In reponse to MSNBC anchor this morning Nagin stated that he is absolutely blown away at Chertnoff's comments that he (Chertnoff) was not aware of the people in need of evacuation at the convention center. Nagin says that he does not know if Chertnoff said that but if he did that was a doggone shame. Nagin stated that FEMA was there on the ground.
Excerpts from an editorial in Sunday's New Orleans Times-Picayune:
We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we're going to make it right."
Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you.
But we have good reason for our skepticism.
Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It's accessible.
The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.
How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.
Despite the city's multiple points of entry, our nation's bureaucrats spent days after last week's hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city's stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.
Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection.
On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.
Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets.
Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday.
Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent.
Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.
We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry.
Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not.
That's to the government's shame.
We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard.
We're no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia.
Our people deserved to be rescued.
No expense should have been spared.
No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn't be reached.
Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.
When you do, we will be the first to applaud.
The Times-Picayune, based in New Orleans, never stopped publishing during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The company fled its downtown office Tuesday and printed online editions of the paper until Friday when it resumed printing. The 16-page Friday paper was finished at the printing facilities of The Houma Courier, about 60 miles from New Orleans.