Texas Governor: "Let Texans Run Texas"

In the case of disaster response, Texas Governor Rick Perry has a novel way of dealing with it: let the state and local governments take care of their own.

Perry said the notion of putting the federal government in charge of the initial response "would place too much authority in the hands of the federal bureaucrats and force local and state officials to stand idly by while the lives of their citizens hang in the balance."

"It will add needless layers of bureaucracy," Perry said. "It will create indecisiveness. And it will lead to rampant miscommunications and ultimately, it will cost lives."

Perry is correct. But in the classic case of government responses, they prefer to overreact even against good judgement.