Seems fairly stupid to me to want to give control to a man who lives a thousand miles away and has no idea what is going on, versus a man who is in the middle of it. It's HIS city, give him the resources and put in him command. He knows what he needs to fix the situation, and he isn't getting it. I think his anger is justified.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
In addition to the Nagin cs. Giuliani argument, what does everyone think of the radio interview he gave?
I thought it was pretty powerful, and refreshingly honest coming from a politician.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
In my current mood, I'm wanting to know what Nagin did to scream and holler before the storm hit to get additional evacuation help from the state and/or feds.
In other words, was he expressing concern all along for the people who would be predicably hardest hit by this? Or was he playing the "party line" - that what little was in place for the poor, elderly and disabled would be enough?
Personally, this suggestion by Gingrich doesn't suprise me - he's much better at opportunism than most politicians. What's weird about this move is how transparent it is - wanting a Republican face on the positive side of things. But then again, overplaying his hand is what sunk him in the House.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Nagin was pretty loud before the Hurricane hit. But no one expected it would be this bad. He had his hands full evacuating the people that DID get out.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Gingrich is an idiot.
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
Gingrich is political scum of the slimiest variety. His ouster from politics was a good start. Now if we could just keep him away from a microphone.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Well, what do you expect from a man who is named after a salamander?
Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to insult the salamanders of the world.
I certainly seem to remember seeing Nagin on the tv before the Hurricane hit pleading (at one point he looked like he was about to burst into tears, something I don't blame him for at all) for people to leave the city. Don't know what he did about helping to achieve that for those with little or no resources.
Posted by The Reader (Member # 3636) on :
Nagin really is holding his own, post-storm, by demanding the necessary help be sent, and calling out the bulls*** from others who say it's going well. Pre-storm, he didn't do so well, in my opinion. He didn't begin the evacuation very well, and disaster preperation for the city wasn't done very well. But what's done is done. If Nagin can handle it now by demanding what the city needs, managing it well when he gets it, and keeping visible to the citizens, then he deserves stay.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Reader,
it's good to know. Somewhere along the line, someone along the chain of command admitting they could have done a better job would be refreshing.
About Gingrich - this is classic. No situation so serious or grave it can't be exploited. Let's see - put in Giuliani (who is seriously considering running for the Republican nomination for 2008) as the face of disaster relief. To top it off, that gives the public a visual and emotional connection to the memories of the times shortly after 911. A time when the president was viewed with more approval and belief in his leadership than he is now.