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2005-09-04 Home Front: Economy

Bush Aides Meet With Black Leaders over Hurricane Relief

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Posted by Steve White 2005-09-04 00:31|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#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|| 2005-09-04 01:01|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2005-09-04 01:49|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2005-09-04 03:21|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2005-09-04 09:44|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2005-09-04 14:45|| Front Page Top

#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|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-09-04 14:51|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2005-09-04 15:00|| Front Page Top

#8 thinking for yourself has responsibilities and consequences - they want neither

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-09-04 16:24|| 2005-09-04 16:24|| Front Page Top

#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">Glenmore 2005-09-04 19:12|| 2005-09-04 19:12|| Front Page Top

#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">Frank G 2005-09-04 19:16|| 2005-09-04 19:16|| Front Page Top

#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">Glenmore 2005-09-04 19:28|| 2005-09-04 19:28|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2005-09-04 19:36|| Front Page Top

#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">Robert Crawford 2005-09-04 19:36|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2005-09-04 19:36|| Front Page Top

#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">Frank G 2005-09-04 19:48|| 2005-09-04 19:48|| Front Page Top

#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">Frank G 2005-09-04 19:53|| 2005-09-04 19:53|| Front Page Top

#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">Frank G 2005-09-04 19:59|| 2005-09-04 19:59|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2005-09-04 20:20|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2005-09-04 23:07|| Front Page Top

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