2,000 buses unused in NO vs. 80% evacuation

[underpants]

I was just talking to my ex-FEMA type worker friend and he was telling me that this was a big point on Rush's show today. I had read it on a spam-mail going around trying desperately to deflect blame (not playing the blame game?) away from W.

I asked him-What about this 80% evacuation rate?
He says-That is out of the realm of possibility normally. No one can expect to get 80% out that is beyond a great effort.

So if anyone mentions the 2,000 school buses that weren't used in New Orleans tell them they apparently weren't needed. Oh this is before the flood, after the flood the excuse used for not getting anything INTO the city that was used was the flooding...the same would apply (if true) for getting people OUT of the city (in these buses).

[LostinVA]

1. Um... they do it in the Keys all the time

And that's much worse logistics: only one road in, one road out, and it's the same road... and often only two lane. Plus, It's a LONG way from Homestead to Key West....

[underpants]

3. I was told that that was an extremely high %

Doing that in the Keys (Key West at least) doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. Either way, you are always going to have 5-25% of people who won't/can't leave for many reasons.

It is still signifies a good job being done.

[txindy]

11. I always wondered about people evacuating from the Keys

However, that's completely different from a major metropolitan area like NO where 80% of the population is exponentially higher than 80% in the Keys.

[Pewlett Hackard]

2. is today

RW talking points day on DU?

[expatriot]

5. If this is a RW "Bush defense" talking point, then Bush is so gone.

I was expecting them to come up with something better than this. (Read my post below) Now I have to get to work.

[underpants]

7. "School buses" being mentioned now on Franken

this seems to be they one biggee....seriously.

[expatriot]

4. jesus, so this is all they have? As I have said many times before

the city and state's role in preperation of the crisis has NOTHING to do with George Bush and the federal government's preperation and response to the catastrophe. IN FACT, if the local and state governments WERE incompetent in preparing for the disaster, Bush and the federa government are MORE TO BLAME since they have a responsibility RE: National RESPONSE PLAN to come in and TAKE OVER the efforts when they feel that local and state efforts are inadequate or compromised.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Because if you repeat something enough

then it makes it true.

I can't believe how many times I've had to explain to people what happened here in order to dispel their misconceptions.

The looting memes are even worse. Half the world now thinks NO is a lawless, crime infested hell hole.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. On Sunday, FEMA couldn't get their act together

to tell Mayor Nagin where to send the buses. Then FEMA decided that the Superdome was okay to use has a shelter and to send the people there, even though in the pre-planning the Superdome was never certified has a safe shelter. It was at that point that FEMA should have started picking up the people at the Superdome and gotten them out of the evacuation zone. However, FEMA couldn't be bothered to even deliver enough food and water, no less try to get people out.

This whole mess is on FEMA and no one else. Don't let the freeping liars tell you otherwise.

[alfredo]

9. Can you imagine the school buses going through the neighborhoods

It would have been a mob scene. Anyway, what person would have abandoned their families to ferry people out of NO? How many of those buses would have been mobbed and hijacked?

[mattclearing]

10. Even so, do the math:

2000 buses @ 40 people per bus = 80,000 people.

If you believe the 80% figure, that's still not even half of the people who were unable/unwilling to evacuate.