On the Saturday edition of the NBC Nightly News, anchored by John Seigenthaler, correspondent Lisa Myers reported several critical mistakes made by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco in handling the Hurricane Katrina crisis. The story even showcased a whispered conversation, recorded by CNN, between Blanco and an aide in which Blanco admitted she had been too slow in asking for federal troops. Blanco: “I really need to call for the military ... and I should have started that in the first call.”
Myers also relayed that when Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation 20 hours before Katrina hit, they were ignoring the advice of experts who had warned it would take 48 hours. Additionally, Blanco was slow to get National Guard troops to restore order. A complete transcript of the story follows:
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/node/2072#ixzz25UOhrbQF
Thank you for a great post.
GWB had assets ready and implored Blanco to give the go-ahead. The governor has to give permission for troops and aid to be sent in, by law. I have other suspicions why Blanco stalled, all based on party politics.
1. Blanco did not want to be seen accepting help from Republicans, especially the Evil Bush.
2. If it did turn out to be a mess, well, Its’ Bushes Fault!
I still consider Blanco to be criminally negligent.
This made me so angry for 3+ years that the RNC and GOP let the Dem’s get away with lying about everything and blaming Bush. Why don’t they ever fight back?
It was all organized to make Bush look bad, as if he’s the only one to handle natural disasters.
if you can — do a TO&E for the LANG Katrina.
THE LTC (hubby) kept track of it throughout Katrina, Blanco kept saying that her guard was in Iraq while all the time, she was holding back about 2000 guard. Her TAG was equally responsible.
He also taught CAS3 classes during and after Katrina, had a bunch of students from AR and LA guard. They really had some stories to tell