Please help with Chertoff quote ... People of NO made bad decisions

[HamdenRice]

Since the media has been grilling Chertoff lately, I was wondering whether anyone has what I thought was the single most damaging statement Chertoff made during the Katrina crisis.

In the middle of the week of the flood, he gave a press conference and reporters were screaming at him about getting water to the people stranded in NO.

He said something to the effect of, "now hold on, the people who stayed behind in NO made bad decisions ..."

In other words, he was clearly suggesting that they had made bad decisions and had to take "personal responsibility" even if it meant dying of thirst outside the Superdome -- even though most of those people had no means to leave.

That was when I went ballistic, personally. I think that quote basically fries the guy.

But I haven't been able to find a transcript or reference anywhere. It's like it's been scrubbed from cyberspace.

Does anyone remember that quote or have access to a transcript?

[MissWaverly]

1. Here you go 1 great link, lots of good quotes

AMERICAN MORNING
Interview With Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; Interview With Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour
Aired September 1, 2005 - 07:31 ET

CHERTOFF: Well, I don't think that's correct, Soledad. I think people were prepared. But I think a natural disaster has certain physical realities about it. The critical thing was to get people out of there before the disaster. Quite rightly, the officials -- local and state officials called for a mandatory evacuation. Some people chose not to obey that order. That was a mistake on their part. Once the water is there, the physical reality is something that you have to contend with no matter how well-prepared you are.

The governor of Mississippi is Haley Barbour.
BARBOUR: I really don't. And I think it's very unfair for the federal government, for you to say we knew this was a great powerful storm. This was a category 1 hurricane when it hit Florida. Now that's the truth.

M. O'BRIEN: Governor, it was a category 5 storm.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/01/ltm.03.html

[On the Road]

2. Yes, Nagin Should Have Commandeered Those Schoolbuses

and risked having them run out of gas with a category 4 hurricane bearing down. There is NOTHING between NO and Baton Rouge, and the area for hundreds of miles around was in the path of the hurricane.

[HamdenRice]

3. Thanks -- that's exactly the quote I was looking for

what a dirt bag@!

[MissWaverly]

4. anyone who can claim to be responsible management

and have hundreds of trailers sitting empty while people live in tents, their cars
or are homeless is truly someone who is criminally negligent, not to mention the
cost of these trailers (400 million).