Blanco Says I Should Have Called For Military In First Request
By Rob on Domestic Issues
Say Anything
Blanco caught on video admitting her screw up in not calling for troops right away.
Here’s a brief transcript:
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Blanco said: I really need to call for the military,
Press Secretary: Yes you do, yes you do.
Blanco: And I should have started that in the first call.
Announcer voiceover Carol Lynn: Sunday, we asked for an interview with the Governor to find out why she expressed that regret if she felt she had already asked for troops. CNN’s Gary Tuckman was provided an interview with the press aid [Denise Bottcher], who said the governor realized she should have been more precise in her call to the President.
Gary Tuckman: Now on Wednesday in that TV interview, between the interviews, she was talking to you, right?
Bottcher: She was talking to me.
Tuckman: Okay. She said, “I really need to call for the military. I should have.” What was your, what was your remembrance of that quote?
Bottcher: Oh well, “I need to call for the military. I should have made that clear in my first call to the President.”
Announcer voiceover Carol Lynn: The Governor’s office says that right after the interview Wednesday, Blanco called the White House to appeal for federal troops.
President Bush was not available. Instead she spoke to Homeland Security advisor Francis Townsend. A senior administration official said, “that’s when troops started moving”.
Two days later, as arguments swirled about who was responsible about the breakdown of law and order in New Orleans. Miles O’Brien spoke to the Governor on CNN’s America Morning.
Miles O’Brien: Let’s talk that request for troops. 40,000 federal troops. When did you make that request? Was it on your first phone call to President Bush?
Blanco: Okay my first phone call or my first conversation with President Bush was asking for all federal firepower. I mean, I meant everything. Just send it. Give me planes, give me boats.
O’Brien: But did you ask? Did you specifically ask. Governor? Did you specifically ask for troops? Did you ask that the Pentagon deploy troops? Because that is a very specific request that a governor needs to make of the federal government.
Blanco: We had troops. We had troops being deployed. We had the first waves of troops being deployed at the level of 12,000. But before we even got to 12,000, I asked for 40,000. So, ya know, I saw that we needed a great capacity.
O’Brien: When did you make that request though?
Blanco: Miles, I’m lost in these days.
O’Brien: When did you make that request? ….Okay….
Blanco: I don’t even know what today is.
O’Brien: On Wed. morning,…
Blanco: I made that request…perhaps…Wednesday.
Announcer voiceover Carol Lynn: The White House confirms that it was only on Wednesday that the Governor made a specific request for federal troops.
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