All Hail New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the Anti-Rudy!!!

[GettysbergII]

Anybody catch Ray Nagin, tonight on Nightline? I swear he has more class in his little finger that ol' Rudy Twoface had in his entire self.

[JI7]

1. nightline is on today ?

or are you talking about some other show ?

[nonconformist]

3. I saw him on 60 Minutes tonight. *shrug* maybe that's what they meant nt

[NYC]

2. I didn't see it. Please give details.

Nagin has been giving wonderful interviews, but I can't always find them on WDSU.

[AtomicKitten]

4. Ironically The Repubs Say Rudy Would Have Saved the Day.

Anyone remember when Rudy was a big joke in NY running around with his mistress? I remember and 9-11 doesn't change that. He did a good job after the planes hit, but he's also a Bush butt-sniffer, and those cancel each other out.

Ray Nagin is a real person who really did the best he could under some cicumstances orchestrated by BushCo that were beyond his control.

[JHB]

12. Exactly. For the 48-72 or so hours after the planes hit, I'll praise...

...Hero Rudy up and down. but the moment someone suggested extending his (nearly over) term "for the duration of the emergency", Hero Rudy was gone and posturing, conniving Il Duce-ani was back.

He's NOT the man to help NO. I admit I wouldn't mind seeing him stranded in a swamp somewhere, but not one we're actually trying to rebuild.

[lavenderdiva]

5. Is the '60 Minutes' segment in which he was interviewed available online?

if so, where? I'd love to see it...

[GettysbergII]

6. There was a special edition nightline Sunday night

Ray was asked if he thought the NOLA abandonment was about race. He paused and said, "It might well be.......but I know it's about class. They he told a story of how he set up a bunch of people stuck at the convention center (or dome) that were going stir crazy to walk on out of New Orleans on the highway. He was goind to get water and food dropped at strategic points on the highway for them but just before they got to a mall at the edge of the parrish, FEMA etal turned them back because they already had to stop one looter in the mall and they didn't want a whole bunch of others. Ray pointed out how they were pkac3ing the importance of property above human life. Great story, particularly the way he told it.

[Lydia Guerra]

7. Nagin: Leadership Award of 2005 - The Anti-Rudy Indeed!!

Rudy has been exemplified as the "leader extraordinaire" throughout the biz, academic and political elite community: Someone beleaguered by scandal and incompetence who, by circumstance of fate and background of values, rose to the occasion of the tragic and enormous events of 9-11. Now, "WTF Mayor Nagin" has become the leader of choice. He's pissed off. And he's not backin' off!! Yes, Nagin is indeed rightfully named by Gettysburg II, The Anti-Rudy. A true leader of the new american century. The racism, classism and just plain evil, intentional neglect of an urban population in the face of disaster will not be tolerated and Mayor Nagin has indeed spoken truth to power. What does it mean to be "anti-rudy"? It means that you do not relinquish your values, the value of human dignity and life, in order to promote your political career. The anti-rudy is authentic, genuine, diplomatic, forthright, angry, righteous, indignant, compassionate, kick-butt, and politically savvy. What is a leader!? Mayor Nagin. I could go on for pages. I'm glad Mayor Nagin speaks with both respect for authority and calls to account the bureocracy that strangled the people of NO. If it can happen in NYC, if it can happen in NOLA, it can happen in Chicago - on the South Side (where I live) and it can happen in a major urban location near YOU. The anti-rudy, indeed. Curse all you want, for the words Mayor Nagin has used to describe the failure of leadership and compassion in ACTION by the Bush Administration and FEMA and the Nat'l Guard are acurate and true. Keep this thread alive and keep the attention focused on the dispicable and disgusting failure of the Federal Govt to care for an preserve the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of the taxpaying citizens of NOLA!!

[GettysbergII]

9. That's the Anti-Rudy to all right Lydia!!

And another Major Catastrophe will be coming to the Urban Area you live in sooner than you think and if you let the lessons on NOLA slip into yesterday's news, you'll be treated as having less worth than property too. Let's not forget, you're insurance company can waive its financial obligations through bankruptcy but, thanks to Bushco,you no longer can.

[texpatriot2004]

8. Mayor Nagin is a Civic Saint. Thank you Mayor Nagin. n/t

[brettdale]

10. Please support him

I and am so afraid, that the next few days, is goign to be hell for him, the MSM and right will try to blame him for all of New Orleans troubles.

The next 48 hours, could change the country, I hope some Journos have enough guts to stand up to the spin that is going to come from the right.

[pursuivant]

11. I reserve judgment on Nagin . . .

until we know just how well he coordinated attempts to evacuate the city before the levees broke.

From what I've heard, he refused to allow public transit to be used to evacuate people, and NOLA's efforts to get the word out to people to evacuate (and help others evacuate) were lackluster.

Of all the public officials involved, he should have been the one most aware of just what a huge shit-storm a major hurricane could cause. Maybe he did all he could, but I'm not giving him any breaks yet. After all, it's not hard to be classier than Rudy.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

13. I am po'ed I didn't know about the Nightline

Nagins is the man I would want in a disaster. He actually wanted to see results. Guiliani was just a cheerleader with hollow words.

I live in NJ and when Whitman (former Gov. NJ) resigned EPA (I abhor that woman) I knew there was trouble brewing.

Rudy and Bush say what we want to hear, but -120 on the action part.

[Strawman]

18. I think you heard wrong

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune blog, Sunday 8/28:

"Regional Transit Authority buses were scheduled to ferry people to the dome from 12 locations around the city beginning at noon today.

Meantime, to make sure word of the mandatory evacuation gets out, Nagin said that police and fire crews would be driving through neighborhoods Sunday with bullhorns, directing people to leave."


http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08.html#074564

[undeterred]

14. It was 60 Minutes on CBS and there were lots of threads here

on it a few hours ago. Said Bush let him take his first shower in 5 days on Air Force One.

[GettysbergII]

16. He was on a Special Edition Sunday Nightline also.

[blitzen]

15. don't fetishize Nagin....

while his non-politician mouth makes for some good quotes, he is no DU hero:

his efforts to evacuate NO were lackluster, and only really got going when the head of the National Hurricane Center called him up and chewed his ass off...by then it was way too late

he will be the first to promote the global corporatist carpet-bagger Vegasization of NO....he is a big-time DINO (no repub could ever win in NO), cable TV exec

he endorsed Bobby Jindal, a far-right bible-toting GOP scum, for congress

he's trying to pass the buck on to Blanco

etc

[Swamp Rat]

17. Ray Nagin is my hero

:)