Beck baselessly claimed Nagin did not order evacuation until "the day after President Bush called him and told him" to
SUMMARY: On his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck baselessly claimed that as Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin did not order an evacuation until "the day after President Bush called him and told him" to. However, news reports indicate that it was Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, not Nagin, who was called by Bush and that Nagin ordered the evacuation the same day that phone call reportedly occurred.
On the August 28 edition of his CNN Headline News program, host Glenn Beck baselessly claimed that as Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast in August 2005, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin did not order an evacuation until "the day after President Bush called him and told him" to. But news reports indicate, first, that Bush called Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, not Nagin, and, second, that Nagin ordered the evacuation the same day that phone call reportedly occurred.
As Media Matters for America has noted, news reports shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit the region on August 29, 2005, indicate that Bush called Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco -- not Nagin -- on the morning of August 28, 2005, about the need for evacuation. According to a September 15 New York Times report on former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael D. Brown's version of events, on the morning of August 28, Brown and President Bush discussed the possibility of Bush's approaching Nagin about a mandatory evacuation, but Nagin decided "apparently on his own," according to the Times, to announce the mandatory evacuation in a press conference that day, not the day after, as Beck claimed. Blanco stated during the press conference that "just before" it began, Bush had called her to ensure that such precautions would be taken -- casting further doubt on the suggestion that Bush's phone call triggered the decision to evacuate.
Beck accused Nagin of ignoring Bush's evacuation request during a segment in which he vowed to "speak frankly about the politics of Katrina." Beck bemoaned that while Hurricane Katrina is "one of the worst disasters in this country's history," the "whole thing has become about politics and politicians." But the only politician Beck criticized during the segment was Nagin, of whom he claimed to be "so sick and tired."
As Media Matters first documented, Beck previously called New Orleans Katrina victims "scumbags" and proceeded to defend the comment with falsehoods.
From the August 28 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck:
BECK: But, first: Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst disasters in this country -- in this country's history, the death and devastation, absolutely heartbreaking. But I want to have a discussion with you that I haven't seen anyone else say on television. And that is how this whole thing has become about politics and politicians.
With that being said, as we remember the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, let's speak frankly about the politics of Katrina. I, for one, am so sick and tired of Ray Nagin and the adventures of chocolate city.
By the way, buckle up. Gonna to be one of the more un-P.C. things that I say tonight. That's just really a beginning.
I hate to break it to -- to you, New Orleans, but you weren't the only city affected by Katrina, or by George Bush trying to drown you that day, as Louis Farrakhan thinks. The entire Gulf Coast was devastated. Houston is still feeling the effects of it.
I've got a few questions. Why is it that New Orleans, which is run by some of the most inept public officials I've ever seen, how come New Orleans can cry, "poor us," when everybody else has started rebuilding?
Last year, Ray Nagin was sittin' on his couch at home on a Sunday, I don't know, eating Pop Tarts, after he got a frantic call from the weather bureau, saying "Ray, you got to get your people out of there." Only then did he finally put the Pop Tarts down. That was the day after President Bush called him and told him the same thing.
I want you to know, I -- I love New Orleans. New Orleans is one of our -- our great American cities. The jazz is nice. The food's good. It's got a real unique feel to it. But let's be honest. Why are we spending billions of dollars to rebuild a city below sea level?
Oh, the cons will say it's everybody's fault but they always seem to focus on Nagin. We see it all the time on these threads.
Oh, the cons will say it's everybody's fault but they always seem to focus on Nagin. - from Rusty Shackleford
It's especially interesting given that politically Nagin is much more in their camp. He was a life-long registered Republican up until he ran for office. He gave to Bush's campaign. He endorsed Blanco's Republican opponent. He was elected mayor with 85% of the white vote and a strong majority of the Republican vote.
He may have a D after his name, but philosophically he's always been of a kind with those now trashing him.
Nagin may be getting the shaft here, but his record is certainly suspect. I'm not so sure he doesn't deserve a good deal of the blame also. I have a feeling he and Bush are very similar in that regard -- Grade A Bullsh*tters.
Beck
Besides Nagin and Blanco, Bushie failed also.
Be fair!
The buck stops at the federal government. There isn't a state in the union that has the resources or the capacity to mobilize resources to a disaster area like the federal government, especially since we fund an agency that has the singular purpose to attend natural disasters. This agency worked well under the previous presidential administration and the current one during a campaign year. If it makes you feel better to pretend that the state and the city are equally culpable in the Katrina failure go right ahead and pretend.
levees over topped (but did not fail), local residents filling sandbags, etc and after the flood waters receded, busied themselves with cleanup. FEMA showed up a few weeks later to dispense checks (with better oversight than the SE last year, but still after the fact.) First response still has to come from the local level.
Weren't finished, which is why they breached. Also, they were of inferior design. I've been beating this drum for a while now, but take a look at the levees in Amsterdam. Engineering marvels built to withstand a 1 in 10,000 year weather event. Regardless of expense, it would have been infinitely cheaper, in terms of property and human life, for the US government and the ACOE to build levees up to those specs.
Consider this: since the NO levee project started, the US government has spent countless billions of dollars prosecuting the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Seems I live in a country whose leadership is more concerned with destroying property and taking lives than the preservation of the same.
Katrina has given us great examples of revisionist GOP history. Before it's over, they'll have Puddinhead George down there the day before the hurricane hit, driving a school bus and piling up sandbags, while the mayor and governor were on vacation.
That'll be on Beck's show tonight...
Yes, everyone failed, but natural disasters have traditionally been a _local_ and _state_ issue first and foremost, and that's the way it should be. The people have the most contact with the most local form of goverment, and if the local level fails, it has the greatest impact and it should bear the greatest blame.
State and local officials regularly declare natural disasters as a means to obtain federal assistance. Why, you might ask? Because there is NOT ONE city in this country with the resources to deal with a disaster of the likes that hit New Orleans. Local governments are not equipped for this type of disaster, and there is absolutely no way economically they could afford to be so equipped.
Back in the mid to late 90s, FEMA was a fully functional, lean, responsive operation. We had hurricanes in Florida and South Carolina where thousands were made homeless. FEMA was conspicuously absent from negative news coverage because it did its job. Clinton had it as an independent agency with a cabinet position. The Rs made sure to make it inoperable, because that is what Republicans choose to do. They are incompetent. Jackson, cities and states are not prepared for Category 4 hurricanes without quick federal assistance. Keep Republicans in charge and it will continue to be buried in bureaucracy and stay ineffective.
Most of the damage to New Orleans came from the breeches in the levees, and the levee system is under federal jurisdiction. They are maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, and funded by Congress.
The Army Corps of Engineers requested $500 million between 2001 and 2005 to strengthen the levees in southern Louisiana, and Bush allocated just $166 million altogether in his federal budgets over that time period. Congress altered Bush's budget to allocate about $250 million total, but that was still only half of what was needed for the job.
He had billions to spend on rebuilding Iraq, in fact billions went missing in Iraq due to a lack of oversight. Just one billion of that money could have saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives in the Gulf Coast last year.
We should have been "rebuilding" our own country. Instead, our nation's infrastructure is in horrible shape, and getting worse each year.
[link to seattletimes.nwsource.com]
...considering that Katrina was the largest natural distaster to hit the States in modern history. It should be more than obvious to everyone that it required a swift and overwhelming Federal response. Nagin could have done everything right and it still wouldn't have been nearly enough.
In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, many cities and counties essentially ceased to exist. (Having traveled to Waveland, MS less than a week after the storm, I can say that this is no exageration.) The idea that they could somehow immediately cope without outside assistance is ludicrous. I would say laughable, except I'm too disgusted by remarks like yours.
every level of goverment failed. God Bless the people that came to help.
state issue first and foremost, and that's the way it should be . . . if the local level fails, it has the greatest impact and should bear the greatest blame." - JJJackson
Well, that's about the dumbest s**t I think I've heard lately . . . Why do we even HAVE a FEMA if natural disaters are a "local and state issue first and foremost?" Was it a local and state issue when Hurrican Wilma hit Florida less than two months after Katrina? I don't hear Glenn Belch saying he's "so sick and tired" of Jeb Bush . . .
It's all part of the "drown it in the bathtub" attitude the Cons have toward the Federal Government. Why do you think they worked so hard and rigged elections to put a moronic jackass in the Whitehouse? So they could drown it more easily!
I apologize for supporting the 10th Amendment.
deals with power, not obligation or ability to give aid. Nor does it excuse Bush's indifference or ineptitude.
has no application to this situation.
I thought your last comment was bone stupid. I now see you were saving the Galactic level stupidity for your followup post. Next up speaking in tongues?
"I apologize for supporting the 10th Amendment."
-----
You should be apologizing for having no clue what the 10th Amendment is about.
"Was it a local and state issue when Hurrican Wilma hit Florida less than two months after Katrina?"
That doesn't even make sense. Beck never blamed the hurricane on Nagin or Blanco. But the state and local authorities should be taking a leading role in these things, with the federal government there to assist and pay for things if necessary. That's how it works in Florida. You don't see Floridians whining about how bad they have it and all this nonsense, because Florida has taken the time to be well-equipped against hurricanes. The state and local governments take a leading role when these things happen in Florida, and FEMA backs them up when necessary. But Louisiana and New Orleans were so inept that they didn't have a good plan. When you have a major city below sea level, you'd think that would be a priority, but no, they are depending on Daddy Washington to take care of all their problems.
I'm not trumping up Bush on this, I'm saying the state should have been on the front lines themselves, like they do here in Florida, instead of waiting for DC to save them.
...that the levees were a Federal responsibility? And beyond that point, it's also worth repeating for the umpteenth time that Florida has never faced a disaster on the level of Katrina before, so the comparison isn't valid.
I wasn't aware that Florida had not received any federal assistance in the intervening years between Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina. I guess Florida did such a wonderful job responding to Andrew, they decided they didn't need help. I suppose that's why the Da
(I'll try not to hit prematurely this time)
I wasn't aware that Florida had not received any federal assistance in the intervening years between Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina. I guess Florida did such a wonderful job responding to Andrew, they decided they didn't need help. I suppose that's why the Dade County emergency management direction declared,
""Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one? They keep saying we're going to get supplies. For God's sake, where are they?"
By the way, as powerful as Andrew was - the second most destructive hurricane in U.S. history - it was a gnat compared to Katrina. As I wrote before, you haven't a clue.
1) N.O. and La. are renowned for their history of corruption and mostly controlled by democrats. Known and laughed about, as "our Beruit". (ie. tolerated and accepted as business as usual for them).
2) Do a search on Levee Boards and enjoy the depth of corruption/loss/stolen/graft/saleries, etc. It is despicable. Since, one hell of a hand-washing by the most heartless, corrupt, and evil people seen in this nation's history.
3) It obviously would not have mattered if Nagin had a month to act, remember the buses sitting in the lots. The drivers, police, firemen, etc. RAN from the city. Cowerdly bastards.
4) Fl., under Jeb Bush, has a policy to act. FEMA comes in and only reponds to what the STATE and LOCAL agencies have already accessed as needs. They do not sit and wait 'rescue' or solutions from the Fed. gov't. The Fl. Nat'l Guard and police are on sites while it is still raining.
5) Blanco sat on her hands until Thur. to decide if she would put HER National Guard under FED juricdiction. The U.S. gov't (ie. 81st Airborne could NOT enter without her approval (see sedition) the ONLY way Fed. troops can enter without authority of a sovereign state. No Federal agency could order that without following Constitutional mandates. President Bush allowed her power-play. She envisioned riding in ala Dukakis. (see 1998 Pres. campaign).
Can anyone say when the La. National Guard arrived in N.O.? and did anything to help.
6) The hurricane itself MISSED N.O. That is why insurance companies are found not liable in court decisions. Wind/rain damage was not all that notable. Most figured it "missed again". The potential damage was not seen except Joe Bastardi (AccuWeather) pointed out the the track of the storm was going to be "worse" for N.O. than a direct hit. Wind pushes water northwest to Lake Ponchitrain, when passed would dump tons of water upon the city. (Only one I heard say it will it was still in the Gulf).
7) All support personnel had been moved from the area for safety and ALL major routes to the city were destoyed or blocked by debris.
8) For the conspiracy wacko's: the 'gov't agents' had to set the bombs to blow up the levees, clean up the evidence and get out before the all-clear was sounded and any action taken, or else all those black people might not drown.
LOL try again with out the contradictory and incoherent screaming
I would like to respond to your uninformed rantings about the response of the Louisiana National Guard to Katrina. I am a member of the Louisiana National Guard, and you don’t know s**t.
4) Fl., under Jeb Bush, has a policy to act. FEMA comes in and only reponds to what the STATE and LOCAL agencies have already accessed as needs. They do not sit and wait 'rescue' or solutions from the Fed. gov't. The Fl. Nat'l Guard and police are on sites while it is still raining.
I had 80% of my unit on site in New Orleans at 5 police districts headquarters a day before landfall. These teams began rescue operations immediately after the storm past. Last time I checked that was before it even started raining.
5) Blanco sat on her hands until Thur. to decide if she would put HER National Guard under FED juricdiction. The U.S. gov't (ie. 81st Airborne could NOT enter without her approval (see sedition) the ONLY way Fed. troops can enter without authority of a sovereign state. No Federal agency could order that without following Constitutional mandates. President Bush allowed her power-play. She envisioned riding in ala Dukakis. (see 1998 Pres. campaign).
Arc1x must not know how the Posse Comitatus Act works. If we had been federalized we could not have carried weapons. The 82nd Airborne was in New Orleans but only the National Guard (including units from other states) had police powers. The 82nd was window dressing. So I am glad I wasn’t federalized. Even when federal troops are invited to enter a state they still do NOT have police powers.
Can anyone say when the La. National Guard arrived in N.O.? and did anything to help.
When I read such ridiculous statements like this, I want to scream. As stated before my unit was there before the storm. All told there were approx 2000 Soldiers in and around New Orleans. Our infantry brigade (6000 troops) was still on its way back from Iraq) The following link is to an article that was published in the New York Post recently and it is the most accurate portrayal of the heroics of the rescue workers, including the National Guard. Read it to find out the truth, you moron.
[link to dolinar.com]
Dont know what you are talking about:
[link to www.alternet.org]
Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars. Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune Web site, reported: "No one can say they didn't see it coming. ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation." In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to this Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness: The $750 million Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection project is another major Corps project, which remains about 20% incomplete due to lack of funds, said Al Naomi, project manager. That project consists of building up levees and protection for pumping stations on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Charles and Jefferson parishes. The Lake Pontchartrain project is slated to receive $3.9 million in the president's 2005 budget. Naomi said about $20 million is needed.
This is what happens when you get your propaganda from rightwing sources. You embarrass yourself
Can you say ANDREW?
It hit in mid-August 1992, BEFORE CLINTON WAS ELECTED fool. it was SHRUBS FAILURE. LOL man you are to stupid for words!
The FEMA Phoenix reform of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
By Daniel Franklin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rarely had the failure of the federal government been so apparent and so acute. On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew leveled a 50-mile swath across southern Florida, leaving nearly 200,000 residents homeless and 1.3 million without electricity. Food, clean water, shelter, and medical assistance were scarce. Yet, for the first three days, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is responsible for coordinating federal disaster relief, was nowhere to be found. And when FEMA did finally arrive, its incompetence further delayed relief efforts. Food and water distribution centers couldn't meet the overwhelming need; lines literally stretched for miles. Mobile hospitals arrived late. In everything it did, FEMA appeared to live up to the description once given to it by South Carolina Sen. Ernest Hollings: "the sorriest bunch of bureaucratic jackasses I've ever known."
...was trying to equate the level of damage done by Andrew with the damage done by Katrina, which of course is also plainly wrong. It's no exaggeration...it's a matter of record: Katrina was the largest natural disaster in this country's history. I have no idea why anyone would wish to argue that point.
Now is the time for all good men & women to come to aid of CNN and save them from themselves.
We need: 1. A list of all the advertisers on Beck's show. 2. The will to confront those advertisers and express our collective displeasure. 3. A massive Boycott-Blog war on those advertisers.
was transformed from a relief agency into a law enforcement agency, so you had FEMA goons turning away relief convoys at the edge of the disaster zone. Under FEMA, you had bloated corpses floating down flooded city streets for days. You put greedheads in charge, and they do what they do best--steal the relief money and shoot 'looters' trying to find a loaf of bread. Michael Chertoff should be Tazed by a dozen residents of the Ninth Ward. Bush needs to lay off the vodka and Prozac.
This is all about the Bushies screaming "It was someone else's fault!" that the Federal resources were absent when they were most needed, as everyone starts looking at New Orleans again, only to see how bad things STILL are there.
Only Federal agency that came thru on the day was the Coast Guard. There's military bases all over the south, where were their helicopters? Their trucks? Their medics? Sitting back at base, doing jacksquat, while people died in their homes (they're still finding bodies). Where was Bush? Leading his troops to the rescue like a good leader would? Hell no! He was in Arizona fund-raising and smirking like the psycho he is! People were dying and he abandoned them to their fate. Impeach that bastard. Impeach him now!
Usually copy-and-paste a load of bowel-butter from some righty blog, throw a few flailing shots as they go down, then all is quiet.
Nighty-night, sweet zombie prince.
interviewing a mayor from Mississippi (or something, big pink-faced bubba), basically asked him this;
"Why were you so successful, self-sufficient and All-American, while New Orleans sat and waited like Franco-Communist homos for the government to save them?"
I'm paraphrasing.
NGOfficer:
Is it not true that it dangerous at the Dome and C.C?
Without Someone having police powers, it would have been suicide to carry supplies into the mass of stranded without protection?
The military vehicles that finally pulled up in the convoy around the Dome were U.S. military or were they Nat'l Guard. If NG, why was it Fri. A.M? Was it D.C's fault it took them that long to get there or was it the Gov's snafu that held them up?
Would it have helped ALOT if the police and fire personnel had not fled the city?
Would it have been a good idea to have stockpiles local in a city that is what 9 feet BELOW sea level?
Did not everyone think they had dodged the bullet when the storm made the hard right just before landfall?
Better tone I hope. I THANK you for what you did that day, I know you will never forget it.
Remember when the CG copters stopped flying rescue because of the sniper fire? Then tried again and were fired on.
BuSh hates black, white, hispanics, dogs, cats, cajuns and so on.
Remember when the CG copters stopped flying rescue because of the sniper fire? Then tried again and were fired on. - from Arc1X
No, and neither does the Coast Guard, because it never happened. Coast Guard spokeswoman Jolie Shifflet stated "“Coast Guard helicopters were not fired on during Hurricane Katrina rescue operations.” That was also true of helicopters for the National Guard, the Air Force, the Civil Air Patrol and everyone else flying helicopters in the area.
In fact, virtually all of the lurid tales of rampant lawlessness, marauding bands of rapists and thugs and all the rest of what was broadcast in the days immediately following the hurricane were later found to be baseless.
Unfortunately, the lurid stories seem to have a better shelf life than their more fact-based refutations.
"Without Someone having police powers, it would have been suicide to carry supplies into the mass of stranded without protection?"
Protection? That's absolutely ridiculous. Are you afraid of black people or something? All that HannityO'ReillyLimbaugh talk about snipers, rapists and roving bands of escaped convicts was all lies. It didn't happen. You really need to educate yourself before you go spouting off.
Has any one else noticed that Glenn's "gin blossom" is getting worse. I think he must have fallen off the wagon, that would help explain the crazy things he says and think.
Because there were lots of people south of New Orleans who were in much more danger from flooding and wind damage from the hurricane, Nagin had an obligation, agreed upon with the state of Louisiana, that he would give those communities time to evacuate before he clogged the roads around New Orleans with evacuees from that city.
He actually had to wait to evacuate his city to allow others to evacuate first. And, in reality, he didn't even give them the full 24 hours he was 'supposed' to give them.
He did not call for an evacuation because Bush told him to do one.
He called for an evacuation because he knew one needed to be done, and he waited until Sunday morning because the southern parishes did not demand an evacuation until Saturday noontime.
Look it up. It's a fact.