Comments for Interview with Ray Nagin

Interview with Ray Nagin

2005-09-02T14:23:23Z

The WWL radio interview with New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has made me angrier than anything I've seen in the aftermath of Katrina. I'm the type of person who's generally more prone to being saddened by tragic events, rather than getting mad, but I was absolutely infuriated. You can go listen to the audio clip on Scripting News. Listen the whole way through.

Comment from Michael Buffington on 2005-09-02

2005-09-02T15:28:19Z

Can you describe what you're angry about? I can't tell if you're empathizing with the mayor, or think he's a lunatic. Personally, I hear a man who cares deeply about his city and has cast aside all concern for his political career crying out for help. He's at his wits end, and making some spot on commentary about a situation completely out of his control.

Comment from Taylor Barstow on 2005-09-02

2005-09-02T16:05:48Z

Wow. Thank you, Anil. I am outraged as well.
I forwarded this along to my father, who suggested
the following:

Don't lose the outrage. We need the movement for change it will motivate.

I feel let down by our federal government, and I'm not even from New Orleans. I feel like I want to help, but I don't know what to do. I feel like anything short of going there and helping give Nagin the manpower he needs, no matter how small a difference my personal assistance will make, would be purely trivial.

This is a sad, sad tale. Thanks again.

Comment from John Dowdell on 2005-09-02

2005-09-02T16:48:12Z

What, specifically, caught your attention? (Listening to someone else is a greater investment than scanning a sentence or two of summary, thanks.)

From what I've seen Nagin has been slow to recognize the situation, and then quick to shift responsibility... is it a claim of his that caught at you, or is it seeing how he has put together his messages?

Comment from wynnxp on 2005-09-02

2005-09-02T18:07:22Z

Thanks for providing the link. His comments angered me, too. I think the response of the federal government has been disgracefully slow but he's got to shoulder a great deal of the responsiblity himself. If he doesn't have the resources, which he clearly does not, then get in front of a camera as Rudy did and shine a light on the situation. Calling the President out on Iraq and even the Tsunami? What possible good can that do for the people the mayor so desparately needs to help? Politicizing this does a great disservice to those dying in the streets as well as those brave police officers (my own brother included) who are in New Orleans so desparately trying to help.

Comment from Jonathan Smith on 2005-09-02

2005-09-02T18:50:57Z

I listened to that today. Reminds me of Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction.

Comment from Anonymous on 2005-09-02

2005-09-02T20:40:43Z

Getting angry is such a useless emotion when it comes to something like this. What exactly do you plan to do other than just say you're angry?

Comment from John Dowdell on 2005-09-03

2005-09-03T22:25:47Z

Very odd... on Google News, searches on "nagin bus" and "nagin schoolbus" yield different results (rant got more coverage than facts)... but quick check son the latter term at Technorati, Blogpulse and IceRocker reveal _many_ missing records....!?

Comment from Bink on 2005-09-03

2005-09-03T23:03:38Z

The context of what Mayor Nagin has said is misunderstood. The question to him by the interviewer was (in summary) some Americans may think that Pres. Bush is waiting on instruction from the Governor of LA (chain of command- you should remember this from work. If you don't like your podmate, you don't go to your boss's boss to squeal and moan, you go to your boss.) Nagin's response was appropriate. No other arenas had to follow a chain of command for aid receipt. Granted, he is to blame partially for the death toll just as much the Governor, Bush, etc. The question lies in the percentages of blame which I am sure the Senate Hearings will quantify.

Comment from Kirk Davis on 2005-09-04

2005-09-04T13:07:23Z

Wow what a suprise you guys feel that way...Spoken like a true white person

Comment from pwb on 2005-09-06

2005-09-06T15:18:04Z

Who has time for audio?? Is there a transcript anywhere?

Comment from Tony on 2005-09-07

2005-09-07T14:33:19Z

I'm not sure what you're mad at Dashie.

Comment from Dan Hartung on 2005-09-07

2005-09-08T00:46:57Z

CNN has a transcript. If you're not able to determine the source of Anil's answer after listening/reading, you've got some boffo comprehension problem. (In other words, clearly Anil is angry with Nagin rather than at him.)

If you haven't been keeping up with this stuff, Crooks & Liars has some incredible video you've got to check out:
* Anderson Cooper upbraiding Sen. Mary Landrieu for using interview time to thank other politicians while he had seen a body being eaten by rats
* Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera "going sane" on national live TV, not playing the spin game for Hannity & Colmes, Rivera holding a baby inside the Superdome, openly weeping, and begging to let the people there just walk out of "Hell", and Smith -- a tool if ever there were one -- concurring that the National Guard had a checkpoint at the I-10 ramp and was turning people back
* Aaron Broussard, President of Jefferson Parish, telling how FEMA actively interfered with local relief efforts, blocking delivery of water and diesel fuel, even ignorantly (?) disconnecting an emergency phone line they needed

Now this shit about the buses. That should really make you angry. Nagin executed the best and most thorough evacuation in New Orleans history with barely 24 hours notice, while FEMA and the National Guard took four days to get to town, and idiots like Brown attempting to pretend nobody had ever mentioned the danger to New Orleans (in fact, Chertoff claims he didn't know it was flooded for 30+ hours).

If you believe that the mission of Homeland Security has any purpose whatsoever, these clowns have proven without a doubt that they cannot manage anything resembling an emergency response without misplaced assets, turf wars, red tape, legal counsel delays, and plain stupidity. Good thing we weren't taken by surprise by Al Qaeda.

Blame for the death toll. Blame. Nagin may not have been perfect, but he reacted immediately to threats. When he was told that Katrina was going to Category 4, he acted and intensified the evacuation to the unprecedented "mandatory". When he was told the levee was overtopped, he warned people to get out of low-lying areas. He reacted. The President's people are going around saying a million reasons they didn't know these things, when all you had to do was turn on fucking CNN.

Comment from Bink on 2005-09-09

2005-09-09T09:39:20Z

came back to check the responses.

I second Dan Hartung. I've been watching CNN all day, every day. Every politician should be faulted on every level in varying degrees. However, Mayor Nagin was the most efficient in this crisis. Homeland Security has proven not to be a safe haven... and our tax dollars go toward this joke?

Many Democrats and Republicans that hold office are calling for the firing of FEMA's Director. Two days ago CNN reported the Director of FEMA allowed a two day leeway for help to get to that region of the U.S. It is a sad, sad state of affairs.

He was not and is not qualified for such a position. The brutal slap on the face of the disaster victims is when our President said the Director was doing a "fine job".

The hope in all of this is that the appropriate people are penalized.

Comment from Respected on 2005-09-17

2005-09-17T09:55:03Z

I respect and admire Mayor Nagin for his passion and concern for the people of New Orleans. I belive that if he had not called out the federal government, even more people would have died.

The disgust and name-calling from the right-wing is so predictable. These people tend to follow the republican party and Bush in blind fashion. So many of them are just sheep.

The facts... Mayor Nagin strongly urged evacuation, then he later called for a MANDATORY evacuation. At that time, NO did not have the manpower (i.e. available bus drivers, military, or FEMA) to drive around and drag people from their homes. Please stop this right-wing lie. Hats off to Mayor Nagin for doing everything possible to save the city of New Orleans!

Comment from Sean on 2006-11-13

2006-11-13T12:00:58Z