Giving Himself a Pass

Mayor Nagin of Nawleuhns sloughs off any responsibility for not adequately transporting people out of the hurricane's crosshairs:

In an interview with Tim Russert, Nagin gave the explanatory equivalent of a shrug, when he said:

"I think I did everything possible known to any mayor in the country as it relates to saving lives."

What a crock.

"Sure, there was lots of buses out there," Nagin said. "But guess what? You can't find drivers that would stay behind with a Category 5 hurricane, you know, pending down on New Orleans. We barely got enough drivers to move people on Sunday, or Saturday and Sunday, to move them to the Superdome. We barely had enough drivers for that. So sure, we had the assets, but the drivers just weren't available."

In a city this size, you couldn't find enough people to drive buses? I seriously doubt that's true. In fact, I doubt you even tried.

The planning was always in getting people to higher ground, getting them to safety, said Nagin.

Mr. Mayor, you didn't even pull that off. Since city disaster plans called for the busing of people before the tragedy struck, why is it that mass busing didn't begin until after the storm's devastation? I'm sure we'll get a coherent, comprehensive answer to that one real soon, won't we, Mayor? About the same time we find out what happened to Jimmy Hoffa.

Russert also quoted previous statements from Nagin about alleged racism delaying response, as Nagin had said, "[t]he more I think about it, definitely race played into this. If it's race, fine, let's call a spade a spade, a diamond a diamond. We can never let this happen again. Even if you hate black people and you are in a leadership position, this did not help anybody."

And what evidence does he offer in support of his absurd conclusion? Absolutely nothing. Racism is inherent in the system, so supplying proof of its existence is unneccesary. Oh, how this must simplify life for those who view the world through racial lenses.

I have some questions for the race-baiters: Is it racism for you to bring hatred for black people into the situation as an explanation for inadequate emergency measures taken? Is it racism for you to suggest that white people--including the president--have no concern for the fates of black people? And all this without the slightest shred of proof to bolster your theory?

The only involvement of race in this equation is the race to be the first to blame Bush for the methods used in handling the storm's aftermath. The entire linked article above is an exercise in political sleight-of-hand and plausible deniability. This guy even gives politicians a bad name; and as we all know, that takes herculean effort.