School-buses showdown: Mayor Nagin vs. Russert

WorldNetDaily ^ | 9/12/2005 | Unsh8kableFaith

[Unsh8kableFaith]

The mayor, questioned by NBC's Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," claimed he could not find drivers for the metro and school buses, which were left to flood in the post-hurricane deluge.

"Sure, here was lots of buses out there," Nagin said. "But guess what? You can't find drivers that would stay behind with a Category 5 hurricane, you know, pending down on New Orleans. We barely got enough drivers to move people on Sunday, or Saturday and Sunday, to move them to the Superdome. We barely had enough drivers for that. So sure, we had the assets, but the drivers just weren't available."

Russert did not let up on the question, continuing into this exchange:

RUSSERT: But, Mr. Mayor, if you read the city of New Orleans' comprehensive emergency plan-- and I've read it and I'll show it to you and our viewers--it says very clearly, "Conduct of an actual evacuation will be the responsibility of the mayor of New Orleans. The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life-saving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedure as needed. Approximately 100,000 citizens of New Orleans do not have means of personal transportation."

It was your responsibility. Where was the planning? Where was the preparation? Where was the execution?

[Bar-Face]

Mayor Ray Nagin on Meet the Press: "[t]he more I think about it, definitely race played into this. If it's race, fine, let's call a spade a spade, a diamond a diamond. We can never let this happen again. Even if you hate black people and you are in a leadership position, this did not help anybody."

I find it funny (and not funny HA HA) that anytime an African-American is questioned about his/her actions or accused of malfeasance will blame racism for all of their shortcoming. I heard yesterday that the New Orleans Mayoral election is next February and he is securing the Black vote with his claims. I still think Blanco will be thrown under the bus, but I do believe that Nagin will win in a landslide.

[Frank_Discussion]

That's what isn't being shown to the public by the MSM, and it's unconscionable.

[Itzlzha]

Has anyone actually figured out where the mayor was that week? Every report had him in Baton Rouge, then it was reported he was holed up in a hotel, and out commandeering buses to help tourists evacuate. First he didn't know anything, later he said he was out touring the city every day. In this interview with Russert, Nagin said he was inside the Dome. They had communications, they didn't have communications.

Just where was he, exactly?

Who knows what EVIL lurks in the hearts of DemonRAT voters?

Who knows just WHY the Buses sat unused?

Who committed GENOCIDE against his own citizens?

Only "The Nagin" knows!

[Bigh4u2]

" OTOH, manning these buses would have be a perfect job for the State Police or National Guard before the storm."

Or anyone else with a drivers license!

[ssaftler]

Oh, I dunno. Of the news show hosts on the alphabet networks (leaving out Fox), Russert has always been the most straight-up one of the bunch.

[Graymatter]

As I recollect it, his first excuse, prior to Katrina landfall, was that there was no place to put people within the city limits. This excuse covered both the failure to order mandatory evac, and the failure to use the buses. The concern was that if he ordered something legally inappropriate or beyond his powers, he'd be liable, or the city would.
But again, there really are no valid excuses, there's only the response of that most notable bus driver of all: hummina hummina.
The lawyers will feast on his entrails.

[yoe]

WHOOOOOEEEE! Now that is how you work the system - FEMA to pay for the Dallas home? Anyone know where it is located and how much the foresightful Mayor Nagin paid for it?

Some of you Dallas Freepers do the homework and let us know, this story should grow legs like a Centipede!

Send story to all networks and the Governor of LA!

As I have said President Bush pleaded with Blanco to let the Feds take over and she refused until it was too late to do anything and Nagin was in a "melt down" or maybe just too busy with personal things....and that might just have been the plan in the first place - do nothing at all...........FEMA and the Gov. will pay for the clean up and rebuilding. Unthinkable? Just think about it...........

[jec41]

When asked what his biggest mistake was in connection with the disaster, Nagin said, "My biggest mistake is having a fundamental assumption that in the state of Louisiana, with an $18 billion budget, in the country of the United States that can move whole fleets of aircraft carriers across the globe in 24 hours.

Nagin should inform the Navy about this. They are still using nuclear power and it takes them quite a bit longer. 24 hrs. What a idiot.

[Russ_in_NC]

Is the Mayor actually saying that he wouldn't have been able to find 500 willing drivers out of the 20-30K people being moved into the dome?

Only a Lib would believe that ..... check that, I don't even think the ones with half a brain would believe that garbage. Of course that still leaves the 13-15% of the die hard idiots that would believe it and unfortunately they're the ones in front of the mic's. To add fuel to the fire, the people smart enough in the press to know the truth (not everyone at MSNBC and CNN is a total idiot, they just pretend to be in an effort to fool the masses) willingly turn their backs on the truth for the chance to stab the republicans, any republican, and the country in the back.

[AD from SpringBay]

Russert has outed himself as the racist he is.

[Unsh8kableFaith]

Give me the keys and fifteen seconds to practice, and I'll be a bus driver.

Amen to that. Give me a few minutes to learn and I can drive anything with wheels on it, especially with the chance of helping to save lives as a motivator.

The more I think about it, the more I want to get sick. :-/

-U.

[ncountylee]

The head of the union representing the bus drivers should be asked if the drivers would have taken people out of the city before the storm hit.

MSM won't ask because they know the answer would nail a democrat.

[babyface00]

Give me the keys and fifteen seconds to practice, and I'll be a bus driver

I worked for my old school system for a couple years after I graduated from HS, during the summers. Part of that job was driving dump trucks all over the school system and moving school buses around the lot for their summer maintenance.

Believe me, 15 seconds is more than enough for anyone who has driven for a couple years - I was 18 at the time. There was no "training" either, even for a bunch of kids right out of HS.

Some of the ones I drove were the last standard shift busses, and this was 1985,6,7 so that wouldn't even be a consideration any more.

School buses are actually quite easy to drive, the only difficulty is in backing up and giving yourself enough room to take corners.

Of course, in an evacuation caravan, neither of those difficulties would have been all that much of a problem.

[ssaftler]

Can I put in for $1000 that Mary Landriux is the keynote speaker at the 2008 DNC Convention?

[dirtboy]

Sure, here was lots of buses out there," Nagin said. "But guess what? You can't find drivers that would stay behind with a Category 5 hurricane, you know, pending down on New Orleans

Uh, Nagin, if they are driving buses out of town, they're not staying behind.

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

"Sure, here was lots of buses out there," Nagin said. "But guess what? You can't find drivers that would stay behind

Is there any evidence that Nagin tried to find such drivers? Could he not have put out a call for volunteers? Were there not 250 licensed drivers in New Orleans who would have volunteered, if asked, to drive those buses?

You can't find drivers

You didn't even try, Mayor Nagin.

[dirtboy]

Russert went after a blame tossing democrat? What world am I in?

Nagin's expendable. Throw him under the bus, if you can find one that is still running - as long as Blanco doesn't have to bear any blame.

[Lekker 1]

I think the whole Local Government denial/charade is beginning to unravel pretty fast. Even the media is starting to realize they can't carry the water for much longer.

[Old Seadog]

Hey, somebody stole my line "What a maroon."

[dirtboy]

OTOH, manning these buses would have be a perfect job for the State Police or National Guard before the storm.

NOLA could have developed a program where people with driver's licenses but no cars were given some training, and paid $500 to get the bus, pick up their families and then drive to evacuation points and drive out others.

All it would have taken was some planning and that $500,000 that Blanco gave Witt's firm to develop another hurricane plan to ignore.