Posted on 08/31/2005 4:24:31 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
The problems confronting a governor in the position of Louisiana's Kathleen Babineaux Blanco are overwhelming.
Since this space so frequently roasts Dems, fairness compels us to say that Blanco, a Democrat, comes across as about as reasonable and authentic as an elected official can be expected to be under the circumstances. Compare and contrast with Dem Sen. Mary Landrieux, who at every press conference seems to focus more on ostentatious emoting than on getting things done.
In any case, the Today show offered surprisingly extended video coverage of looting in New Orleans. Given that 100% of the looters shown were African-American, one might have thought that Today's PC instincts would have discouraged them from running the footage. But for whatever reason Today did, and when Matt Lauer interviewed Blanco, he asked her numerous pointed questions about the looting.
Blanco essentially deflected the questions, offering blandishments to the effect that "we certainly don't like looting," but also making clear that stopping it wasn't a priority.
Frankly, she might well be right: in a catastrophe like this, government must prioritize, and compared to stopping the levee breach and rescuing stranded people, stopping some guy from ripping off a pair of $150 Nikes could be trivial.
Speaking of the levees:
Louisiana and New Orleans are known as some of the most notoriously corrupt places in the USA. Over decades, the government should have had one overweening infrastructure priority: to ensure the levees worked.
They didn't, and now millions suffer and billions of dollars are lost. If the politicians had been honest and spending money on the right things, one must believe they could have created a levee system that would have worked the first time it was really called upon.
I noticed that vacationing Couric, unlike President Bush, did not come back to her job.
Interesting take on things. I will continue to monitor. All I saw from Landrieux was sympathetic head-bobbing, shoulder rubs, teary eyes, etc. Yes, Blanco looks somewhat overwhelmed, but to an extent that comes across as an honest reaction. She also seemed to focus on getting things done.
Maybe Bobby Jindal is lucky he did not win that race for governor in 2003. This whole mess would have been on his shoulders now. Instead he got elected to Congress and hopefully he will have a great future there.
Pard, these people are a menace. It's not about politics, it's about them screwing things up and getting in the way. They need to shut up and sit down, and allow people who actually know what the heck they're doing to do what the heck needs doing.
Interestingly, Blanco made a very similar comment, suggesting the flooding will in some ways render much of the looting moot. By the way, among the looters caught on tape were two female store security guards!!
I'm with you Ken.
Blanco is a typical Rat party hack; and sadly, she is WAY over her head.
The only thing worse than LA politicians is 51 or so percent of LA voters.
She strikes as someone incompetant all her political life till she met Katrina.
You better be careful. In other threads, you get attacked for believing that people taking food/water should not be shot on sight.
I left Louisiana in 1995.
The politics are utterly corrupt, the economy is stagnant, and the educational system is a national embarrassment.
Most of my family still live there, so it will always be "home", but I don't miss it a bit.
I respect the sentiment. But on the other hand, there's not much that conservatives want government to do, so judging their performance in these situations seems fair and relevant. As I suggested in my original post, the levee break isn't just bad luck. It is the residue of decades of corruption and poor government priorities.
New Orleans' breakdown is a sneak preview of things to come when Bin Laden gets his nuke and Hillary is president and her minions are in charge of security.
This is a time for prayer and charity for those who cannot otherwise directly help.
It is a time to encourage our leaders and give them support, not tear them down.
The entire world is looking now at how the greatest country mankind has ever known deals with a tragedy of such immense proportions.
I wonder if we will hear about this being God's revenge, as was discussed during the Indonesia tsunami crisis?
Without question this is an act of God.
Not just the levee break. I'll bet the pumps have been a disaster waiting to happen.
I imagine aid money will be looted by the leadership there as well.
Looters are trying to break into the Children's Hospital. Time to drop the 101st Airborne with shoot to kill orders.
The only thing thugs respect is overwhelming force.
Never came... just that crushed, bewildered look.
Democrats are shaky at best during a true crisis... emotional, female Democrats... well, fill in what you want.
Agreed, and thats exactly what we are doing, the President is sending FEMA aid, and Navy ships there. WE ARE going above their heads. But the media is watching now as are the people of America and we have to show who is better. Otherwise these threads would read as if this were DU. We are more than better than that lets prove it!
Geez, I heard the mayor this morning on FOX. What a total idiot. The only excuse he could come up with is too many chiefs. Hello, if he had done his duty as chief there wouldn't be others trying to struggle with the problems. He's no Rudy.
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