[BenLurkin]

How does a light weight flake like Nagin get elected mayor of a big city?

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Because he was elected on his color and race, and not on his ability to govern or run a city.

[jocon307]

"How does a light weight flake like Nagin get elected mayor of a big city?"

My friend, a former, thank the good Lord, resident of NO, told me it was because Morial tried some shifty move to get himself, and ONLY himself, unlimited terms. So folks went for Nagin in disgust.

Well, he and Blanco have proved themselves great failures. He sounds like a complete hysteric in this interview.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I'm sure the NAACP had a lot to do with it. The NAACP picks their guy, threatens the DNC with protests if they pick somebody else, and he winds up on the ticket. Since the inner city votes overwhelmingly DemonRat, the Repub. candidate doesn't matter. They just keep up their chant that the Repubs. are racists who hate poor people.

[RobbyS]

You send buses to bring your voters to the polls.

[Zacs Mom]

Your question was probably rhetorical but the answer to it really is enlightening....before his election, Nagin was a member of the Republican Party and had little political experience.

He was a vice president and general manager at Cox Communications, a cable communications company and subsidiary of Cox Enterprises

Days before filing for the New Orleans Mayoral race in February 2002, Nagin switched his party registration to the Democratic Party, presumably in order to improve his chances of winning the race in heavily Democratic New Orleans.

I guess he got some pretty good press when he was running, huh!? Nagin is a flippin' opportunist ~ totally unqualified and inept!

[Dick Vomer]

How does a light weight flake like Nagin get elected mayor of a big city

it's not who you know..just who or what you blow...

[WestTexasWend]

"How does a light weight flake like Nagin get elected mayor of a big city?"

Maybe with promises of free cable...wasn't he head of Cox Communications before he ran for mayor?

[Calvin Locke]

How does a light weight flake like Nagin get elected mayor of a big city?

They must have had a David Dinkins Moment.

Remember, lots of people voted for Jimmy Carter too, speaking of dangerous Peter Principle lightweights.

[benjaminjjones]

How does a light weight flake like Nagin get elected mayor of a big city?

I lived in Northern Virginia and worked in D.C. when there was a crack head called Marion Barry as Mayor of D.C.

Remember his line: "The bitch set me up"?

I think they even reelected him after he got busted.

Johnnie Cochran might say "You gets what you elects".

Democracy is not a perfect system, but it's the best one going. I wouldn't have it any other way, except to maybe going back to only allowing landowners to vote.

[185JHP]

Same way that buffoonish Moose got the job he had - but you knew that...

[dufekin]

"How does a light weight flake like Nagin get elected mayor of a big city?"

How did a light weight flake like Jimmy Carter get elected President of the United States? Like Carter, Nagin proved well-meaning but incompetent.

Nagin wants to control crime, but he hasn't a clue how to do it. He wanted to evacuate his city, but even after two failed trials and three failed simulations, he couldn't think of a plan. He really wanted to put the poor on buses to send them to safety, but he proved too incompetent to make it happen.

The threats of lawyers haunt Nagin tremendously; the ACLU threatened to sue him a trial evacuation ago, so he figured that not evacuating at all would save him some legal troubles.

I'm not sure how he got elected. He probably told the citizens that he'd do his best to control crime, provide public services, and ensure safety during hurricanes [okay, maybe not; Louisianians are notoriously incognizant of tropical storm perils]. And he probably even tried to do just that; maybe he even outlined a plan. But it didn't work; he didn't execute it. No one knew their role. It sounded good, but it fell flat.

And don't get me into obstructionist Blanco, who must be a DNC shrill and perhaps a racist. But will Nagin achieve re-election? Let's put it this way: will there be two people left in New Orleans come election day, one to run for mayor and the other to support the one? Otherwise, bet your book on Mayor Nagin for Life.

[Zack Nguyen]

How does a light weight flake like Nagin get elected mayor of a big city?

The bigger the city, the more likely they are to elect a lightweight flake, in my opinion. Large cities are pools of political backscratching, massive bureaucracies, public works projects, sweetheart deals, and frankly, corruption.