Posted on 09/20/2005 11:35:05 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob
The US military has categories of stupidity. The highest is “gross public dumb.” But a higher category is needed for moments like the “bus interview” by Louisiana Governor Blanco. It is spectacularly stupid. You’ve got to see this to believe it.
Interview of Governor Blanco by John Hill of Louisiana Gannett News, 19 September, 2005
“GANNETT: In hindsight, what would you have done differently in the first response?
“BLANCO: Well, I would have placed less confidence in a structure elsewhere (the Federal Emergency Management Association) and depended more on ourselves. As an example, when buses were not delivered in a timely fashion, we had already started gathering school buses ... and buses of any kind ...
“We gave ourselves a false sense of confidence when we were counting on 500 buses that FEMA had ordered that did not come in until Wednesday night. So ...we would depend more on our own resources.”
Is this a stupid statement? To quote Elizabeth Browning, “Let me count the ways.”
Louisiana and New Orleans were supposed to use their OWN buses. So says the Southern Louisiana Evacuation Plan, 1 January, 2000. Was Governor Blanco aware of the Plan? Apparently not. But for any Governor of Louisiana, isn’t dealing with the occasional hurricane part of the job?
She refers to “confidence in FEMA.” Did she think FEMA had magic buses which would run with their engines under water? Did she think people could board those buses from the attics of their houses, hiding from flood waters? Hasn’t she seen the aerial photographs of 500 local buses flooded where they were parked before Katrina hit? Hellooo.
In the past she knew how to roll the buses. When she was running for Governor, she got the buses rolling in New Orleans Parish, with signs and Dixieland bands to turn out voters for Blanco. Which is the higher priority – getting votes for Blanco, or saving lives? Hellooo.
Was FEMA “late” in helping New Orleans? Let’s review. Katrina is the worst hurricane measured by square miles of territory wiped out. The second worst was Hurricane Floyd in 1999. It lingered over North Carolina, wiping out roads, electricity, gas lines, letting loose millions of gallons of sewage and agricultural waste on the eastern third of that state.
In 1999, the Governor did not retire to his fainting couch to “think about it” for 24 hours as Floyd approached. Yet FEMA’s response to Floyd (a smaller destroyed area) was slower than its response to Katrina now. Blanco has to know this, because her hired gun for the political aftermath of Katrina is James Lee Witt, Director of FEMA in 1999. Hellooo.
Asked about her comment which CNN taped that she “should have specifically asked for more troops," she said:
“BLANCO: Well, that was at a point in time when we were wondering if we were getting any significant federal aid. I guess because of the dynamics of the situation, when I asked for help, then I started getting bombarded with, ‘Did you ask specifically for this, that or the other.’ .... When people ask me for help, I know what kind of help I can get to them, and I can get it to them pretty quickly... Nobody bothered to ask me those questions.”
Note that last sentence. If nobody asks her a question, she doesn’t even think about that subject. Should any executive in or outside government ever act like this in an emergency? Hellooo.
Asked about the “breakdown... between state, federal and local people,” she replied,
“BLANCO: “I think the breakdown was at the point of not being able to get (buses) there on time. ... We had one mission in those early days, and it was search and rescue. Get people out of the water.”
No, Mrs. Blanco, the FIRST mission was to get the people out BEFORE the water got there. Hellooo. This woman is unfit to run a lemonade stand. She would have a gross lack of sales because she thought someone else was bringing the lemons.
I’m not picking on Governor Blanco as a Southern woman and Democrat. In three generations of women in my family, most are/were Southerners and Democrats. None of them, in a crisis, ever dithered or worked themselves into a swivet. They sized up the situation and did the best they could. No one was harmed because they couldn’t act..
But people did get harmed, people did die, because Blanco became Governor, clueless of her duties whenever the next major hurricane hit New Orleans. That goes beyond the high standard of gross public dumb.
About the Author: John Armor is a First Amendment attorney and author who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
Google the whole interview. Other parts are as lame and dumb as the parts quoted here.
As usual, this is posted on FR before its Internet or print media publications.
John / Billybob
"gathering school buses ... and buses of any kind"
Didn't count the school buses that came under water when NO mayor didn't release them.
Good Job ~ Bump!
Well done.
Great job. Thanks for pointing out that she does NOT represent Southern women!
Do you have this of military catgories of Dumb? Sounds like it would be a hoot to read. "Gross Public Dumb!"
How about "needs to be eliminated from the gene pool dumb"?
Great work pointing out the idiocy of my governor. The sooner she is bumped from office, the better.
Kathleen Blanco is perhaps the only Southern woman of whom it could be said "she's no Steel Magnolia".
A pathetic excuse for a Southerner. Simply pathetic.
Kathleen Blanco is perhaps the only Southern woman of whom it could be said "she's no Steel Magnolia".
A pathetic excuse for a Southerner. Simply pathetic.
Is that like, "Stuck on Stupid"?
I did a Google search for "gross public dumb" and all I got was a handful of hits for a single article about Dick Durbin. The article was written by this guy John Armor ...
Every day I get in the queue (too much, magic bus)
To get on the bus that takes me to you (too much, magic bus)
I’m so nervous, I just sit and smile (too much, magic bus)
You house is only another mile (too much, magic bus)
Thank you, driver, for getting me here (too much, magic bus)
You’ll be an inspector, have no fear (too much, magic bus)
I don’t want to cause no fuss (too much, magic bus)
But can I buy your magic bus? (too much, magic bus)
Steel Magnolia? More like a Plastic Pansy............that squirts water ..........
I often get the impression that the job of the news media consists, in large part, of acting as if nothing's going on when a liberal says the moon is made of guda cheese.
Speaking of fellow Southerners that perpetuate unfair stereotypes regarding the intellectual capabilities found in our wonderful region of the nation, check out this one by Ted Turner.
"They're thin, and they were riding bicycles rather than driving cars." - Ted Turner disputing the assertion that N. Korea suffers from famine.
Apparently, Ms. Blanco thinks that the rest of Louisiana is as stupid as she is. She must not realize that other reporters will see her interview and try to reconcile her comments with her actions.
The problem she has is that her comments don't track with her actions. And, her constituents know it.
She can dither and blather all she likes - she ain't Bubba Clinton and she won't be able to duck what's comin' her way.
bump for later read
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