Posted on 04/24/2008 11:14:50 AM PDT by CarmichaelPatriot
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - John McCain toured still hurricane-damaged areas of New Orleans and declared that if the disaster had happened on his watch, he would have immediately landed his plane at the nearest Air Force base. The Republican presidential candidate is campaigning this week in what he calls forgotten areas of the country. He offered a pledge Thursday to New Orleans residents that their situation will not be forgotten and that such a botched disaster response will never happen again.
McCain was unsparing in his criticism of the Bush administration. He said Congress must share some of the blame, too.
Drawing a sharp contrast to President Bush, McCain said he would have landed his plane "at the nearest Air Force Base and come over personally."
They were yelling at people to get out as early as Friday afternoon. They always yell; that’s what governments do. They don’t give a flip for people’s time or inconvenience. If you evacuate for a cloudy day that’s fine with them.
I DID get out. I went to bed late saturday night when it was a cat. 3, intending to ride it out (as were almost everyone I knew). I left Sunday morning, hours after the thing blew up to a cat 5. I came back a week later, to check on my home (unflooded, small hole in roof), my parents’ home (flooded 2 ft.), and my sister’s (flooded, 6 feet). I hung out a few days because I had a rescued dog (one of the reasons I went in), and was waiting till the owner could come to take him away. I had all my supplies, plus what I needed to be safe. No one gave me any trouble except the authorities who lied to me (for my own good, I bet they were thinking). I spent the time clearing a fallen tree in my back yard, ducking for cover every time a helicopter went over, like Viet Cong in the jungle, lest I be forced out of my home.
As for blame: there is plenty to go round. The evacuation model is BS; it isn’t workable over the long run. Storms take last-minute wobbles all the time: sooner or later an evacuating population is going to get caught in it, or else find itself evacuating to where the storm actually goes.
I blame the Feds for their slow post-storm response, and above all for the crap levees whose design and construction they oversaw. Remember: 90% of “Katrina” was a MAN-MADE event. This is why the Feds owe us — not because the welfare class in New Orleans is ever going to vote for McCain.
Well I was only there, so I guess I don’t know anything. I guess all those hundreds of helicopter flyovers (I was there from Sept. 6-9) and all those airboats I heard were just tourists.
I guess I swam back to my house, and all the way downtown where I rescued a dog, and all the way home again and back out to Baton Rouge. I guess all the massive trailers and mobile command centers I saw lining Canal St. were barged down the river, not driven in.
BTW, those reports of people shooting at the helicopters are myths. A lot of people lost their heads and freaked out after Katrina — including a few first responders.
I seriously have no idea what the hell McVain is thinking. These little stupid campaign mistakes are what keeps him from getting people like yourself on board.
The idiot. During a hurricane you don’t fly a plane near the hurricane. You don’t know the hurricane has ended until it has ended. So the flying a plane thing is totally stupid.
Also, Bush was told that the hurricane would not be as bad as it actually was. He and everyone woke up the next day and it was much worse than thought.
This guy is an idiot. At this point, Hillary is the least disgusting of the three idiots.
I am sick of this jerk. He is a pathetic candidate, always pandering and dissing either Pres Bush or conservatives.
His request to the GOP to pull ads denouncing Rev. Wright has placed me back into “I really hate him” mode.
So let me get this straight...he doesn’t want any negative ads about Huessin Obama but it’s ok to go negative on Bush?!! Nice! Wasn’t it Reagan’s cardinal rule not to diss conservatives? McCain is pushing it and he needs all the votes he can get from conservatives. Hind site is 20 20 regarding Katrina!
Even given the advantage of hindsight, the Senator makes promises our collective asses can't keep. Katrina mowed over two whole states, obliterating roads and buildings half way across both of them.
Had the Senator dropped his lollipop ass onto the nearest tarmac, the only real and cognizant thing that he could do would be to look around in utter amazement and say, "Oooowee! Look at all the sh*t, Gus!"
What fault there was, was clearly the fault of local preparedness and action before the fact. The response after the fact was both tremendous and heroic in terms of risk and in terms of treasure, and the Senator shows his true nature in belittling those on whom the call to duty in that response fell.
There are just some things that are bigger than the United States government, and in the face of such, one must do the best one can. I think that to be the case, and I stand here to applaud the efforts of those who ran to their country-mens' aid.
Nice post, thank you for your service :o)
And I guess the gist of your experience is that ‘hundreds of rescuers” WERE there, in MASS, trying to get people out that either would not or could not leave in the first place or came back to check on things and would not leave.
Whatever your choice was, it was your choice and I gather you don’t moan too much about it, but I urge you to look closer at your own state and local government to place the blame over the ‘Katrina response’.
Millions of federal dollars meant for the levees disappeared down a STATE GOVERNMENT RAT HOLE, so you better ask them where all the money went!
Me too. Lots of people keep trying to give him a chance, but he just ends up screwing it up. He can’t be trusted and will be worse than a Dem president because all of his mistakes can then be blamed on the Republican party, making the GOP look worse than it already does.
“There are just some things that are bigger than the United States government, and in the face of such, one must do the best one can. I think that to be the case, and I stand here to applaud the efforts of those who ran to their country-mens’ aid.”
BRAVO!! Good Post!!
IIRC, the AF was flying everthing they could to get OUT of the path of the hurricane. Presumably those displaced aircraft would have been in the process of returning & supporting the cleanup. Having AirForce One in the pattern would not have helped.
Looks like there are some folks with BDS on that thread too! LOL!!
Every day I loathe the man more.
Precisely, which is why I am glad this stuff is on tape so we can run ads against him in 2012, (with a Conservative Republican) either as President or whenever his Senate seat is up.
1. People who don’t want to leave don’t need rescuing, OK? This is still supposed to be a free country.
2. I never denied the presence of rescuers. That would be stupid. What I said is that they were still at the job (sunup till after sundown) over a week after the storm. By all means let’s give credit to them, esp. the helicopter crews. I still can’t believe none of them were lost in those hazardous flying conditions.
3. In sworn testimony before Congress, the US Army Corps of Engineers has admitted that its mistakes led to the failure of the flood protection structures. Let’s not give ear to unsourced speculations about local rat holes. Let’s not make this political, shall we?
Seems to have reached epidemic proportions in some circles.
That may not have been legal. The Feds were fairly begging the LA Governor to declare an emergency BEFORE the hurricane actually struck so that they could begin an evacuation. She would not, evidently hoping that the 'cane would veer-off in the last hours. Even so, the Coast Guard & Navy were in motion before Katrina made landfall.
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