Posted on 09/05/2005 10:08:39 PM PDT by smoothsailing
George W. finally gets it -- in more ways than one. The tardy president was back on the Gulf Coast yesterday, bucking up the spirits of the damned and stiffening the resolve of the slackers.
He's getting it as well from his critics, many of whom can't believe their great good luck, that a hurricane, of all things, finally gives them the opening they've been waiting for to heap calumny and scorn on him for something that might get a little traction. Cindy Sheehan is yesterday's news; she couldn't attract a camera crew this morning if she stripped down to her step-ins for a march on Prairie Chapel Ranch.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
WOW. HOME RUN COLUMN.
The most under-reported story of the calamity: Americans doing what Americans always do - getting the job done.
So it was Airhead Huffington's blog that started the cannibalism rumors huh? Figures.
Boy, is she deluded. Great line.
Short and to the point. Very good. I don't know if there were 2000 buses, at least a couple hundred. If anybody knows for sure, chime in. More than enough, anyway, to evacuate everyone who needed it before the storm. The dims and the msm are shameless, as if we didn't know.
Home Run! Thanks for this post, smoothsailing.
Don't know the total number, but there were over 200 in one busyard.
I loved the part where Wes reminded Miss Cutey Pie that hitting, or even threatening to hit the President was a felony. On the other hand, she could smack Blanko and it would only be a misdemeanor. ROTFL!!!
This is GOLD.
Wes Pruden is, and has been for a very long time, outstanding.
There used to be a great radio talk show host in this (Philly) area by the name of Tom Marr. He hosted a Saturday night radio show back in the '80s here on WWDB-FM (R.I.P.) and he often talked about his friend Wes Pruden.
Marvelous column! I wish this stuff was stated more often and by more people.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1477545/posts
post #20 is my favorite,BTW!
I've counted 450 in three photos of different yards, including municipal buses. 2000 doesn't seem far off.
I've heard that name,Tom Marr,is he still around?
Ray Nagin, the mayor, ordered a "mandatory" evacuation a day late, but kept the city's 2,000 school buses parked and locked in neat rows when there was still time to take the refugees to higher ground. The bright-yellow buses sit ruined now in four feet of dirty water.
2,000 buses! WOW. Nagin could have moved 100K people out of NO. Instead he ran off to Baton Rogue and later blamed the President for everything going wrong. What a guy! LOL
Gotta love Wesley Pruden!
When he connects, which is damn near all the time. He nails it HARD and knocks it wayyyyy out of the park!
Jack.
Short and to the point. Very good. I don't know if there were 2000 buses, at least a couple hundred. If anybody knows for sure, chime in. More than enough, anyway, to evacuate everyone who needed it before the storm. The dims and the msm are shameless, as if we didn't know.
Someone explain to me why blogs put the story in a 5 letter column on 1 side of the page? it's silly and useless. How bout the "print" version to start with, and a little box near it marked,,,,"Sh-t house version"????
BTTT
Awesome editiorial!
Haven't heard that term in a very long time. Sounds quaint.
It is interesting that Blanco only discovered part of her National Guard is in Iraq when she tried to call them up. Not to worry, the pres got some from other states.
Blanco can't make a decision until she huddles with her husband and his political buds, all die hard Democrats and close friends with the convict and ex governor, Edwin Edwards. Their responses always sounds like they came straight from the DNC.
Baltimore,there's a place right near Camden Yard that has a ten dollar crabcake that is out of this world.I think it's called Freidly's or something like that.
Let us all firmly resolve NOT to test this theory out, any time in the immediate future. :)
Oh, yeah, this is a goodie!
Please don't think I'm an apologist for Nagin. His performance before and after the storm was disgraceful. But......,
Had he deployed these buses (no doubt he should have) how many people would have hopped on the bus? My guess is precious few would have boarded these buses prior to the storm. It is my belief that the great majority of those who did not evacuate CHOSE not to. It was not a lack of "resources" or "infrastructure" or even information that prompted most of those people to stay; it was stupidity, greed, and stubborn pride.
Hindsight is 20/20 and now I think we can all agree that everyone would be better off now had Nagin simply given away buses to anyone who could drive them in return for the agreement that they would leave town immediately. Sadly, had this offer been made and all 2000 buses taken, I'd bet that less than 200 buses would have left the city, each with about five people on board. But even then we'd have 200 more buses available and 1,000 fewer people stranded. As it stands, all the buses are lost and not one soul left the city on them.
Remember this is in hindsight. I'm not suggesting that municipalities give away buses prior to storms but simply pointing out that looking back on a disaster, one will always find ways to have more effectively responded.
That said, I will again state for the record that Nagin is a disgrace and a total failure. We can only hope that his political career is over, but I fear that if a Mayor can smoke crack on camera and make a comeback, that Nagin has little to fear in regards to his political viability. Especially when it's so easy to BLAME IT ON BUSH!
Look, all of the people that went to the Superdome and the Convention Center OBVIOUSLY took the threat seriously. They would have CERTAINLY gotten on the buses. Look, these people aren't stupid. If the mayor would have said "we have a choice. We can put you up in the Superdome, but the storm is COMING RIGHT TOWARD US. We have a bunch of buses and we can evacuate you to Baton Rouge, which is at least outside the flood zone in case the levees break. It's only 80 miles (and one hour) away, so if nothing happens we'll bring you back." Now, these people are poor, but they're not STUPID! if they had their choice between the Superdome that is IN THE PATH OF THE STORM, or Baton Rouge that is 80 miles away and to the WEST of the storm, what do you think they would have chosen? The point is the mayor didn't even TRY to convince these people. He simply thought like you and figured "they won't want to leave, so why bother?" That's just irresponsible.
Even if only 75-80% of the people that ended up at the Superdome and the Civic center got on the buses, you're still talking 35,000-40,000 people Nagin would have been able to evacuate if he only would have TRIED. He didn't even FREAKING TRY! He just told the citizens of his city "you're on your own". The only thing we can do for you is put you up like animals at the Superdome. That is NOT being a leader.
Nagin simply didn't have FAITH in his own people and figured they were too stupid to refuse his offer so he didn't even MAKE it. If that's not criminal, its at least condescending.
And then he has the GALL to get on the radio and start cussing at everyone when his "lets-shove-in-the-superdome-like-sardines" plan didn't work.
Also, let's not forget that the levees didn't break until Tuesday at around noon. All Tuesday morning, all of the mainstream media that are now blaming President Bush were saying New Orleans had "dodged another bullet". If Nagin Had evacuated his people (as many as he could anyway) to Baton Rouge, they would have still been in Baton Rouge by the time the levees broke and would have avoided the flooding and simply stayed in Baton Rouge. From Baton Rouge, they could have simply been evacuated to Texas or elsewhere that had room.
My point is the MAYOR DIDN'T EVEN TRY bus evacuation. His little PEA BRAIN simply didn't believe it could be done and he didn't have enough faith in his people and his city workers to believe that they could do it.
Can you imagine if George Patton had said "These Germans are just too tough for my guys". We should just surrender. That's, in effect, what Nagin did: He surrenderd to the hurricane without even firing a shot.
And THAT is inexcusable. Couple that with his constant attempts to shift the glame to the (equally incompetent Governor) and the (admittedly slow) feds, and OF COURSE we had a man-made disaster on our hands!
The whole thing with Nagin,buses,and the New Orleans mindset is difficult for any sane human to fathom.
I look at it this way,the buses were there,the people were there.
But the mayor?
The NYT wins. In case of disaster in your area do absolutely nothing to save lives, protect property or relieve suffering. Your new assignment is to blame Bush, blame Bush and blame Bush. Got that? Good, together we will build a better America.
you are right
I agree with you for the most part. He didn't even try. Disgraceful. But I remain unconvinced that large numbers of people would've boarded these buses on saturday or sunday. After one day in the dome, no doubt they all wished they'd left town. Again, in hindsight.
How many people were in the dome before the storm? I really don't know.
I know that all or even most of those who chose not to evacuate aren't stupid, they just made stupid choices.
You're right to heap criticism on Nagin. When the history of this disaster is written I expect him to have an entire chapter dedicated to his indecisiveness, his ineffectiveness, and his childlike behavior.
Also for the record, I'd say that I would have TRYED to get people on these buses despite my belief that many would turn down the opportunity. I mean, Good Lord, to not have tryed is hardly believable to me.
As you say, the levee didn't break until Tuesday. I can only assume that Nagin gambled his political future against the lives of thousands of his subjects. I can only assume that he didn't try because he was considering the political ramifications of evacuating thousands who would later end up not needing to have been evacuated. He lost his bet big time and the debt was paid with the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands.
Sadly, many individuals made the same wager and also lost.
Good post, BTW. Best wishes.
I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts, but maybe not your calculations. Faced with getting on a bus with 149 other evacuees and who knows who as the driver, I'd likely have stayed at the Dome. (that is of course, not knowing what we know now.)
The figure is actually 550 total buses (300 yellow school buses) and 200 or so city buses. Now, IF the mayor had provided POLICE (or National Guard "deputized" troops that Governor Blanco never bothered to authorize) on each bus, security wouldn't have been a problem. Each driver could have been a city worker. Using the figure of 550 buses, Fox news calculated 15,000-20,000 per trip.
Now I MAY have stayed at the Dome with a CLASS 5 or 4 hurricane coming straight FOR me. But, if my MAYOR had told me that a CITY bus, with CITY drivers, and police or national guard troops on board, would take me to Baton Rouge (80 miles and 1 hour away), and would bring me back if nothing happened, I would have probably chosen the bus. Now, mind you, I'm no "rocket scientist", but self preservation and STAYING ALIVE is pretty high on my list, as I am sure it was for the people who DIDN'T GET evacuated until it was too late. I realize many of the people at the Superdome were poor, but they WERE AND ARE NOT STUPID. If anything, they are street smart, and would have realized that a town 80 miles away and to the west is much better than being packed into a stadium that, at that time, WAS RIGHT IN THE PATH OF THE STORM!
In either case, it would have been "nice" for my MAYOR whom I voted for to PROTECT and SERVE me had given me that "choice". Isn't it funny how Democrats are always carping about "CHOICE"? I guess Mayor Nagin didn't think the citizens of New Orleans deserved to "choose".
Sorry... 350 yellow school buses and 200 city buses.
That is my church in Memphis. I do not see much of the Black religious community doing anything for these poor people.
"Blanco can't make a decision until she huddles with her husband and his political buds, all die hard Democrats and close friends with the convict and ex governor, Edwin Edwards. Their responses always sounds like they came straight from the DNC."
Here is my first question. What company owns the buses that were destroyed by the storm? Anyone want to wager they belong to some politically appointed Democrat hack who will now collect a tidy some on the insurance?
I think we finally have a fighting chance in this "war."
I'm with on that,heck,I think we're winning!
This is the first time I have heard that there were 2000 buses!!! Wow! When that comes out to the refugees, you'd think there would be a riot!!!! How in God's name could anyone say THAT was Bush's fault. Geez Marge.
Like any other story I'm waiting for the big liberal organs to put out all the pertinent information. But I'm not holding my breath. The Slimes and the Compost should have a picture of those unused buses (which were called for to be used in the NO evacuation plans) prominently displayed on the front pages of their respective rags with the headlines screaming " Mayor Nagin: Why Didn't You Use These Buses?" Anyone else not holding their breath?
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