September 02, 2005
"God is looking down on all this, and if they are not doing everything in their power to save people, they are going to pay the price"
by Liza Sabater
I just listened to the mayor of New Orleans break down and cry after one of the most viscerally honest interviews any man could have had after finding himself in the middle of hell : CNN.com - Mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses' - Sep 2, 2005
I am speechless. We were listening to this while having dinner and we had to stop. I am trying to not cry so my kids won't freak out. My little one softly told me, "Mommy, I'm going to have nightmares."
Well, they're living the nightmare in New Orleans while Bush was posing for 'compassionate conservative' photo ops and Condoleeza Rice was shopping for shoes while the world was looking for her State Department approval so they could help the stranded and dying. Oh, and by the way, Cheney? He is still on vacation, contemplating how this new Atlantis can be underwater and burn at the same time.
Mayor Nagin's sobs at the end ... it tells you all.
WWL: Well, you and I must be in the minority. Because apparently there's a section of our citizenry out there that thinks because of a law that says the federal government can't come in unless requested by the proper people, that everything that's going on to this point has been done as good as it can possibly be.NAGIN: Really?
WWL: I know you don't feel that way.
NAGIN: Well, did the tsunami victims request? Did it go through a formal process to request?
You know, did the Iraqi people request that we go in there? Did they ask us to go in there? What is more important?
And I'll tell you, man, I'm probably going get in a whole bunch of trouble. I'm probably going to get in so much trouble it ain't even funny. You probably won't even want to deal with me after this interview is over.
WWL: You and I will be in the funny place together.
NAGIN: But we authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq lickety-quick. After 9/11, we gave the president unprecedented powers lickety-quick to take care of New York and other places.
Now, you mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place that is so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up -- you mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.
You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very clearly.
And I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's the governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the president's problem, but somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out right now.
WWL: What can we do here?
NAGIN: Keep talking about it.
WWL: We'll do that. What else can we do?
NAGIN: Organize people to write letters and make calls to their congressmen, to the president, to the governor. Flood their doggone offices with requests to do something. This is ridiculous.
I don't want to see anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city. And then come down to this city and stand with us when there are military trucks and troops that we can't even count.
Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.
WWL: I'll say it right now, you're the only politician that's called and called for arms like this. And if -- whatever it takes, the governor, president -- whatever law precedent it takes, whatever it takes, I bet that the people listening to you are on your side.
NAGIN: Well, I hope so, Garland. I am just -- I'm at the point now where it don't matter. People are dying. They don't have homes. They don't have jobs. The city of New Orleans will never be the same in this time.
WWL: We're both pretty speechless here.
NAGIN: Yeah, I don't know what to say. I got to go.
WWL: OK. Keep in touch. Keep in touch.
Email form for Louisiana Governor's Office - Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Office of the Governor
Attn: Constituent Services
P.O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA. 70804-9004
Telephone Numbers: 1-(866) 366-1121
(225) 342-0991 or 342-7015
Facsimile: (225) 342-7099
Landrieu, Mary- (D - LA) Class II
724 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5824
Web Form: landrieu.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Vitter, David- (R - LA) Class III
516 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4623
Web Form: vitter.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Representative Bobby Jindal (R - 01)
202-225-3015 202-226-0386
Representative William J. Jefferson (D - 02)
202-225-6636 202-225-1988
Representative Charlie Melancon (D - 03)
202-225-4031 202-226-3944
Representative Jim McCrery (R - 04)
202-225-2777 202-225-8039
Representative Rodney Alexander (R - 05)
202-225-8490 202-225-5639
Representative Richard H. Baker (R - 06)
202-225-3901 202-225-7313
Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (R - 07)
202-225-2031 202-225-5724
Posted by Liza Sabater in Accountability, George W. Bush, Government, Hurricane Katrina
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