Why did New Orleans residents reelect Nagin after his incompetence during Katrina?
484823
great ? for sure, especially for the anyone outside the gulf south. nagin won for several reasons. first & foremost to me (registered voter in orleans parish) mitch and willy ray failed to distinguish themselves or their platforms and both remained very non specific as to how, what, when etc.\nsecondly, despite what could be said about nagin, he had a relatively successful first 3 years after the morial debacle of how not to do contractual business with city gov. \nno way anyone can fix the whole system in 3 years. \nThird, Mitch is from the good ol boy network and long time family in politics as we all know. he raised twice what ray did, ran more ads, said over and over 'zero margin for error', and scared alot of people into believing he'd be busy paying back his backers with more of the same in favored contracts and self interest.\nLastly, to understand really why he won, one must look at the exact demographics of who did and did not vote. 38% turnout aint exactly flocking to the polls and there were only about 20k absentee/early votes. \nas much as it wasn't about race it was. and voters have always tended to vote with polarity, not just in the south.
461287
They were WARNED that they MUST evacuate.  Busses were running full time to get people out, yet so many refused to leave.  Some were on the news dancing in the streets of the French Quarter as the storm approached.  After the storm, they all ran for the Superdome, and there were not enough supplies for the additional people, so that screwed the people who originally went to be sheltered there.  Something else angers me: The National Guard gets blamed for not responding, but the storm was over Tuesday, and TV cameras broadcast National Guard at the airport on Thursday.  This pretty enlisted female told the reporter that they arrived Wednesday, and were setting up relief.\n\nThen cops are out there looting Wal Mart (caught on video).  It would have been one thing if they were getting food, but, well you know the rest of the story.  \n\nPeople cry for the idiots in New Orleans (no, the ones who evacuated are NOT idiots), while Rita pretty much levelled some towns in Southwest Louisiana.  Places where there were towns were now just a bunch of cement foundations.  One person found their house a few miles away.  Nobody even talks about these people--Mississippi gets more attention.
851676
Michael Chertoff, the military, sent Michael Brown, the soldier and he took care of Katrina, because the National Guard are too busy "fighting terrorist" in Iraq to help the citizens of Louisiana.\n\nThis is the most shameful act I have seen in America for forty years.
1166081
Somewhere in that rambling pile of crap did you just suggest that Hurricane Katrina was Bush's fault? \n\nThat storm sat there for five days, pointed dead on at a corrupt city built below sea level with levees that were improperly built because the local government ripped off the federal funds provided to build them.\n\nOkay- now the Died for Oil part? Where the hell is the oil? It costs me over 100 bucks to fill the tank of my truck. If we went to war for the oil, I would think the price would have gone down by now.\n\nLied about 9-11? Who said that? Michael Moore? Yeah, there's a reliable source. A fat Hollywood slob who's made millions off of other people's tragedies.\n\nOh- and yes, I voted for him twice. And I'd do it again if it wasn't for Amendment 22 of our constitution. (You will study that when you get to high school. If you get there, that it.)
1096329
Why he was re-elected is beyond me.  NOLA will get what it paid for.\n\nI am going to be criticized as being insensitive, but here's my $0.02 anyway.\n\nHow dumb are you if you are waiting for the government to tell you to leave the area when there is a class 5 hurricane heading straight for your town that happens to be below sea level???  And how can you be surprised that a house built directly on the beach on stilts to prevent flooding gets destroyed in a bad storm.\n\nI blame the liberals for creating a "victims mentality" in this country.  No one is ever responsible for their actions, "They never told me to leave, its Bush's fault for not telling me to leave."  \n\nSermon over.  Sorry.  Had to vent it, feeling better now.
1000432
ok bush defenders...he cut the budget that would pay to upkeep and fix the levies.  And since when does the president have no authority in a national disastor? I suppose he shouldnt have done anything during 911 either, oh wait...he didnt do anything except read a book to little kids for a PR stunt. But anyway, of course it wasnt his fault.  I mean the city of new orleans should have been able to pay for the extremly expensive repairs and maintenace needed to protect millions of U.S. citizens without any help from the feds.  I guess we should send nevada and las vegas the bill for the hoover damn now.  get your heads out of your bums,  take responsibility for your misguided republican vote, and accept morality and rational thought into your lives.
717434
There's a very good argument to be made there.\n\nOne of the reasons the response in Katrina went so badly is that a large percentage of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard were stationed over in Iraq.\n\nActually, troops can't be used to defend the borders unless there is an actual invasion going on. Military personnel can't perform civilian law enforcement duties - it violates the Posse Commitatus Act.
248650
Let us all remember that we have never had a Natural Disaster of these porportions before.  People not evacuating when they were told to is a big part of the problem.  People will need to go home to New Orleans to rebuild they can not do it from the different states they have landed in.  Many do not plan to return, yet they have left homes behind.  In order to rebuild you have to demolish what is there, without owners being involved it may take some time before the demolition can happen.  Two things should have been learned from this disaster and that is the Government always needs to be ready for something of the porportions that they have never seen.  Also that responsible citizens should have left with the first notice's of evacuation.  You have a City that was built below the level of the sea on the sea and you were waiting for this kind of thing to happen. Experts knew that the dykes and retaining walls would not stand up to more than a category 3 storm and the citizens knew it as well, people just choose not to believe it would actually happen to them, which is natural in these circumstances, but not the best choices to make.  There may have been the most impoverished people in this country living in New Orleans, yet they should have had enough notice to get out and not choose to stay there.  It was the lack of people leaving the area that caused the police and National Guard to have to stay there to try to keep order when those effeorts could have been directed to other places.  There still has to be major decisions as to what the new New Orleans will be.  Is it going to be the city of almost a half a million or will it be a remnant of it's former self.  Until we know what we are rebuilding there can be no blaming the government because it isn't done.  Yes we had poor government response, but we also had poor cooperation from the citizens at the sametime.  The government will always bear the brunt of the blame for this, however it should be up to the citizens of New Orleans where we go from here and not the rest of the country.\n\nAs some things never change Mardi Gras is going on as usual, if you want to help the economy of their city this would be the time to go there and help their economy.
622225
the governor and mayor both admitted they waited to long to ask for help, the president says the director of fema didnt inform him how bad it really was, everyone has a different story as they are all going to take partial blame and place the rest elsewhere.\n\nbottom line is that no one was doing their job to the best of their abilities during that terrible occurence.
93169
It's a waste of our tax dollars. New Orleans is 60-65 feet below sea level. And is basically an island in a sense (picture a bowl in a bath tub full of water). Not to mention this is not the first time they had this storm. I feel no pitty for most of them down there. Nor do I support the fact my tax dollars are being wasted in New Orleans.\nI really think New Orleans and the the state it resides in. Should pay back money from tax payers over a period of time. Why you may ask? Because Stupidity is not an excuse.
805259
She did not.  Blanco and Nagin are incompetent.  They blamed all the problems on Bush, when it was their job to evacuate.  It was done in every other state, which are all run by Republicans. \n\nThe federal government cannot send in the National Guard without the governor asking first.
3949
Unfortunately, the government does. Hence the reason they were in poor shape before Katrina and destroyed afterward.\n\nNew Orleans is/was one giant welfare state. Nearly the entire popuplation was government-dependent, and that is why most of its citizens acted so helplessly after the hurricane. This is never a problem in other cities, where citizens are proud of their self-sufficiency and laissez-faire capitalism.
932183
He was sacked (they call it resignation because it's less cruel) because he was the architect of the disastrously unsuccessful war in Iraq. This war, according to many exit-polls, was a principle reason for people voting Democrat.
465983
No, he didn't.  None of the government agencies handled it well at all.  They just made the whole situation worse than it already was to start with rather than prepare for something like this.  For years they knew a disaster of that magnitude might hit New Orleans but did nothing to prepare for it.  And when it did they were lost.
751443
Because grossly ignorant people elected him.
34915
First, it was a mistake to build below sea level. Why should the Federal Government pay the bill for local government's poor planning? The Libs are quick to blame a Republican run federal government. But from what I have heard, they GAVE them money and the local government divied it up for their pet projects and not on the dike.\nAnd from what I have seen regarding that hurricane, I don't think ANYTHING could have held up against it. It was aweful!
588949
I think Mayor Nagin does not really care about the people of New Orleans. I was there at the time the hurricane hit and I think he has other motives for remaining mayor. What has he done for you lately?