Mayor Ray Nagin, Senator Landrieu, Governor Blanco

[liberalpragmatist]

What are people's opinions on these public officials? Certainly their response is better than Bush's, but what do people feel about their responses to the disaster?

Oh, and for Senator Vitter - the Republican senator - apparently he was quoted saying something to the effect of him being glad that "his house wasn't destroyed." Gee, thanks.

[TomInTib]

1. I've seen Blanco and Landrieu (plus voice of Nagin) all over

CNN and MSNBC. They seem to have it pretty together and are on the job. Wondered about the other Senator, but since he's a repub, maybe he's on Faux?

[YDogg]

2. I think they're doing the best they can considering the situation ...

... and the fact that they have no federal support system yet, to speak of. They care. They get it. They aren't flippant assholes.

[elehhhhna]

3. Clue: the one who looks the most tan & rested is the lazy one.

[xray s]

4. They are doing the best they can

What pisses me off is this idiot Brown at FEMA talking about waiting for requests from local officials for aid before he does anything.

Dammit! The local government is in shambles from the storm. STEP UP AND TAKE CONTROL!!!!

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Brown's hands are probably tied

That is the way it works at FEMA now. They have been subordinated by the "command" of the Department of Homeland Security. Their budgets have been slashed, their personnel raided, and their supplies "looted" under orders.

I suspect that Brown and several other FEMA administrators will be the first to face the proverbial firing squad. They're expendable.

This is all going to come out. There has been too much death, way too much misery, and the most naked display of institutional racism that the public has seen in over a generation. Whether the final death toll is 3,500 or 35,000, there will be a demand for accountability.

There will be no injections of the anesthetic of patriotism this time. Nearly five million people along the Gulf Coast have been abandoned by our disgraceful excuse for a "commander-in-chief". Most of them are poor, a disproportionate number are black, and far too many of them are elderly people forgotten and abandoned by their affluent families. Unlike the victims of the attacks four years ago on 9-11, death has not come quickly to those harvested by Katrina. And also unlike 9-11, there are a large number of people who have been badly traumatized, physically injured, and ultimately abused by their country.

It won't go down easy this time.

--p!

[Nikki Stone 1]

7. Good points here

And I think you are right about whose heads will roll

[shireen]

5. has Vitter been in the news? n/t

[Ediacara]

8. Blanco, Landrieu, and Nagin

Have reacted as best they can. I may disagree with the Governor and the Senator on some policy, but they're doing quite well. Heck, even Barbour is doing ok. Vitter has been completely AWOL as far as I can tell, unless he's boycotting CNN interviews.

[AX10]

9. They are doing the best they can.

It's Bush he is screwing up.

[mzmolly]

10. Blanco talked more about "looting" than saving lives IMHO.

She seemed far more concerned with protecting "property" then people?

But, I may have judged her too harshly.

[AnnInLa]

11. I think they have been Louisiana's ROCKS

and now I want to scream when I hear FEMA officials blaming the state officials. When questioned about evacuating hospitals, the FEMA director said that he JUST heard from LA officials that hospitals needed to be evacuated! That couldn't have occurred to him and his entire organization?

Our state officials have had their funds cut for every effort to build up our wetlands, and for every effort to make New Orleans more safe. They have done the best they could with what they have at their disposal. This is not New York...this is a poor agricultural state. Where is our federal gov't??

Vitter is scum...he snuck in a provision in one of the recently passed federal bills (anyone remember which one?) to allow Logging Companies to come into our wetlands and cut down the cypress trees. Officials in LA have been screaming for years...and Landrieu is in the forefront...that destroying our wetlands makes all of us more vulnerable to hurricanes, oil spills, etc.

Not ONE of you out there is safe. In case of another MAJOR MAN-MADE CATASTROPHE, OR NATURAL DISASTER...this is what will happen to you and yours. And FEMA will not be there.

[opstachuck]

12. being from new orleans

i've always been a big nagin fan, especially considering the corrupt prior mayors, maybe that's tainted my view of his handling the situation but his biggest role is yet to come. i think he's done as good a job as i might expect. it actually gives me comfort knowing he's there to help the rebuild the city. in my opinion, he's the only mayor we've had in a while with a real vision for the future. anyway, the others are okay, nothing spectacular but i really don't know what to expect from them.

i wish we had rumors of wmd's hiding somewhere, then bush may have actually done his fucking job.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

13. Gov. Blanco has been a Bush Cheerleader. They Mayor is begging for help.

The Governor is a total tool....

[Swamp Rat]

14. I support Nagin, Landrieu, Blanco, and Mitch Landrieu 100%

Where the HELL is Vitter???

[Eloriel]

15. Nagin waited a day too long to declare mandatory evacuation and

then wasn't nearly as effective at HELPING people get out as he said he was going to be.

Landrieu is either in the pitiable, humiliating position of having to thank Bush and others in order to try to ensure they'll continue to get some services, instead of being able to blast them -- OR she's clueless and thus worthless.

Blanco is probably doing as well as she can. And this probably applies to Nagin too. But what is needed is FEDERAL help -- thousands more choppers, tens of thousands more Nat'l Guard.

Bush was so self-congratulatory about sending those supplies which included 5.4 million MREs. Well, sounds like spitting in the ocean to me. There are SURELY more than 1 million people displaced and currently homelss, so that's just FIVE MEALS per person. Worse than a drop in the bucket.