Meet The Press (9/11) - Mayor Nagin

[Roland99]

Why did they bleep "asses" but leave in "goddamned"?

heh

[Roland99]

1. Wow...talking of meeting * at Zephyr field:

Nagin saw ice and large lights that he had been begging for for his city and the Superdome (since it was very dark within the Superdome).

[Roland99]

2. "I'm not a FEMA fan."

"This cannot happen again."

"There needs to be a critical review of FEMA."

[Roland99]

3. "I could have done some things much better"

"But I was there. I was in the Superdome....I was making decisions based on facts....I think I did everything possible known to any mayor in the country to save lives...history will show we did things to save thousands and thousands of lives."

[Roland99]

4. Russert bringing up graphic of submerged school buses

"Why did you not declare a mandatory evacuation on Friday and have utilized those buses to get people out."


"That will be one of things that will be debated. There's never been a Cat 5 to hit n.o. directly. Sure, there was lots of buses out there but, guess what? You can't find drivers to stay behind with a cat 5 bearing down on the city. We barely had enough drivers to get people to the Superdome."


Russert reading NOLA evac plan saying it's the responsibility of the mayor. "It was your responsibility...where was the planning, where was the execution"


"The plan was always getting people to higher ground and then depend upon state and federal officials to move them out of harm's way after the storm hit."

[Goldeneye]

5. I'm glad he admitted to making mistakes when Russert

asked him about it. I think there will be people who can appreciate that. Nagin was there. He lived it. Not at the level some people lived it, but he was there hunkered down just like thousands of other LA citizens. He saw the destruction and he did what he could.

[Roland99]

10. Exactly. And, imo, it seems the Gov. had an incompetent staff around her

and they were a bit indecisive and not being emphatic enough with the right people.

[Dem Agog]

13. Admitting you made a mistake DEFUSES a situation...

This is a lesson BushCo has never learned. If they simply admit to a mistake, they take the power of the anger over that mistake and weaken it a little bit.

By refusing to ever admit mistakes, or to apologize, they just give the anger over their fuckups even more power.

Tools.

[Roland99]

15. That's what took Clinton down, too.

Don't wanna to bring up the Clenis but, seriously, if he'd just admitted it upfront the whole impeachment wouldn't have happened.

[Dem Agog]

17. A good example of what happens, on both sides of the party line.

Thanks for reminding me of that. That was Clinton's fatal flaw. Not admitting that one mistake and moving on...

It will take BushCo down too.

[Roland99]

6. Russert: "You said an evac plan wouldn't work.."

Nagin: "we were in a position of encouraging as many people as possible to leave. Keep in mind, normal evac we get 60% out...this time we got 80% out...we encourageg a buddy system and churches."


R: "Amtrak offered to get people out of the city but the city of NO declined."

N: "I don't know where that's coming from. Amtrak never contacted me."

[Roland99]

7. R: "Superdome was a safe haven, why wasn't there water/food/cots"

N: "Well, we put in place the resources we had for security, there was running water at the time, there was food. We encouraged people coming to bring food/water to last them 2-3 days. We always assume that after 2-3 days the cavalry would be coming."


R: "How would you rate the Pres.?"

N: "I don't want to get into this. I think the Pres. didn't understand the situation....my interaction w/the Pres. is he acted and made things happen."


R: "What about the Gov.?"
N: "We fought with 200 nat'l guard to protect the city. We didn't get the help we needed....when the help did come in, it came with a huge media following, helicopter flyovers."


Nagin seems to be critical of the Gov. and concerns of whether it was going to be federalized or not.

[Roland99]

8. R: "Who should participate in rebuilding a new n.o.?"

N: "New Orleanians....there are other people trying to get involved...trying to bring voters back into the city....we're gonna rebuild n.o."

[Roland99]

9. end of Nagin interview.

[vickie]

11. Sounds as though Nagin bore up fairly well this morning.

[ElectroPrincess]

12. I Agree ...

Because we are not arrogant right wingers, we can respect a man of truly good character who is also humble enough to admit his mistakes.

May we (The USA analysis) do right by Mayor Nagin because he is an honorable man. :patriot: :thumbsup:

[Roland99]

14. Yeah, I wish Russert had asked one more followup re:the buses.

I think it would have helped dispel that notion the city could have done more.

When Nagin said he couldn't get drivers as no one was staying behind, why didn't he order city workers or recruit more heavily or ask for help from outside?

I think if that question had been asked, we could have finally put to rest that notion those buses could have been used to evacuate everyone.

Also, I would have liked Nagin to respond that using the buses to take people out of the city would have been a one-way trip (no time to bring them back.)

But, he did do well in saying they got people to the shelters and they expected the cavalry to arrive in 2-3 days, which didn't happen.

[magnolia]

19. What he said about...

...bus drivers would apply to everyone else. If bus drivers took off to take care of their families, wouldn't city workers be even more likely to do that.

[Roland99]

20. Not unless those city workers were tasked to do that as their job

Setup a "task force", if you will, for manning the buses.

[Catch22Dem]

18. Thanks Roland...

You did as good a job as rodeodance usually doesn. :D

[win_in_06]

16. My Take: Russert Blamed Nagin

add: and Nagin blamed the Governor