FEMA's first responders were partisan yes-men?

This is as fresh as news gets. Leaked memos from FEMA head Mike Brown to Homeland Security head Mike Chertoff dating from last Monday show that the organization was already mobilizing Homeland Security employees to the Gulf coast. That was the day before the Louisiana levees broke. If these documents are authenticated (as it is, they're from the Associated Press), it will prove that the federal agencies responsible for taking action in response to terrorists attacks and natural disasters have been caught putting partisan politics above the safety of American citizens. And there's no way to spin that.

Brown asked that "at least 1,000 additional DHS employees within 48 hours and 2,000 within 7 days" be deployed to areas hit by Katrina. Why? The answer becomes clear under the heading 'Role of Assigned Personnel":

Convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public.

You might remember Chertoff as having claimed that the government had no idea that New Orleans had been seriously affected until late last week. And that Bush was quoted as telling "Brownie" what a great job he was doing when he finally appeared in Mississippi. And that Scott McClellan was saying just today that it was imperative that we not play "the blame game" over this issue.

But it seems clear that those responsible for protecting the citizenry in the case of natural disasters knew just what was going on throughout the Gulf Coast-- and their first priority was to ensure that they appeared blameless for failing to do their job.

Can we start talking about impeachment now, or is it still 'unpatriotic' to hold these people responsible for their crimes?