So Ray Nagin was supported by the Republicans

[Blue_Roses]

Douglas Brinkley eludes to this and it's not like it a shock. Nagin is a disappointment. He better make good on his promise to get NO back on track or many of us from Louisiana will haunt his corporate ass.:banghead:

Can we just get someone who is fucking REAL!?

[Syrinx]

1. Nagin IS a Republican

He only changed his affiliation when he got ready to run for mayor the first time.

That's why I was so puzzled by jubilation by some that he won.

EDIT: And how the Republicans and media were able to get away with using Nagin as an example of the "bipartisan" debacle during Katrina.

[Swamp Rat]

2. Dat's cuz dey ain't from New Orleans

:eyes:

[Blue_Roses]

3. makes sense...

He hasn't done shit for his city. I defended him in the beginning, but I don't think he's the real deal. Wake up NO.

[Syrinx]

5. I liked him too, at first

I liked him when he did that infamous radio interview, trashing the federal government.

That was before I was aware of his history.

There are definite tinfoil possiblities here, but the simple, available facts are plenty to say that New Orleans made a poor decision in electing him again.

I have some family and friends in New Orleans. But even if I didn't, I would hope the best for your one-of-a-kind city. Good Luck. :hug:

[JI7]

4. he made Landrieu out to be some far left big govt liberal tax spending

and all the rest of the things they say about Dems.

[Syrinx]

6. "far left big govt liberal tax spender"

I sure prefer that to a "far right big govt fundamentalist borrowing spender." ;)

[Blue_Roses]

7. I honestly don't think it's a right or left thing with him

he's just in over his head. He's not competent to handle this massive catastrophe.

[Syrinx]

9. that's just Republicans for ya

They need simple solutions slogans to complex problems. Sad but true.

[ForrestGump]

8. Not when he needed them

Or, rather, not when New Orleans needed them. :-(

[Vodid]

10. This recent column from the N.O. Times-Picayune may explain Nagin's appeal

...to many of us living in New Orleans. Published on May 23rd, it's entitled, "Outsiders baffled by Nagin's appeal".

http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1148380309213580.xml?nola

[acmejack]

14. You live there.

You got him. You enjoy him. After all, the majority of the democrats that lived in NO (that survived that is) now live in my city & many others strewn through out the Country. You all enjoy Mr. Nagin's re election.

[Swamp Rat]

19. Fuck that! We ain't enjoying jack shit!

I don't know ONE PERSON who voted for Nagin! And the only ones who voted for him before were very wealthy corporate types and a flock of ignorant sheep.

ALL the signs in my neighborhood were "Landrieu for Mayor."

[acmejack]

25. I was directing the response to the Nagin supporter

It was undoubtedly in poor taste and a stupid post. Forgive me.

[Maddy McCall]

20. That's a shitty thing to say, to the very people who are still...

trying to recover from Katrina.

[Selatius]

11. Ray Nagin deserves *some* blame for those dead victims, IMHO.

Before the storm I had a very strong hunch that the Superdome was no place to be during a hurricane. I distinctly remember thinking that I wouldn't stay at the superdome if my life depended on it.

He had several dozen buses just sitting there waiting to be used as a caravan to bus people out of the city Berlin airlift style, but they just sat there, and then they got flooded, which made them useless. It's the same as it ever was in this country: The poorest get left behind to die.

Bush and Brown deserve a portion of the blame as well.

[jbnow]

16. The bus issue

has a lot of rumors around it. This site talks about it

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509120005

There clearly would not be enough to get everyone out and many were used to take people to the Superdome. That didn't seem too safe to me either but it was built to withstand such a storm. (Didn't go so well!)

Most deaths of course were people who were not in the superdome.
But let's say they did use busses to get people out. Could they force people to drive them? Where would they take people? How would they find the people who stayed in their home? How would they decide who to take and who to leave? How many busses should be used to transport people out and how many to get others to shelter since they couldn't get people out?

Where he failed, like those before him, was in not having a clear emergency/evacuation plan spelled out ahead of time. Many cities that face danger did not. This situation has made them pay a lot more attention.

It's a shame that trains and planes also quit coming in so far ahead of time. That would be a good part of an evacuation plan, not that a city could force them to.

[UTUSN]

23. DiNO

***********QUOTE**********

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagin

Before his election, Nagin was a member of the Republican Party and had little political experience; he was a vice president and general manager at Cox Communications, a cable communications company and subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. Nagin did give contributions periodically to candidates, namely President George W. Bush and former Republican U.S. Representative Billy Tauzin in 1999 and 2000, as well as to Democratic U.S. Senators John Breaux and J. Bennett Johnston earlier in the decade.

Days before filing for the New Orleans Mayoral race in February 2002, Nagin switched his party registration to the Democratic Party. Shortly before the primary election, an endorsement praising Nagin as a reformer by Gambit Magazine gave him crucial momentum that would carry through for the primary election and runoff. In the first round of the crowded mayoral election in February 2002, Nagin received first place with 29% of the vote, against such opponents as Police Chief Richard Pennington, State Senator Paulette Irons, City Councilman Troy Carter and others. In the runoff with Pennington in May 2002, Nagin won with 59% of the vote. His campaign was largely self-financed.

Shortly after taking office, Nagin launched an anti-corruption campaign within city government, which included crackdowns on the city's Taxicab Bureau and Utilities Department. Nagin also made a controversial endorsement of current Republican U.S. Representative Bobby Jindal in the 2003 Louisiana Gubernatorial Runoff over current Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco, and only reluctantly endorsed U.S. Senator John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential race.

Nagin received a B.S. degree in accounting from Tuskegee University in 1978 and an M.B.A. degree from Tulane University in 1994. He and his wife, Seletha Smith Nagin, have three children: Jeremy, Jarin, and Tianna.

*************UNQUOTE**********

[KharmaTrain]

24. I Kept Asking...Where Were The Busses Gonna Go?

Hindsight is always 20/20. No pass on Nagin on this end...plenty of fault to cast on him, but the busses are a Repugnican CYA point...something they came up while people were still drowning in the city.

Let's say they had everyone ready to go on busses...nearly 100,000 people...while a Hurricane isn't just bearing down on NOLA but on the entire Gulf Coast...where were these people gonna go? Baton Rouge? Jackson? Mobile? Even Houston wasn't so welcoming in those hours before the storm was about to hit...and then surely those busses would have been caught out on open roads in mid-storm.

Unfortunately the city's evaucation plans were poorly executed...considering there had been plenty of warnings of what a Cat 3 or 4 storm (and remember they were talking Cat 5 at the time) would do to the city. I seriously doubt too many southern cities with their own storm concerns would be so welcoming of a bus or 50 of poor blacks from NOLA.

[Maddy McCall]

12. He is a Republican.

[xchrom]

13. yup.

[Sgent]

15. He's a Republican?

Could have fooled me -- seeing how his opponent (Mitch) was the one endorsed by the R party for the run-off.

[izzie]

17. La. is to blue so we all knew what is going to happen

--

[rucky]

18. There is a concerted effort among republicans to insert themselves

into our primaries and elections.

But I think most of it is just them talking smack so they can act like kingmakers and make voters anxious. otherwise they wouldn't be bragging about it.

[skipos]

21. Nagin supported Bush in 2000, republicans returned the favor. nt

[Ian David]

22. Re-electing Nagin repudiates GOP's "blame state and local" message

Obviously, the people of New Orleans don't blame Nagin for what happened.

They point the finger at the federal government.

[Skelington]

26. Nagin will say or do whatever it takes to get what Nagin wants,

regardless of what is best for New Orleans. The only promise Nagin will keep is to the promise he made to his own ass to cover it. His stupid frickin "chocolate" city comment proved that. Nagin is an ass.

Louisana has been crippled by state government corruption for a long time, a spit shined polished up turd is still a turd.

Anybody the Republicans support needs to have a serious second look.