[AngelesCrestHighway]

To the dismay of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the governor told the president she wanted 24 hours to decide whether to accept the offer because Mr. Bush, as commander-in-chief, wanted control of the troops. Many of the governor's constituents died because of the delay.....I think we found at least 24 hours that could have saved thousands of lives.....

[coconutt2000]

Technically the mayor didn't need to wait for the governor to request more direct Federal involvement. He could have begun to mobilize and enact the emergency plans the mayor's office has on file. The school and municipal transit buses are part of that plan for moving people out of the danger zones.

The mayor hesitated because he was afraid of angering his constituency. An enforced, mandatory evacuation would've forced out a lot of black Democrats, and this would've caused a great deal of backlash in the event that the hurricane did not cause as much damage as predicted.

[ConsentofGoverned]

"To the dismay of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the governor told the president she wanted 24 hours to decide whether to accept the offer because Mr. Bush, as commander-in-chief, wanted control of the troops. Many of the governor's constituents died because of the delay.....I think we found at least 24 hours that could have saved thousands of lives....."

You have swallowed the MSM hype..no evidence of THOUSANDS OF DEATHS..this is pure Propaganda to make NO look even worse than it was..my guess less than 500 deaths in NO and most due to shootings and stabbings. sad but let us at FR be more accurate about the numbers please..