Republican vs. Democrat leadership

[WRL]

The democrats are so quick to play politics with tragedy, be it exploiting deaths in Iraq to push for retreat so as to make their political opponents look bad, or with a horrible tragedy such as a hurricane.

Here’s the deal;
This was a two pronged tragedy, the hurricane, then the breaking of the levy. Democrats simply ignore the fact that at day two, when the levy broke this became a much worse disaster. Democrats have already ripped into President Bush and the ‘Republican’ response. The game of politics is never set aside.

"We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities,"

"I urge all citizens to put their own safety and the safety of their families first by moving to safe ground." President Bush before Katrina made landfall



Friday, Aug. 26:
_ 10,000 National Guard troops are dispatched across the Gulf Coast.

Monday, Aug. 29:
_ Katrina, a Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph winds, makes landfall near Buras, La., at 6:10 a.m
_ President Bush makes emergency disaster declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi, freeing up federal funds.

Tuesday, Aug. 30:
_ Two levees break in New Orleans and water pours in, covering 80 percent of the city and rising to 20 feet deep in some areas.
_ Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt declares a federal health emergency throughout the Gulf Coast, sends in medical supplies and workers.

Wednesday, Aug.31:
_ Army Corps of Engineers estimates it will be at least 30 days or more before New Orleans will be pumped out.
_ Bush authorizes a draw-down from the nation's Strategic Petroleum reserve.
_ Pentagon mounts one of largest search-and-rescue operations in U.S. history, sending four Navy ships with emergency supplies.

Thursday, Sept. 1:
_ Bush asks his father and former President Clinton to lead a fund-raising campaign for hurricane victims
_ Six hundred massive sand bags arrive to help shore up New Orleans' broken levees.
_ Water levels stop rising in New Orleans. Engineers work to close a 500-foot gap in a failed floodwall

Friday, Sept 2:
_ Bush tours hard-hit Gulf coast areas and acknowledges the failure so far of government hurricane relief efforts. "The results are not acceptable," he says.
_ Thousands of National Guardsmen arrive in New Orleans in truck convoys carrying food, water and weapons.
_ Congress approves $10.5 billion to cover the immediate rescue and relief efforts.

Sunday, Sept. 4:
Louisiana Gov. Democrat Kathleen Blanco refused to allow the federal government to take control of evacuation efforts.


The federal government plans to begin doling out debit cards worth $2,000 each to adult victims of Hurricane Katrina, The Associated Press has learned.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/07/D8CFH5F00.html



Truckloads of fashion clothing seized by government agents for violating import quotas arrived at Houston's Astrodome on Wednesday so Hurricane Katrina refugees there can put it to use.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection delivered about 100,000 items of summer clothing, with an estimated value of $2.3 million, and said much more is on the way to evacuees elsewhere.

http://today.reuters.com/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=uri:2005-09-06T200931Z_01_N0640145_RTRIDST_0_KATRINA-C OUNTERFEITS.XML





As you can see, the resources of the federal government went to help the victims of this duel tragedy. The people to answer for this tragedy are the elected officials Louisianans choose who failed to even prepare for this tragedy

If we are going to point fingers,



Democrat mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, why didn’t he act in advance to ensure the safety of his city. Why weren’t the full resources of the city, like buses, devoted to evacuating the poorest and elderly when the city knew the levies were only built to withstand a category 3? This democrat’s leadership of his city, left it to itself, everyone fend for themselves, during a disaster he KNEW it wasn't capable of withstanding. I bet his butt got out of NO, without a second thought to those to the old and sick. Realizing that he failed to prevent a disaster from compounding by doing nothing, suddenly he acts as if President Bush was in charge of the NO police and fire dept.
http://www.citymayors.com/mayors/new_orleans_mayor.html


What about Democrat Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, why weren’t the steeps taken at the state level to ensure refugee camps with full medical and food supplies were set up outside the lower lying areas for the residents to flee to, why weren’t the sick and old bussed here before the storm? The people of NO are fleeing to other states, on their own, after having lost everything and the Gov did squat to protect them. Why refuse to let the federal government take over your failed venture?
http://www.kathleenblanco.com/



The Democrat mayor of New Orleans failed miserably, he is in charge of the NO first responders, the first responders we hailed on 9/11 because the mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, held the city together and directed the relief efforts from the ground, unfortunately there wasn't a local response of such a caliber here.



Here is a chilling picture of a bunch of buses parked less than a mile from the superdome, bet these could have got allot of sick and elderly our in time had the mayor put together a plan.

Is it your point Bush should have been down there directing the resources of the city of NO, like these buses


http://junkyardblog.net/archives/week_2005_08_28.html


I see allot of parked buses, allot of thirsty people, allot of stranded people, wadding in feseis and filth, with a dumbfounded democrat wondering why Bush isn't doing his job, it took an unprecedented federal response to make some sense of it.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Problems:

1. Everyone knows that the feds failed
2. Blanco declared a diaster Friday August 26th.
3. Nagin was short on manpower for buses, but he did evacuate some people with buses.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.wdsu.com/news/4909184/detail.html

[WRL]

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present The Ray Nagin Memorial Motor Pool. New Orleans owns about 205 school buses and 364 public transit buses.

Estimates indicate upwards of 30,000 people could have been evac'ed in one trip. That is, of course, assuming there had been sufficient planning and execution at the local level.

But, no, the buses sit unused in flooded parking lots, leaking a delightful concoction -- made up of diesel fuel and motor oil -- into the toxic soup soaking the city.

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/

[2952-0-0]

Seriously, I think WRL is actually PD, except not as psycho.

[J. J.]

WRL: You are a f'ucking moron. And a right wing piece of sh!t (but I repeat myself)

Have a nice day.

BRTD, the Vorlon said the same thing, a bit less crudely, and posted a photo.

I do not exempt Bush or Blanco from making mistakes in this, but one of the two things Nagin deserves criticism for is not offering the buses.  My guess is that most of the people that went to Superdome before the stome hit, about 9000, would have been on those buses, perhaps a bit more.  Those would have been 9000 less in the Superdome and the Convention Center.  I saw on tonight's news where other cities do use buses as part of their evacuations (Chalestson, SC I believe).   It would have made the situation a lot easier.

[Smash255]

WRL: You are a f'ucking moron. And a right wing piece of sh!t (but I repeat myself)

Have a nice day.

BRTD, the Vorlon said the same thing, a bit less crudely, and posted a photo.

I do not exempt Bush or Blanco from making mistakes in this, but one of the two things Nagin deserves criticism for is not offering the buses.  My guess is that most of the people that went to Superdome before the stome hit, about 9000, would have been on those buses, perhaps a bit more.  Those would have been 9000 less in the Superdome and the Convention Center.  I saw on tonight's news where other cities do use buses as part of their evacuations (Chalestson, SC I believe).   It would have made the situation a lot easier.

Thing is did nagin have the resourvces & those people available to use the buses?  The buses may have been there, but did he have the manpower & resources to use the buses.  This is the type of things that creep up on the local level when your dealing with a city as poor as New Orleans, they simply don't have the resources & manpower to be able to pull off some things more well off cities can do beause of financial constraints

[J. J.]

WRL: You are a f'ucking moron. And a right wing piece of sh!t (but I repeat myself)

Have a nice day.

BRTD, the Vorlon said the same thing, a bit less crudely, and posted a photo.

I do not exempt Bush or Blanco from making mistakes in this, but one of the two things Nagin deserves criticism for is not offering the buses.  My guess is that most of the people that went to Superdome before the stome hit, about 9000, would have been on those buses, perhaps a bit more.  Those would have been 9000 less in the Superdome and the Convention Center.  I saw on tonight's news where other cities do use buses as part of their evacuations (Chalestson, SC I believe).   It would have made the situation a lot easier.

Thing is did nagin have the resourvces & those people available to use the buses?  The buses may have been there, but did he have the manpower & resources to use the buses.  This is the type of things that creep up on the local level when your dealing with a city as poor as New Orleans, they simply don't have the resources & manpower to be able to pull off some things more well off cities can do beause of financial constraints

Short answer, yes.  He was running the mass transit system in NOLA on a daily basis.  He could have gotten them up on the 27th in a voluntary evacuation.  That would have given him 24 hours, probably more.

I am not optimistic that 30,000 would have gone out, or that even all the buses would have been needed.  On the 28, however, 9000 people were willing to go to Superdome because they were too afraid to stay in their homes.  Those  9000 probably, and possibly a few more, would have gotten out.  Those would have been 9000 less than that needed food and water in the Superdome.

There still would have been a catastrophe, but it wouldn't be as bad as it was.  Just like you're seeing there now, many people didn't want to leave.   There were many that couldn't leave on buses, i.e. the disabled.

[MODU]

I believe, when after the investigation into this tragedy is done, Blanco's head will be on the block, with Nagin there catching it as it falls.  Both failed (and are still failing) to do their jobs to serve their citizens.  Between failing to bus folks out to blocking the Red Cross and FEMA from doing their job, both should be ashamed of themselves and step down once the area is brought back under control.

[Ben.]

I believe, when after the investigation into this tragedy is done, Blanco's head will be on the block, with Nagin there catching it as it falls.  Both failed (and are still failing) to do their jobs to serve their citizens.  Between failing to bus folks out to blocking the Red Cross and FEMA from doing their job, both should be ashamed of themselves and step down once the area is brought back under control.

Not that FEMA and the Adminisration failed at all.

In the end Landrieu will get the full investigation she has been asking for since day one and will probably be the only person to get out of this with an enhanced reputation.

Bush won't be seriously hurt but his reaction and the likley sacking of Brown will feed into a negative perception of the Adminisration.

Nagin will be nationally discredited and will largly carry the can for it, but I'd imagine that he doesn't lose his job, Blanco survives and is likley to win reelection in two years time, though by no great margin... and the tradition of Mayor of NO and the Governor of LA hating each other's guts goes on.

[MODU]

No, I don't think FEMA or the Administration "failed."  There were obvious problems with execution, but a lot of that was caused by the stonewalling of Blanco.  I mean, come on . . . NOT allowing the Red Cross access to those that need it?  What the hell is wrong with that state?

[Ben.]

No, I don't think FEMA or the Administration "failed."  There were obvious problems with execution, but a lot of that was caused by the stonewalling of Blanco.  I mean, come on . . . NOT allowing the Red Cross access to those that need it?  What the hell is wrong with that state?

What about the Administration’s blocking request after request for funding to improve the flood defences of the city of New Orleans and the lower Mississippi as advocated by both Landrieu and Vitter, the same administration which repeatedly slashed the funding for levee construction in New Orleans and the Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (with most of the cuts hitting the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project).     

Then there was the total lack of any emergency planning on the part of the Mayor of New Orleans to protect the people of his city especially those too poor or enfeebled to take care of themselves, such plans exist in most major cities which are at risk from hurricanes, earthquakes etc… but not in New Orleans and this is directly the responsibility of the Mayor, it is also important to remember for the most part these plans (such as the one in Charleston) involve the evacuation of the poor and immobile through the use of public transport.     

And then there was the monumental failure of Mike “I like Ponies” Brown (a man with no experience or expertise what so ever!) at FEMA who denied Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests last summer, ignored repeated warnings about the vulnerability of New Orleans to flooding caused by hurricanes and then spent the first few days after the disaster sitting on his ass and shifting responsibility and finally blaming those who had not gotten out of the city before the storm hit for the situation… for once I agree with Pelosi, the man has to go!     

Blanco may have been indecisive in her response so far, but it has been darn close to perfection when compared to the efforts of Brown and Nagin… both of whom have ably displayed their complete incompetence and inability to hold office, the nature of Nagain’s post probably means he’ll survive, but Brown has to go and with him the practice of putting partisan cronies and presidential buddies into offices they simply are not qualified for, I’m not saying this is something that is new to this administration, its certainly not, but after this disaster and the pathetic response on the party of the FEMA lead by Brown, it has to end.     
 

[J. J.]

FEMA was slow, slower than in the hurricanes last year, and were also slow in MS, where you didn't have a lot of the problems.

Blanco was slow in mobilizing and sending in the LANG.

Both of these things should not have happened, but they were not the cause of the problems in NOLA.  If Bush and Blanco did everything perfectly, you still would have had the Superdome/Convention Center problems in NOLA.

One thing that we have not discuss is the thing that worked reasonably well, getting the people that got out into shelters.  There are about a million refugees that are being absorbed by states outside of the NO area.  The governors of those states and the local Democrat and Republican have been doing an outstanding job, really outstanding!  :-)  This includes Blanco and the locals in Baton Rouge.  It also includes FEMA, that has been coordinating some of this.

FEMA has made mistakes, including sending to planes to Charleston, WV that were suppose to go to Charleston, SC. 

Still, you are attempting to get a million people across the country in less than a week, with almost no advanced warning.  I though that this would be impossible!

[Ben.]

FEMA was slow, slower than in the hurricanes last year, and were also slow in MS, where you didn't have a lot of the problems.

Blanco was slow in mobilizing and sending in the LANG.

Both of these things should not have happened, but they were not the cause of the problems in NOLA.  If Bush and Blanco did everything perfectly, you still would have had the Superdome/Convention Center problems in NOLA.

One thing that we have not discuss is the thing that worked reasonably well, getting the people that got out into shelters.  There are about a million refugees that are being absorbed by states outside of the NO area.  The governors of those states and the local Democrat and Republican have been doing an outstanding job, really outstanding!  :-)  This includes Blanco and the locals in Baton Rouge.  It also includes FEMA, that has been coordinating some of this.

FEMA has made mistakes, including sending to planes to Charleston, WV that were suppose to go to Charleston, SC. 

Still, you are attempting to get a million people across the country in less than a week, with almost no advanced warning.  I though that this would be impossible!

Generally I agree… at the lower level FEMA has by and large been doing the job one would expect from professionals while the leadership of the organisation has been hopelessly armature and this personified in the person of Mike Brown.

Personally I’m more than happy to say that despite long term failures at both the state and federal level both the administration and the Governor Blanco are getting the situation under control and while their response is still not perfect, they have by and large shouldered the blame honourably and got on with the job at hand… as I have said repeatedly, this is not the case when it comes to the petulance and down right incompetence of Mayor Nagin of New Orleans, who was guilty of poor preparation and even poorer reaction to the catastrophe once it happened. 

But I agree that by and large failures at the top are being tackled by the authorities in Louisiana and Washington while across the states affected and not affected the efforts of republicans and democrats alike have been exceptional… there have only been a few cases of damaging incompetence that has persisted into the aftermath of the Hurricane and that must include Nagin and Brown IMHO.

[J. J.]

Problems:

2. Blanco declared a diaster Friday August 26th.
3. Nagin was short on manpower for buses, but he did evacuate some people with buses.

JFRAUD, I know you have problems with calendars, but the 28th comes after the 26th.  He is the link where she really appealed on August 28, 2005 for aid (and didn't ask for anything about evacuations).

http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf

It an LA state government site.

How did Nagin run NOLA mass transit if he didn't have any resources?

[ATFFL]

Problems:

2. Blanco declared a diaster Friday August 26th.
3. Nagin was short on manpower for buses, but he did evacuate some people with buses.

JFRAUD[/i], I know you have problems with calendars, but the 28th comes after] the 26th.  He is the link where she really appealed on August 28, 2005 for aid (and didn't ask for anything about evacuations).

http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf

It an LA state government site.

How did Nagin run NOLA mass transit if he didn't have any resources?

He clearly does not know the difference between declaring an emergency and calling for federal aid.

[J. J.]

Is he really as stupid as he's pretending to be?  He can't be.

[Speed of Sound]

Well WRL, to put it nicer than my friend BRTD did, with a though process like you have, Im surprised you have survived this long without deeply cutting yourself open with a butter knife.

[J. J.]

Well WRL, to put it nicer than my friend BRTD did, with a though process like you have, Im surprised you have survived this long without deeply cutting yourself open with a butter knife.

Liberal, the Vorlon posted just about the same thing regarding the buses here:

Now, I suspect that 30,000 is way too high, because a number of people that stayed wanted to stay and some were too disabled to use the buses even if they were availible.  Had Nagin acted, there might have been 9K-12K that would have used them.  That would greatly reduced the numbers in the Convention Center and the Superdome.

[Speed of Sound]

Well WRL, to put it nicer than my friend BRTD did, with a though process like you have, Im surprised you have survived this long without deeply cutting yourself open with a butter knife.

Liberal, the Vorlon posted just about the same thing regarding the buses here:

Now, I suspect that 30,000 is way too high, because a number of people that stayed wanted to stay and some were too disabled to use the buses even if they were availible.  Had Nagin acted, there might have been 9K-12K that would have used them.  That would greatly reduced the numbers in the Convention Center and the Superdome.

missed that post. sorry

[J. J.]

Ironically, I've actually blamed Nagin for less than a number of commentators.  I still call him the biggest failure, in terms of lives, in this whole mess.  This is the guy who was upset that helicopters were diverted from levee repair to rescue people.  Where is his mind?!!!

[J. J.]

And just for the record, I cannot fault Nagin for not being able to get the disabled, those who couldn't ride on a bus, out.  That is something for which he did not have the resources.

I would have been one of the people in that category, but I do not have a solution.  It is tragic but also unavoidable.