Michael Brown
Michael Brown
Former administrator of FEMA who resigned from his position after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Many americans blamed him for the slow response to help those in New Orleans in the aftermath of the deadly hurricane.
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth8 November 1954
CityGuymon, OK
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When I became the director of FEMA a couple of years ago, I decided it was time we did some really serious catastrophic disaster planning. So the president gave me money through our budget to do that. And we went around the country to figure out what's the best model we can do for a catastrophic disaster in this country? And we picked New Orleans, Louisiana.
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I think everyone in the country needs to take a big, collective, deep breath and recognize that there are a lot of people in this state, in Mississippi and Alabama who are living under conditions that, quite frankly, I doubt any reporter in this room is living under -- no food, no water, it's hot, it's sticky, their homes have been destroyed, they don't know where they're going to go next.
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We're not a first responder agency. We're there to coordinate and help people prepare and coordinate in times of disaster. And so if the country wants us to be more, then we should have a great public policy debate whether that's true or not,
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This story's not about me. This story's about the worst disaster of the history of our country that stretched every government to its limit, and now we have to help these victims. That's all I've wanted to do.
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I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife and, maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep. And then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims, ... This story's not about me. This story's about the worst disaster of the history of our country that stretched every government to its limit and now we have to help these victims.
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There are lots of contests that give away prizes and money, but we wanted a contest that would change someone's life.
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We've got to come in as quickly as possible and do what we can to avert another disaster.
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Without the bar district, they'll be no more Irish Weekends. It would be a crime to see that tradition end.
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There is a certain anarchist strain running through the Internet that questions, 'Why shouldn't everything belong to everyone?
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We kept telling the team they were playing off emotion and we knew that would wear off.
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To think that you could actually find something in our own solar system bigger than anything that had been seen in 150 years, just is sort of an amazing prospect.
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This was a catastrophic disaster, and in very disaster, there are mistakes, and it's not always smooth and pretty.
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This was a catastrophic disaster, and in every disaster, there are mistakes, and it's not always smooth and pretty. I'm at ease knowing I was doing everything I could.
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Everybody else knew and clearly on our conference calls it was being discussed.