01:13 PM

  • Just maybe...

    ...they found somebody else for the new job and used the phony press conference as an excuse. Do we know who actually suggested the charade?? That would be a low down dirty trick, so it might actually be true.

    --Anonymous
    Monday, October 29, 2007 01:27 PM

  • What, no Medal of Freedom?

    The guy was doin' a heck-of-a-job, Republican style!

    -- Garry Owen
    [Read Garry Owen's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 01:28 PM

  • It seems to me....

    that this guy was just taking existing administration policies to their logical conclusion.

    -- JBinMO
    [Read JBinMO's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 01:33 PM

  • Yes he'll keep his job AND

    recieve the Presidental Medal of Freedom. Heck of a job "Patty"...

    -- stevio
    [Read stevio's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 01:37 PM

  • Arey your shorts in a knot?

    Ok, call me slow to boil, but I really don't see why the big uproar over this event. So they sceduled a news conference on so short a notice that none of the "regular" media could make it. So...the presenter stands at the podium in front of an empty room, sans TV cameras. Last time I looked, camera operators don't ask questions.

    So...what do you do? Cancel the event and piss off the camera guys or have some well-meaning staff members lob softball questions to their boss. The info still got out as intended, with just a few less stupid questions that seem to dominate the press conferences today. And the uproar...the press really got their shorts in a knot...how dare anyone ask questions but them...my God!....how can this be?

    When you get down to the basic facts about this incident, there really wasn't an incident at all. It's really too bad that some cub reporter from the regular media didn't have a chance to ask the guy at the podium who's wife (other than his own) that he slept with last night....I'm a college trained journalist and I think the profession and the people in it absolutly suck...

    -- djohan
    [Read djohan's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 04:14 PM

  • Good

    I would like to see him not only unemployable but also lampooned on Leno, Letterman and Saturday Night Live by name.

    -- midnight04
    [Read midnight04's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 04:43 PM

  • @djohan

    College trained journalist?

    Hmmmm.

    Liberty University? Bob Jones University? Mrs. Grace Ferguson's Storm Door and Diploma Mill University?

    Just asking a few questions...

    -- MICKI
    [Read MICKI's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 05:09 PM

  • Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

    Bureaucrats are constantly engaged in this puffery. Check the press releases and statistics at socialsecurity.gov. It's all slanted to make it look like their doing a great job.

    -- stranger-in-a-strange-land
    [Read stranger-in-a-strange-land's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 05:26 PM

  • Difference between Calif. & Katrina

    I don't understand why no one is going after Harvey Johnson (the deputy administrator) for going along with this charade (wait -- maybe I do understand -- they found a lower level scapegoat).

    The best part was Johnson's answer ("night and day") when asked the difference between FEMA's response to Katrina vs. to the fires -- maybe he should have said "black & white"?

    -- pdooley
    [Read pdooley's other letters]
    Monday, October 29, 2007 06:44 PM

  • Give Him A Medal

    What bad luck for this guy Philbin: he screwed up badly enough to get fired, but not badly enough to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

    -- zenwick
    [Read zenwick's other letters]
    Tuesday, October 30, 2007 09:54 AM

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