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Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Brownie returns for super-fluff interview
According to the byline, this appeared in the Washington Post and was reprinted in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Frankly, the interview would have been more appropriate for Highlights or Big Backyard.
Q: Seriously, what don’t people know about Mike Brown?
A: I’ve become a caricature: I’m disengaged, I don’t care, I’m a crony. All three of them are wrong. I care deeply. I worked hard. ... I have a very strong belief about emergency management in this country and how it should work. I think my big mistake was staying inside and fighting it too long.
Yep. That's your mistake. You cared too much. You tried too hard. I feel queasy.
Q: I read your hearing transcript, and you’re probably the first person in the history of Washington to admit you’re an infighter. Nobody in Washington’s an infighter, right?
A: Right! Well, I was an infighter; I tried to fight battles within the system. I don’t think people outside the Beltway grasp how scripted this town is. People don’t tell the truth; people feel boxed in so they can’t tell the truth; people get dismissed for telling the truth. ... I don’t think people who live in Washington believe the American people can handle the truth, and I think they can.
Q: So let’s give them the truth. Who’s been loyal, and who’s stabbed you in the back?
A: Loyal? Friends, people inside and outside the administration. I’ve had people send notes to me from all over DHS, saying we didn’t realize how hard you were fighting for us. That’s been very comforting. I’ll run into members of the administration at the dry cleaners, or at a restaurant or something, and they’ve been very supportive, saying they feel badly about how I’ve been scapegoated. That’s very nice.
Q: Can you name some of people who have been so supportive?
A: Hmm. Well. Here I am complaining about people not telling the truth, but if they work in the administration, I hate to say their names. I don’t want them to have recriminations because they’ve been supportive of me.
That Brownie. He tells the truth, whatever the consequences. Unless the consequences include mild discomfort, in which case he'll have to take a pass.
Q: At the hearing, (Minnesota Sen.) Norm Coleman really went after you. Do you feel bitter about that?
A: I liken what Norm Coleman did to a drive-by shooting. It doesn’t take a lot of manhood to walk into a hearing room and attack me, then when I asked him to point to specifics, to conveniently turn around and say: I have another meeting to go to and walk out. That’s what gives American politics a bad name.
Yeah, it was just like a drive-by shooting. You were just an innocent kid playing in his yard and Coleman tried to pop a cap in your ass. Still, it's good to see Coleman's manhood questioned.
Q: There’s been so much said about you; does it make you angry?
A: There was a time when I was very angry and depressed about it. I learned from my family and my faith how to deal with this. I know what’s in my heart. I know what happened and what I was trying to do. I have to be comfortable with myself. I did an interview yesterday with a gentleman who’s doing a documentary. It was very poignant. He’s from Louisiana, and he said that at one time, he was very mad at me. But having done all this research, he understands that there were failings all around, and I’ve admitted my failings. He forgave me for the mistakes I made. It was a very touching moment for me. Here’s a New Orleans resident who realized that maybe I made mistakes, but I shouldn’t take the blame for everything.
Wow. New Orleans has forgiven him. That's got to be a special feeling.
Q: You know, you talked about how people can’t handle the truth. When you first testified before Congress, you trashed the mayor and the governor. But when you came back and testified (Feb. 10), you trashed DHS. The first time, did you tell the truth?
A: I think there’s an important distinction to make. In the first hearing, I told the truth about the problems at the state and local level. In the second hearing, I told the truth about the problems at the federal level. In the first hearing, I was constrained, I was still working for the administration.
Whaddya know? A good question. And a shitty answer. The flame-throwing, truth-telling Brownie was constrained by the administration. I guess only two things can stop Brownie from telling the truth: making his friends uncomfortable and making his superiors uncomfortable.
Q: Will you laugh about this in 10 years?
A: There are aspects of it I’ll laugh about. I’m already laughing about Norm Coleman.
Let's close on a high note. It's always good to laugh at Sen. Smilin' Norm Coleman (R-MN).
