Thursday, March 16, 2006
Somebody Has to Ask
Was I the only debate watcher who thought that Nagin's comment about people who fled to Palm Springs was both way out of line and totally irrelevant? Now The Times Picayune tells us that:
Criticism of Nagin's post-Katrina performance aside, his campaign is focusing on the message that when others fled the storm, the mayor remained at his post.
I believe that's part of his basic job description. Just that one statement at the debate (sorry no written transcript available) can be attacked in so many ways.
Palm Springs? Get real, he made nearly half a million a year before becoming mayor and lives on Park Island.
He's going to criticize his opponents for evacuating when, in the same debate, he bragged about how many people we successfully evacuated. In fact, the evacuation was one of the few things that the city and state had a right to brag about (it was the subject of my first post)*.
I want to make sure that I've got this straight, the mandatory evacuation order included everybody but emergency personnel and high ranking officials didn't it? There wasn't an exception for people who thought they might decide to run for mayor was there?
Does he really want to focus on the "remained at his post" bit? We all heard those absurd rumors that flew around when he disappeared for a couple of days, turned out he had evacuated his family to Dallas. The immediate crisis may have been (arguably) over, but it was certainly too early for emergency personnel to leave. BTW, I withheld judgment at the time; not being a parent, I've always been reluctant to criticize the actions of people who have children to take care of. But most of the parents that I've spoken to have pointed out that police and firemen have kids too.
Finally, since the mayor brought up the subject, he didn't wait very long to take a pleasure trip to Jamaica.
*That wasn't intended as a gratuitous reference to my maiden post (I'm not particularly proud of it). It was a gratuitous reference to Jeb's shamelessness.
Criticism of Nagin's post-Katrina performance aside, his campaign is focusing on the message that when others fled the storm, the mayor remained at his post.
I believe that's part of his basic job description. Just that one statement at the debate (sorry no written transcript available) can be attacked in so many ways.
Palm Springs? Get real, he made nearly half a million a year before becoming mayor and lives on Park Island.
He's going to criticize his opponents for evacuating when, in the same debate, he bragged about how many people we successfully evacuated. In fact, the evacuation was one of the few things that the city and state had a right to brag about (it was the subject of my first post)*.
I want to make sure that I've got this straight, the mandatory evacuation order included everybody but emergency personnel and high ranking officials didn't it? There wasn't an exception for people who thought they might decide to run for mayor was there?
Does he really want to focus on the "remained at his post" bit? We all heard those absurd rumors that flew around when he disappeared for a couple of days, turned out he had evacuated his family to Dallas. The immediate crisis may have been (arguably) over, but it was certainly too early for emergency personnel to leave. BTW, I withheld judgment at the time; not being a parent, I've always been reluctant to criticize the actions of people who have children to take care of. But most of the parents that I've spoken to have pointed out that police and firemen have kids too.
Finally, since the mayor brought up the subject, he didn't wait very long to take a pleasure trip to Jamaica.
*That wasn't intended as a gratuitous reference to my maiden post (I'm not particularly proud of it). It was a gratuitous reference to Jeb's shamelessness.
