[abb]

Gosh, if we could only find drivers....

[Sociopathocracy]

Hillary/Nagin '08!

[Recon Dad]

Look up Buffoon in the dictionary, you'll find Ray's picture.

[alnick]

Other observers, including Bishop Paul Morton, head of the city's largest church and often a bitter opponent of the mayor, point to Nagin's compassion for the city -- in particular, his now-famous radio tirade about the slow pace of the state and federal relief effort -- as a high point of his stewardship.

I liked Nagin as mayor of NO. That emotional finger-pointing session was the first sign, to me, that he was in way over his head in this situation.

"We talked many times about commandeering tour buses and school buses," Tullier said. "There's plenty of stuff out there to put people in, but when push comes to shove the bus drivers are trying to get their own families out of town and can't be counted on."

Two options: Get a passenger from each bus to volunteer to drive, or convince the driver to use the bus as the means of transportation for getting his family out of town. There are certainly ways of solving the lack of drivers problem.

Instead, most of the RTA's buses were moved to a facility on Canal Street that officials thought -- wrongly -- would be safe from floodwaters. Some buses positioned on the riverfront were high and dry, but as the waters rose, getting them to the evacuees became a problem, and, according to Nagin, drivers weren't available anyway.

You don't wait until the water's rising during or after a hurricane to try to bus people out. By then it's far too late for that.

Howell, like Nagin, said she doesn't think the city could have done it. "There was not enough money to plan for this scenario, because this may or may not have happened," she said.

Maybe they could have used the salaries and benefit money of some of those phantom police officers.

"Mayor Nagin was not able to have his 'bullhorn moment,' " Xavier University political scientist Silas Lee said. "There was a big difference: Giuliani was able to rally the citizens and the nation against a common enemy. In this case the enemy was Mother Nature, and it's harder to rally people against Mother Nature."

You mean the enemy wsan't President Bush?

[no dems]

"They note that the performance of federal and state governments -- both in command of far more resources than impoverished New Orleans -- left much to be desired."

Well, it's like Texas Governor Rick Perry said in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, that's why we have STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ; to handle situations like this close to home.

Did all the whiney butts who complained about George W. not doing enough for the people of New Orleans get that?

[Beth528]

But,but, everything was Bush's fault.Didn't you read that?

[sure_fine]

[ARCADIA]

I have a mixed opinion of Mayor Nagin: I don't know whether he should be shot by firing squad or simply tarred and feathered.

[libertylover]

On a recent national TV appearance, presidential historian and Tulane professor Douglas Brinkley called him "a very lame, ineffectual, wrong-headed mayor for this time," adding for good measure that Nagin has "no leadership abilities" and suggesting that some of his failures in the wake of the storm were "criminal."

And yet it was a federal employee that the Times Picayune wanted fired-and they got it!

Not following the plan was criminal neglect or dereliction of duty at the very least IMHO. The blame looks like a pyramid: the locals form the base, state officials in the middle, and feds at the top deserve the least blame.

[bert]

Didn't he say more casinos?

Isn't that a plan?

[muskah]

The following picture from the AP shows buses during the day on Wed. picking up people on I10. Would love to know whose buses they were.

http://home.comcast.net/~david618/buses83105.html

Since LA couldn't arrange local transport I think it was pretty good to get busses there in < 24 hours. Remember we all woke up Tuesday morning thinking NO was in good shape.

[evets]

Hmmrrph

[Issaquahking]

Nagin...what an idiot. Perhaps he should have read the Posse Comitatus Act. He may have realized that the mayor is the city's authority, and that the state is the governor's authority. The president, or his represemtative(s), is the federal authority. The Chain of Command does work when properly used.


Of course, if the good time boy Ray could read, he might have tried out intelligent thought on the matter as found here...click.

[WasDougsLamb]

It is just plain stupid and there is no excuse for letting the buses set and flood. I am sure there were men/women who would have gladly used the buses if the bus drivers didn't.I recall the article of the teenager driving a bus out to save people. Ray Nagin needs to quit with the excuses for his stupidity and take responsibility for the mess he and Blanco and the rest of the corrupt officials caused . They are to blame, not Bush, not Fema, not the Red Cross. THEY had the responsibility of securing their citizens before/after Katrina and THEN thats when the rest comes into play. Bush nor Fema nor the Red Cross is supposed to come down and do it all BEFORE the Hurricane. That is where use common sense kicks in. Obviously Nagin and Blanco are as void of it now as they were before Katrina