A simple way to counteract the Blame the Black Mayor spin

[aion]

Once it is recognized that a problem is beyond the operational capacity of the local governments, it is a federal responsibility.

If those busses were functional, they should have been used. But I am reminded of bailing water with mere thimbles.

The mayor was pleading with the country for greyhound busses. And Condi was spending her time watching theatrical plays. I am not excusing the mayor for any sins of omission, but whatever blame is to be bestowed upon him must be proportionate to the level of response he could have actually mustered.

Bush could have mobilized every bus from every neighboring state, or more -- with the utterance of mere words. The mayor had power over a mere broken city, and found himself pleading with the media in order to get Bush's attention -- wasting time which could obviously have been much better spent.

http://www.aionblog.com/?postid=117

[Dunvegan]

1. You'd need reception stations at the end of those bus rides...

...in jurisdictions where the NOLA mayor had no authority...and taking the evacuated to...nowhere?

That would be foolish-to-criminal.

Hello, everyone...long time reader...first time poster today.

On-Your-Ownistan Blog

[sarcasmo]

3. Welcome to DU, Dunvegan.

[Dunvegan]

7. Thank you...

So many good people...so many good minds. :)

[aion]

4. That logic is a bit dangerous

That logic is a bit dangerous, because it implies that one needs the explicit permission from the destination. So far as I understand this country, I can still go anywhere I want.

[cornermouse]

6. Yes you can.

But if you have no money, will need housing and food upon arrival, and are part of a massive exodus, you better have a final destination that everyone has agreed to in advance. Otherwise, you could find yourself on that bus for a very long time, as we have already seen at the Astrodome.

[htuttle]

11. Should he have dropped off 50,000+ people at a Stucky's truck stop?

Sure, people have the right to go whereever they want. And they could (and did), if they had the means.

But if the city is supposed to handle the evacuation, they are also responsible for taking those people somewhere to 'safety'. Just dropping off 50,000+ people in the middle of nowhere with no plan for sustaining or protecting them is not 'safety'.

Not to even consider the crowd control problems with loading over 50,000 panicked people onto buses (while still attempting to maintain normal police coverage around the city). Even with all three shifts on duty, I doubt any municipal police department could handle such a task.

[sarcasmo]

2. The Black Mayor, The Female Gov, and the Poor people.

This will be the right wing talking points. The people their should have left. The female Gov should have begged for help. The Black mayor, who knows what kind of spin they will be throwing at this guy.
Right Wingers like Hatch, Cheney and Bush are ASSHATS.

[aion]

5. Any suggestion of that sort is absurd

Any suggestion of that sort is absurd. Begging an illiterate chimp in order to catch his attention is absolutely ridiculous. The national news had their reporters, playing stuntmen in the wind, on scene. Bush knew there was a problem -- but his simple mind was unable to comprehend the magnitude, and he once again seized up when the country needed him most.

[Dunvegan]

8. Anyone remember how long he was "in the breeze" on...

...911?

It's how he'll always react.

He's ducked every critical responsibility calling for courage and responsibility that he's ever met in his entire life: school, military duty, sobrity...you name it...he's ducked it.

He'll always freeze up until someone on his team stops arguing among themselves long enough to remember to find George and put a bullhorn in his face screaming for him to act.

[bklyncowgirl]

9. Could you imagine the riot that would have ensued.

If small number of school busses--enough to take maybe a few hundred people--had arrived at the Superdome where thousands waited in dire agony with inadequate security and tempers rising.

There would have been a riot and hundreds of the weakest would have been killed.

Nadin has also said that he wanted to lead the most able bodied out by foot but that FEMA refused the request.

[Igel]

10. There were sufficient school buses offered, not just

those in NOLA. They'd have been there in time.

And public transportation buses were available.

Problem: No toilets. Offer rejected. Apparently "last resort" is preferable to school buses with the risk of kids peeing their pants. To preserve the people's dignity, they were put in the Superdome. How's that for irony? (I'm sure the "thimblefuls of people" that were unnecessarily in there, were they able to be identified, would have a few choice words.)

You declare a mandatory evacuation at 10 am, and impose contraflow traffic, you then have trouble getting buses in.

Buses from every state would have taken days to get there. You have high winds starting around 9 pm, you have trouble with a lengthy evacuation.

You declare the mandatory evacuation earlier, there's the risk it'll be unneeded. Shit. Fan. Splat. And people will take such notices less seriously later.