Sen. Mary Landrieu: Did she Insult 9-11 Heroes on Anniversary? [and Rush ping]

[Newsmax Quote] ^

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

The interesting thing is that the left is killing itself with a thousand regional papercuts. One region sees things as they really are, and the left tries to re-write history on it. Then another region sees something and the left tries to re-write history there. That's one of their many long term problems.

I had thought, however, that 9-11 would have painted New York red by now. There is a trend there, but it's taking longer than I had thought. Time will tell. The curve is toward more information faster. I hope LA gets it quickly.

FRegards....

[siunevada]

Her first choice was, "Those buses are under water."

No kidding??!! She really is dumb as a stump.

[mosquitobite]

She's still an idiot making an idiotic comment, but Newsmax' staff either has a comprehension problem or is deliberately trying to foster a false understanding of what she said.

Compared to the MSM's reporting of Barbara Bush's comments, right? ;)

And we must denounce the right wing papers for doing what left wing MSM outlets have been doing for YEARS???

[alarm rider]

"If there were not any drivers, why weren't the mayor and governor on asking for volunteers to drive people out? I'm certain people would have responded. You NEVER heard about the buses with no drivers until AFTER the pictures floated (sorry) around the internet.

Did the local authorities even ASK the public bus drivers if they would transport people to safety ... I THINK NOT !"

That would have required leadership, forethought, focus, understanding of the situation and abstract thinking. In the military, we used a model called by various names, but it was essentially "Worst Possible Situational Thinking". It's purpose is to get you to think through a problem before it becomes a problem. It does not require much of a lead time, but it does require that you take yourself out of the picture personally and lead. In order to do that, you have to be able to define "leadership".

The mayor and the governor had no use for that because they were political lowlife's to begin with. In keeping with the political traditions of LA, they (and the "Senator") are crooked, incompetent, bottom-feeding ward-heelers.

[Enchante]

Landrieu is a blockhead, and for a moment I thought she was saying what Rush thinks she said, but when you listen to her whole tirade (which I went back and replayed a few times) it is pretty clear that she was saying something else just as STUPID: not that mayors can't get people to do any work (which is how it first sounded), but that somehow more federal support for mass transit would have solved the NOLA evacuation problem.

Now the latter is really just as stupid as the former, because (1) it is NOT the responsibility of the federal government to provide urban mass transit, only socialist Demagogues think that way, and (2) a lot of mass transit (subways, light rail, etc.) would be irrelevant to NOLA evacuation, and (3) why would more buses in NOLA have made any difference in this case when they didn't even make the slightest effort to use the hundreds of buses they did have????

What Landrieu did not really say, but what Nagin HAS said, is that NOLA had no realistic plan to execute their own emergency plan, i.e., their own bus drivers were all leaving town and were in no way expected to operate the hundreds of municipal and school buses they did possess to get poor people out of town.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I doubt that this was aimed at New Yorkers. (She's not smart enough to have thought of that.) More likely, it is reavealing about her own father's administration when he was mayor of NO. I think that it is more insulting to taxpayers who pay the salaries of workers who won't work.

She and Blanco both need to be sent to the garbage heap. Both of them are insulting to capable female managers everywhere. Can you imagine Maggie Thatcher or Golda Meier runnign their countries this way?

[Cboldt]

Hehehe. I had the order backwards. "Under water" was her backup excuse.

LANDRIEU: Well, I will. I will answer it. I am not going to level criticism at local and state officials. Mayor Nagin and most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out of the city in front of a hurricane. And it's because this administration and administrations before them do not understand the difficulties that mayors -- whether they are in Orlando, Miami, or New Orleans -- face.

(CROSSTALK)

LANDRIEU: In other words, this administration did not believe in mass transit. They won't even get people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out...

WALLACE: But Senator, there were hundreds of buses sitting in that parking lot. Can I just ask the question?

LANDRIEU: You can, but let me finish, if I could, please.

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: Well, look in the picture here. There were hundreds of buses in parking lots. The city and the state.

LANDRIEU: That is underwater. Those...

WALLACE: It wasn't underwater before the...

LANDRIEU: Those buses were underwater. Those buses...

WALLACE: They weren't underwater on Saturday; they weren't underwater on Sunday.

LANDRIEU: We had two catastrophes. We had a hurricane and then we had a levee break. When the levee broke, not only did New Orleans go underwater, but St. Bernard when underwater and St. Tammany Parish went underwater.

WALLACE: But they weren't underwater on Sunday.

LANDRIEU: And Plaquemines went underwater. And because the mayor evacuated the city, we had the best evacuation between Haley Barbour and Kathleen Blanco of any evacuation I've seen. I'm 50 years old; I've never seen one any better.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169075,00.html

[SerpentDove]

[half-cajun]

You're right. Mass transit would have made absolutely no difference. Mass transit would have provided light rail (or something else) from Kenner and other suburbs into and out of New Orleans. No mass transit, other than the buses that were already there, would have would have gotten people to Baton Rouge, and elsewhere, beyond the danger. p.s. I've been a lurker for years but this is my first post. Hope I'm doing it correctly.

[SerpentDove]

>>Her comment was dumb, but Newsmax, in Newsmax fashion, took the line out of context. She meant that because of the "Bush budget cuts" to mass transit, cities couldn't transport their people to work on a good day, no less move people during a hurricane. <<

So that explains why NO BUSES were used? None???

Her answer was just like the rest of her ghastly performance. It was her desperate, flailing, "Grab any old lie and throw it out there and hope it sticks" answers.

It was idiotic, and in no way would any rational person believe that President Bush was responsible for the fact that the Mayor NEVER ONCE brought up the use of the buses, which was his responsibility. Don't forget, she also explained that she explained another reason the buses were not used: "Those buses are underwater."

How...friggin...STUPID does she think we are? Chris Wallace pointed out that they were not underwater Saturday or Sunday, but she steamrolled on and wouldn't acknowledge it. She was too busy spouting more lies.

She said flat out that she was going to blame George Bush and no one else. There was no "intelligence" behind her answers, whatsoever. They were desperate lies, and Mary Landrieu is a desperate liar.

[Cboldt]

I've been a lurker for years but this is my first post. Hope I'm doing it correctly.

Perfectly, and with distinction. ;-)

Lurking is good too. I try to limit my commenting to those cases where the post adds useful facts, insight, or argument.

[LibWrangler]

Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
May 31, 2005 Tuesday
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1479 words
HEADLINE: PREPARING FOR THE WORST;
Officials rework evacuation strategy

BYLINE: By Mark Schleifstein, Staff writer
Busing planned

The busing evacuation plan is a work in progress. Details likely will remain murky until time to implement the plan, because officials don't want people heading to a particular place expecting a ride. Those without transportation need to be planning now how they'll get to safety, New Orleans Emergency Preparedness Director Joseph Matthews said.

"It's important to emphasize that we just don't have the resources to take everybody out," Matthews said.

He said the viability of the bus plan depends on whether Regional Transit Authority and New Orleans public school officials find enough volunteer drivers.

New Orleans is in an unusual situation, compared with neighboring parishes, because more than a quarter of its residents have no personal transportation. According to the most recent census data, about 134,000 out of the city's 480,000 people are without cars, said Shirley Laska, director of the University of New Orleans' Center for Hazards Assessment, Response & Technology.

If the buses are used, Matthews said those on board will have to be patient.

"Lets face it," he said. "In time of an emergency, if we wait until the new contraflow plan is put in effect to begin this plan, it will take anywhere from four to six hours to get people as far as Baton Rouge.

[NonValueAdded]

Stop the presses ... did you all hear Rush repeat Nagin's words? Get them to a higher ground and then depending upon our state and federal officials to move them out of harm's way after the storm has hit."

After the storm has hit? So in other words, leave them in harm's way during the storm???

[LibWrangler]

"It's important to emphasize that we just don't have the resources to take everybody out," Matthews said. " He said the viability of the bus plan depends on whether Regional Transit Authority and New Orleans public school officials find enough volunteer drivers.

The plan was for Regional Transit Authority and New Orleans public school officials to find enough volunteers to drive the buses?

This is absurd.

[Cboldt]

* bump *

That fits the planned release of a public information campaign by the city of NOLA to its citizens, later this month, clearly saying that in the event of an evacuation, "You are on your own."

[LibWrangler]

New Orleans Emergency Preparedness Director Joseph Matthews is also the Deputy Fire Chief.

Why aren't we hearing more from him, since he seems to have been very involved with the emergency planning (non).

[Cboldt]

New Orleans Emergency Preparedness Director Joseph Matthews is also the Deputy Fire Chief. Why aren't we hearing more from him, since he seems to have been very involved with the emergency planning (non).

There are lots of names. Landreneau, Ebbert (see link ...)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1482715/posts?page=26#26

[Rosemont]

Rush blasting weak kneed Republicans now.

[RGSpincich]

"Mayor Nagin and most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out of the city in front of a hurricane."

This is perhaps the only thing she said that is the truth....if she was talking about the paper shufflers and non-safety oriented civil servants.

[longtermmemmory]

Is there any doubt left about "Sen" Landreu's qualifications?

She ONLY got her job because of her "daddy". Not on her own.

On her own, she would only be qualified to be only woman left in the bar at closing time. (and even then the last guy would look at her and say "home alone I go.")