home

NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es

By Jeralyn, Section Huricanes Katrina and Rita
Posted on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 10:19:09 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

Here's the audio of yesterday's radio interview with an extremely angry New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

The transcript of the interview, in which Nagin tells the feds to get off their as*ses is here.

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 as*ses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.

< Captial Defenders in New Orleans Need Help | Off Site Server Issues >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es | 14 comments (14 topical)
    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#1)
    by aw on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    It's a relief to see some politicians NOT mincing words.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#2)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    Tho I did hear one writer just interviewed on Air America who criticized a clip of the mayor played for her, suggesting it was grandstanding, that he could've done more, and more politely gone to the feds. HOWEVER, who's to say he didn't go to them, and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt since his city and his recources ARE UNDER WATER!! ALSO, righties note that the mayor DOES give credit to Bush for getting a certain general on the ground who is starting to get things done....BUT, as the mayor implies, one general at this point is a drop in the bucket. The mayor's candor on many issues, including addicts looking for a jones, are on the money and need to be said (and would be true, with that example, were hard drugs legal). One wonders how many helicopters and manpower resources that could be aiding fellow Americans are instead thousands of miles away in a quagmire.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#3)
    by platys on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    Listening to the Mayor made me cry at my desk. Like, almost bawl. How in the hell could this have happened?

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#4)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    I heard most of it last night. He sounded justifiably pi$$ed to me.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    "How in the hell could this have happened?" The short answer: Bush is president. The long answer: Bush is president. He and his administration is completely incompetent at everything they touch.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#6)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    scar writes:
    Haley talks about shooting those uppity negroes
    I think you are fibbing. Prove me wrong.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#7)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:06 PM EST
    I heard the Mayor's unfortunate comments today on the BBC. Seems to me the coal is calling the kettle black. Saw a picture today over on Yah00 of a very large fleet of school buses submerged in the flood waters. If you figure 70 folks for each bus the city could have evacuated an awful lot of people as the flood waters began to rise. But that is just Monday morning quarterbackry. In all honesty he reminded me of that one character in every disaster movie that has a guilty conscience (survivor guilt?) and someone ends up slapping him and telling him to get it together. New Orleans has always been an old time political machine town which pretty much guarantees sh*tty leadership. Think Hughie Long. Funny, when disasters happen it is easy to tell the leaders from the politicians. Compare and contrast: The mayor of NYC on Sept14, 2001 and the Mayor of NO Sept2, 2004. The current mayor of NO is a toad.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#8)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:06 PM EST
    Maybe he needs a bad comb-over...and to become a GOP stlawart...to get jimcee's blessing?

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#9)
    by aw on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:07 PM EST
    Compare and contrast: The mayor of NYC on Sept14, 2001 and the Mayor of NO Sept2, 2004.
    I wonder how a mandatory evacuation of Manhattan Island would have gone.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#10)
    by MikeDitto on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:07 PM EST
    There will be plenty of blame to spread around. That's why an independent commission will be necessary. It's probably the case though that the school buses were not under Nagin's control--mayors don't typically run school districts. And the mayor doesn't have power to commandeer anything. Only the governor has that power.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#11)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:07 PM EST
    Ernie - Perhaps the Mayor can quit complaining long enough to explain to the world what disaster plans that the city had, and at what times did he execute them.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:08 PM EST
    "I wonder how a mandatory evacuation of Manhattan Island would have gone." As a New Yorker, I think I can answer that for you. I would do one of two things, as would most New Yorkers. I'd ignore the "official" instructions for "citizens at street y to assemble at point x for orderly evacuation," and get the hell out of there the fastest way possible. Or I'd ignore the "official" instructions to evacuate and stay put until after the panic was over. It would depend on how quickly I'd be able get to my family and the kind of emergency it was. But there is no way in hell I'd take seriously what the "officials in charge" were saying. On 9/11, officials told those in the second tower to stay put. Being New Yorkers, most ran immediately to the elevators and stairs and got out. If they had obeyed official instructions, the death toll would have been considerably higher. One prerequisite of being a New Yorker is never to believe anything a person in charge tells you simply because s/he is in charge.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#13)
    by soccerdad on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:08 PM EST
    A diaster of this proportion can not be handled at the city level, since the whole (or most) of the city was under water. And its just not NO its also the surrounding areas. To suggest that a couple of school buses was the answer is of course preposterous. The evacuation of the poor and people without transportation to places hundreds of miles away takes coordiation across towns, cities and states. The evacuation of hospitals has been a disgrace and also takes coordination at a level much higher than mayor. In 2001 given the localized nature of the attack Guilliani was able to show leadership and accomplish much. But imagine if it it had been multiple dirty bombs over the entire greater new york area. He would have failed without additional help. So we have the usual cast of nitpickers and Bush rump swabs trying to deflect attention from the main issue, i.e. how the US governement failed to respond to a major diaster given they had days of warning. It also points out the lack or preparedness this government has for a major terrorist attack. The "fight them over there" meme has been accompanied by a lack of effort in preparing the US for an eventual terrorist attack. Nuke plants, chemical factories and storage, ports and borders are no more protected today than they were in 2001. Its just not something they assign much priority to. For Bush and his gang I don't believe its racism. I think its more of a class issue. We have witnessd the largest transfer of wealth to the upper class in our history. The only people who count are those who can help them, regardless of race. Its connections, money and power the likes of which we've never seen here. While the corps reap increased profits, decreased taxes, wages are constant, cost of living is up, the precentage of poor and those without health insurance continue to climb unabated. They are projecting $13B in cuts for Medicare next year. So the Reagan plan of starving the beast is now starting with the help of the perscription drug plan that makes the progam too expensive to sustain combined with massive deficits. But the people at the top, the upper 1-2% have seen unprecedented increases in wealth. WElcome to America in the 21th century. Its going to get really ugly in the next couple of years as the economy reverses its anemic gains and heads downwards.

    Re: NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es (none / 0) (#14)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:08 PM EST
    Perhaps the Mayor can quit complaining long enough to explain to the world what disaster plans that the city had, and at what times did he execute them.
    And perhaps you can quit complaining long enough to admit that if he was a Republican with a bad combover you'd be licking his rectum.

    NOLA Mayor to Feds: Get Off Your As*es | 14 comments (14 topical)