We started another of our brand new, long standing family traditions today...Going to Cracker Barrel for Labor Day Breakfast. ( I recommend it!)
So I missed this morning's CNN Soledad O'Brien interviewing Mayor Nagin. Here it is:
"CNN's Soledad O'Brien spoke with the mayor who is seething at the lack of an effective state and federal response to Katrina's aftermath.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: And what the state was doing, I don't freaking know. But I'll tell you, I am pissed. It wasn't adequate. And then the president and the governor sat down. We were in Air Force One. I said, Mr. President, Madam Governor, you two have to get in sync. If you don't get in sync, more people are going to die.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What day did you go? When did you say that? When did you say...
NAGIN: Whenever Air Force One was here.
O'BRIEN: OK.
NAGIN: And that this was after I called him on the telephone two days earlier. And I said, Mr. President and Madam Governor, you two need to get together on the same page, because the lack of coordination, people are dying in my city.
O'BRIEN: That's two days ago you said?
NAGIN: They both shook. I don't know the exact day. They both shook their head and said, yes. I said great. I said everybody in this room is getting ready to leave. There was senators and his cabinet people. You name it. There were generals. I said everybody right now, we're leaving. These two people need to sit in a room together and make a doggone decision right now.
O'BRIEN: And was that done?
NAGIN: The president looked at me. I think he was a little surprised. He said, no, you guys stay here, we're going to another section of the plane and we're going to make a decision. He called me in that office after that. He said, Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor. I said -- and I don't remember exactly what they were, two options. I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision.
O'BRIEN: You're telling me the president told you the governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision? NAGIN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Regarding what, bringing troops in?
NAGIN: Whatever they had discussed. As far as what the chain -- I was advocating a clear chain of command so that we could get resources flowing in the right places.
O'BRIEN: And the governor said, no, according to the...
NAGIN: She said that she needed 24 hours to make a decision. It would have been great if we could have left Air Force One, walked outside and told the world that we had this all worked out. It didn't happen and more people died.
END VIDEO CLIP)"
Please send that over to whomever it is that's keeping a timeline before it gets lost forever.
And Blanko's answer to the proposal that the Feds take charge, after meeting all night with the Dem machine, was "Hell, no!"
According to the Wapo, the reasoning was that if the Feds succeeded, it would make the local (read state) officials look bad.
Politics triumphs over concern for human life once again.
And the mayor continues to portray himself as the #1 victim of it all.