Brownie speaks out

Ex-FEMA head Michael Brown is now talking about the government's reaction to Hurricane Katrina. In his first extensive interview since resigning, Brown told the New York Times that he does not blame the White House for a slow federal response to the disaster. Instead, he says Louisianna's governor is to blame for the situation going, in Brown's words, "to hell in a handbasket." However, Brown's description of his repeated, frantic calls to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and to White House chief of staff Andrew Card seem to suggest "that Mr. Bush, or at least his top aides, were informed early and repeatedly by the top federal official at the scene that state and local authorities were overwhelmed and that the overall response was going badly."

Earlier: President tells "Brownie" he's doing "a heck of a job."