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| Bush Aides Meet With Black Leaders over Hurricane Relief | |
| 2005-09-04 | |
| JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - President Bush's top advisers met Saturday with black leaders concerned about the administration's slow response to blacks suffering from Hurricane Katrina, while the head of the NAACP said it was not time for ``finger-pointing.'' NAACP President Bruce Gordon said that any recriminations over how the government treated Gulf Coast residents can wait until the mostly poor and black victims are given the care they desperately need. ``Right now, the NAACP is in what I call a life-saving mode. We are not in a finger-pointing mode and until every life has been stabilized and every life has been saved, we will devote all of our energies for that purpose,'' Gordon said. Gordon and Mississippi NAACP officials spoke at a news conference in Jackson hours after Bush administration officials including Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff met with black leaders in Washington about allegations that indifference to black suffering slowed the response. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the group discussed how to evacuate, save and sustain lives, create temporary housing and ways to work with community and faith-based groups to handle the long-term needs of the displaced. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and past chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said he believes the administration was partly interested in offering assurances that any missteps in getting relief to the victims would be corrected. ``I think a lot of people in the African American community - and others, by the way - share Bush's view that the results of his efforts have been unacceptable,'' Cummings said after the White House meeting. Gordon said the NAACP will monitor how federal officials provide relief in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast while offering assistance to displaced residents and those in need. ``Once we are satisfied that some level of stabilization has occurred, then we are going to figure out what happened,'' Gordon said. ``Because are there discrepancies? Yes.''
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #18 Just saw Condi Rice on TV, she had smoke coming out of her ears, said in no uncertain terms that Bush was NOT against blacks. Means much more coming from her. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-04 23:07 |
| #17 Glenmore, if I read New Orlean's emergency mgmt plan correctly, if Nagin HAD declared a mandatory evacuation, it would have obliged him to provide transportation, food, etc. Which is why I have little respect for what I see of him. That and the truly angermaking TV stunt on Monday ... "get your asses down here with 500 busses". I will never forget that and what makes it worse is that the Ivan dry run last year showed exactly where the problems would come if he sent people to the Superdome without food or water there. |
| Posted by: Omerens Omaigum2983 2005-09-04 20:20 |
| #16 check Instapundit: Other federal and state officials pointed to Louisiana's failure to measure up to national disaster response standards, noting that the federal plan advises state and local emergency managers not to expect federal aid for 72 to 96 hours, and base their own preparedness efforts on the need to be self-sufficient for at least that period. "Fundamentally the first breakdown occurred at the local level," said one state official who works with FEMA. 'Did the city have the situational awareness of what was going on within its borders? The answer was no." |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-04 19:59 |
| #15 He did not make it mandatory on the advice of the city attorneys. He did say "If I COULD make a mandatory evacuation order, I would." There was NO uncertainty in the meaning. I left. A leader doesn't stand behind his atty's in face of a natural disaster....nor does he not implement long-in-place disaster plans, then blame others. See CapatinsQuarters, Powerline, Instapundit, et al, and tell me the LA politicians did their "due diligence" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-04 19:53 |
| #14 granted your experience (glad you're safe BTW!) I wouldn't even criticize Nagin if he wasn't lashing out inappropriately at everyone with an "R" by their name. The bus picture will be on his above-ground tomb |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-04 19:48 |
| #13 Dumping on Naguin (or Aaron Broussard, or other local officials) at this point is unfair. When they stop trying to blame Bush for their screw-ups, then maybe people will stop looking so closely at them. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-09-04 19:36 |
| #12 Unfair dumping is part of the job of politician. Ask Bush. Naugin is going to spend the rest of his life explaining the aerial photos of those busses. He wasn't alone in blowing it. Apparently nearly every link in the chain of command failed. But he and the rest of the Democrats in LA and "Black Leaders" have decided to make this political and vicious. so Mr. Naugin is going to get a lot more dumping whether it helps or not and whether it is deserved or not. You lie down with pigs, you get up stinkin. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-09-04 19:36 |
| #11 Frank G: I was there, I heard Naguin Saturday morning say emphatically that everyone should evacuate. He did not make it mandatory on the advice of the city attorneys. He did say "If I COULD make a mandatory evacuation order, I would." There was NO uncertainty in the meaning. I left. The mistake was that the city did not provide a means to evacuate those who were unable to evacuate themselves - no car, no gas, ill health, etc. Even evacuating those who would have left if they could, there still would have been probably 100,000 who CHOSE to stay behind despite all efforts short of hauling them off at gunpoint. I know several of them. Lucky idiots are still alive. Rescuing them has overtaxed the abilities of the folks on the ground and in the water. Dumping on Naguin (or Aaron Broussard, or other local officials) at this point is unfair. The stress on them is about as high as it can possibley get, and combined with feelings of guilt, I think it would get most anyone sounding whiney and emotional. Hell, I got out easy, but after 3 days cooped up in a 96 deg apt with up to 9 other people I was getting rather short-tempered. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2005-09-04 19:28 |
| #10 not honest, Glenmore, if he tries to pin the blame elsewhere. the buck started and stopped at various levels, Local, then State, then up to Feds....blaming teh last in line, when you were forewarned, requested to evacuate, yet didn't...isn't what I consider "honest" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-04 19:16 |
| #9 Bobby Jindal is about the sharpest knife in the political drawer. Blanco is a far more adept politico. Naguin is the best New Orleans politician in my 25 years here, but totally overwhelmed. Big mistakes were made, and he will have to deal with the tragic consequences, but he didn't initiate the mistakes - he just did not manage to correct them in time. He had very few tools in his tool kit, and very few allies in his battles. I have a lot of sympathy for the man - he is a rarity, an honest politician. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2005-09-04 19:12 |
| #8 thinking for yourself has responsibilities and consequences - they want neither |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-04 16:24 |
| #7 That's it, I want all LA governing officals to immediately undergo a complete pysch testing. Who gave these people the license to think for themselves? Why are they not in confinement? |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-09-04 15:00 |
| #6 Louisiana could have elected Bobby Jindal governor, but they went for Blanco. They are now paying for their lousy judgment in politicians. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-09-04 14:51 |
| #5 Nice link CO I was on the phone with an old friend, noted author Jason Berry, who recounted his first personal recollection of Earl Long. âWatching your governor go crazy on TV is what I would call a D.L.E.âa Deep Louisiana Experience.â |
| Posted by: Mona Gorilla 2005-09-04 14:45 |
| #4 And not one loud clear denouncement of the unacceptable barbaric behavior of those exploiting the lives and property of the citizens of New Orleans by lootings, shootings, rapes, etc. They aren't leaders until they can turn to their flock and demand that such actions be treated as intolerable and that race and poverty are not excuses. No matter what bill of goods they seek to sell, one thing they can't hide is what Americans have seen over the past week. No matter how PC a face is painted upon it, the image will remain. Their silence will only reinforce the very thing they seek to exorcise. |
| Posted by: Angerong Uninelet1441 2005-09-04 09:44 |
| #3 Will they be re-elected? See this " Of the eight men and women elected to statewide office in 1991, three -- Governor Edwin Edwards, elections commissioner Jerry Fowler, and insurance commissioner Jim Brown -- were later convicted of crimes. The FBI said more people -- sixty-six -- were indicted on public-corruption charges in Louisiana in 1999 than in any other state." Then there was Gov. Earl Long -- " Here was a man who had a psychotic breakdown on the floor of the Louisiana legislature, bounced between two mental hospitals in less than a month, got himself sprung outâonly to cavort with a young woman who literally symbolized sin. That man then announced his candidacy for Congress! And he WON! He won the House seat in a hard-fought election during the dog days of the summer of 1960, in the middle of Louisiana, the Pentecostal heartlands!" |
| Posted by: Crairong Omomotch6492 2005-09-04 03:21 |
| #2 The record will come out, and it will not reflect well for Nagin, Blanco, and the police chief. Not that it won't keep Blanco or Nagin from being re-elected... |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-09-04 01:49 |
| #1 SW - You're half right. Nagin, Blanco, and the police chief screwed-up. The state governor is in control and is chiefly responsible. She determines how much federal involvement she wants, what type, and when. Brown, Chertoff and crew are sideline players until the governor divines them in. The record shows that she didn't do anything until Wednesday and is today in major defensive mode. The record will come out, and it will not reflect well for Nagin, Blanco, and the police chief. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-09-04 01:01 |