[Unsh8kableFaith]

Not Bush. Not the Governer of LA. The mayor of the city.

For those with continuing questions about the prepositioning of assets and relief, see my other post titled, "Federal response to New Orleans was 'faster' than after Hugo and Andrew."

-U.

[Sthitch]

If he had started the evacuations when the National Hurricane Center had first warned them to do so, he would have had plenty of drivers.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Dammit !
I'm upping my offer: I'll bet $100 that Ray Nagin receives some sort of humanitarian award at the next DNC convention. Any takers ?
2 for 1 ?

[airborne]

The drivers, the buses and the people would be gone before the hurricane hit!

Next lie, Mr. Mayor!

[Last Dakotan]

Another case of how democrats think - union work rules. The only drivers he could see were unionized city employees, not just any 18 year old with a driver's license.

[Izzy Dunne]

the country of the United States that can move whole fleets of aircraft carriers across the globe in 24 hours

Can somebody point me to where this happened?

I don't remember any case where a whole fleet of ACs moved across the globe in 24 hours.

[Rennes Templar]

With hurricane Andrew, the MSM didn't have the hatred of W's father as they do for W.

[Larry Lucido]

Yea, but it was a living, breathing document so "mayor" can be interpreted as "chief executive," as in "chief executive of the United States."

[Conspiracy Guy]

Russert went after a blame tossing democrat? What world am I in? Is this some sort of parallel universe?

[toddlintown]

Very specialized profession, driving buses that is. No way could you get one of the people needing to leave town and asking them to man the buses.

No wait. I thought the problem was women drivers who were afraid to drive the buses.

No wait. They needed Greyhound buses.

No wait...

[Graymatter]

What bolshoi! All he had to do was offer them a little incentive. Like a ticket to Vegas and spending money.

And what happened to the lack of toilets argument? That won't hold, uh, water anymore?

All together now: "Admiral Nagin notified me,
He had to have the Greyhound
In case they had to pee..."

[yoe]

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005 11:38 a.m. EDT

Ray Nagin: School Buses Not Good Enough

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin garnered a ton of publicity with a profanity-laced interview he gave to WWL radio last Thursday, where he blasted President Bush and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco for not coming to rescue his city in time.

However, Nagin's most newsworthy comments - where he explained why he didn't use hundreds of city school buses to evacuate his city's flood victims - went almost unnoticed.

Turns out, Nagin turned his nose up at the yellow buses, demanding more comfortable Greyhound coaches instead.

"I need 500 buses, man," he told WWL. "One of the briefings we had they were talking about getting, you know, public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out of here."

Nagin described his response:

"I'm like - you've got to be kidding me. This is a natural disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

While Nagin was waiting for his Greyhound fleet, Katrina's floodwaters swamped his school buses, rendering them unusable.

[Maria S]

-Gee! Maybe Mayor Nagin sees the writing on the wall...is that why he BOUGHT a home in Dallas and has enrolled his daughter in Dallas schools?

Hmmm...the plot thickens.

Mayor Nagin speaks out
By Gordon Russell
Staff writer
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09_10.html#078692
In a stark reminder of how drastically Hurricane Katrina has impacted the lives of New Orleanians, Mayor Ray Nagin has purchased a home for his family in Dallas and enrolled his young daughter in school there.
Nagin, who spoke with The Times-Picayune by telephone from Dallas, where he has been since Wednesday, said he planned to return to New Orleans on Saturday. He said he will remain in the Crescent City while his family lives for the next six months in Dallas, making occasional visits to his family when possible.

[Graymatter]

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

Hummina hummina hummina!

[LibWrangler]

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?

[Seruzawa]

Aww, this is the usual misanthropic liberal garg that really pins the ol' BS meter. In every disaster there are always people who rise to the task and risk their lives to help others. And for free too. The problem would be that the govt union rules wouldn't allow volunteers to drive buses who didn't have proper licenses. Leave it to a bureaucrat to leave people to drown over paperwork.

[Red Badger]

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail...........

[tonyinv]

"...my fundamental assumption was get as many people to safety as possible, and that the cavalry would be coming within two to three days, and they didn't come."

CoastGuard helicopters were saving lives on Monday night!! And FEMA delivered busses on Wednesday afternoon.

Whata maroon!!

[Bigh4u2]

Two(2) days BEFORE the hurricane struck, President Bush declared a 'State of Emergency' for N.O. and urged the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor or N.O. to evacuate!

They decided to 'wait and see'!

Well, they got what the 'waited' for!

[cardinal4]

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.

Quite a contrast from his meltdown last week..

[dinasour]

At least Nagin's response was rational, unlike Mary BobbleHead-Landrieu who said that the school buses weren't used because "George Bush doesn't support public transportation"

The people who drive school buses are not volunteer fire fighters.

Many are working moms who find that it provides a perfect schedule for taking care of the little ones, and they don't get paid very much.

Nagin would never had gotten them to come out in any numbers.

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