It sure does make sense that the Mayor of N.O. is to blame

[LittleClarkie]

I hear he doesn't like minorities anyway. All those uppity darkies get on his nerves.

And just look at the initials of his city! NO! The party of NO, get it?

Yep, all his fault.

:sarcasm:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Especially since the mayor has the power

to make cities in other parts of the country to take the thousands of evacuees. He has the power to call out the Guard and to coordinate efforts with the military.....oh, wait a minute, he doesn't have those powers....

Wonder what the spin would have been if the mayor had loaded up the buses and just sent them on their way? Wouldn't that have been like "the voyage of the damned"?

[LittleClarkie]

3. One of my conservative friends said

that he turned away help early on. I don't know the facts of that one, but my friend is notorious for leaving shit out, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a rational explanation. Something about planes I guess. Not something I'd seen here.

Poor guy (not). I was telling him about the Yahoo "find" vs "loot" and he went off on me. He said he felt attacked because I kept bringing that kind of stuff up. They're so sensitive when they think they're being attacked, aren't they. Wasn't even what I was doing really. Not unless Yahoo has become more Republican than I know.

A bit touchy now that I think about it. That was his reaction. Defensive.

It was my intention, however, to bring up what RW was saying about how the people left in N.O. had no one to blame but themselves, about how folks expect too much out of government (yeah, these people should just pick themselves up by their own bootstraps and walk on out of there), about how many of the people left are criminals anyway, blah, blah, blah. My friend went ballistic. I said I was just telling him what the RW was saying and he said "WHY DON'T YOU GO TALK TO THEM THEN!!"

It's amazing how sensitive to being attacked Republicans are, and yet they feel they should be able to do it with impunity, without any reaction from the other side.

Like the Russians always struck me during the Cold War. Like they have an inferiority complex or something.

[stray cat]

2. They mayor was one of the only leaders that impressed me.

At least he gave a damn about the people of NO.

[LittleClarkie]

4. I heard the interview where he just went off

I think folks were finally realizing that not enough was being done then.

[Igel]

5. Far from all his fault.

But he's not exactly innocent.

Stark, all-good/all-bad contrasts in evaluating who did what right and wrong will lead to deaths in the future. Esp. if we base our biases on race or party politics.

The repubs are idiots for trying to say "Don't blame Bush for anything, blame the dems." Reversing the assignment of blame is no better, unless the facts (sorely lacking at this point) justify it.

[LittleClarkie]

6. What would you say that the mayor has done wrong so far?

I've heard a couple things.

[lynne]

7. He's had some practice at this hurricane business with Ivan -

- in 2004. Reading the news report after Ivan makes me think that things should certainly have been done better this time around as they had a year to fine-tune their plans.

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/091904ccktWWLIvanFlaws.132602486.html

Bits from the above link, see link for full story:

******

Those who had the money to flee Hurricane Ivan ran into hours-long traffic jams. Those too poor to leave the city had to find their own shelter - a policy that was eventually reversed, but only a few hours before the deadly storm struck land.

<snip>

"They say evacuate, but they don't say how I'm supposed to do that," Latonya Hill, 57, said at the time. "If I can't walk it or get there on the bus, I don't go. I don't got a car. My daughter don't either."

<snip>

It's always been a problem, but the situation is worse now that the Red Cross has stopped providing shelters in New Orleans for hurricanes rated above Category 2. Stronger hurricanes are too dangerous, and Ivan was a much more powerful Category 4.

In this case, city officials first said they would provide no shelter, then agreed that the state-owned Louisiana Superdome would open to those with special medical needs. Only Wednesday afternoon, with Ivan just hours away, did the city open the 20-story-high domed stadium to the public.

<snip>

Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Nagin both acknowledged the need to improve traffic flow and said state police should consider reversing highway lanes earlier. They also promised meetings with governments in neighboring localities and state transportation officials to improve evacuation plans.