What is the background of Mayor Nolin in NO ?

[goclark]

I really like the strong way he came out swinging yesterday.

[RagingInMiami]

1. He was a republican who switched to democrat before the election

[goclark]

2. That is what someone told me and I didn't believe it

My friend said that he supported Bush the first time for sure.

Well now he sees how the Republican's think of him.

To them he is no better than the thugs on the street.
We are "all alike."

I sure hope the brother learned his lesson well.
He seems to be bright and could be a rising star.

[undergroundrailroad]

3. His name is Mayor

Ray Nagin. Here is a little biographical information about him. I predict we will see a more visible Ray Nagin in the Democratic Party. He is certainly bold, and that is just the kind of leadership qualities that will endear him to voters.

[goclark]

4. Hope he learned from this horrible experience

that Republicans are evil!

The message that our people need to send , loud and clear is...
BUSH GOTTA GO!

[bliss_eternal]

6. I agree, goclark--I hope he has learned a valuable lesson

I'm just very sorry that the price was so high.

I hope that he will be registering as something different this time around.

[undergroundrailroad]

5. Mayor Nagin's tirade on radio got president's attention

Sept. 3, 2005, 1:43AM

MAYOR Nagin's tirade on radio got president's attention



By DAVID ZUCCHINO
Los Angeles Times

NEW ORLEANS - The public speaking style of New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin could be charitably described as informal, if not freewheeling. He is also known as man who, for a politician, can be surprisingly candid and emotional.

On Thursday night, with his city underwater, with thousands of his citizens feared dead, with looters besieging hospitals, with bodies floating in floodwaters, with people still marooned on rooftops, with tens of thousands of evacuees threatening to riot, the mayor exploded.

<snip>


In an interview with a local radio station, Nagin accused the federal government, including President Bush, of failing to respond quickly enough to the catastrophe inflicted upon his city by Hurricane Katrina. In remarks later rebroadcast nationwide, he criticized Bush directly, saying "his flying over in Air Force One does not do ... justice" to the crisis.

Less than 24 hours later, the mayor found himself aboard Air Force One, face to face with the president at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. He repeated his criticisms, he said in an interview Friday night, and got a positive response from the president.

<snip>

Warren Cosey, 41, was less charitable. "Oh, man, he was crying like a baby," he said.

Next to Cosey in line was Verdell Berry, who complained that he had not seen the mayor all week. "He never came in and addressed the crowd or nothing," he said.

Cosey shook his head. "If he would have come in here, they would have killed him," he said.

[goclark]

7. I thought they didn't have a communication system there nt

[msgadget]

8. What he said was on the money though

It's still very likely many will direct their anger in his direction but the man did try:

...
By Thursday night, the mayor of New Orleans had had enough and vented his spleen on a local radio station, WWL-AM. "This is ridiculous. I don't want to see anybody do any more press conferences," said Nagin. "We authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq lickety-quick. After 9/11, we gave the President unprecedented powers lickety-quick to take care of New York and other places," he said. "You mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man."

By that evening, seven helicopters from the Air Force Reserve 920th Rescue Wing out of Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., had ferried hundreds of refugees onto the runway at New Orleans Lakefront Airport, where they waited in darkness to go somewhere, anywhere. Beside them, Colonel Tim Parchick, the wing commander, screamed into his satellite phone at someone from the Emergency Operations Center. "I've got 1,000 people who have been dropped here. We're out of food, and they're starting to get tense. We need security. It's like frickin' Baghdad here. You have to take control," he yelled, straining to be heard over the thump-thump of helicopters.

"Who's running things? Nobody, as far as I can tell," he told TIME's Brian Bennett. Early Monday morning, Parchick had told FEMA and Northcom that he and his men were ready to go. But he wasn't ordered to deploy until Tuesday afternoon--an "unacceptable" delay, he says. In 72 hours, his men rescued some 400 people. He wonders how many more they might have saved.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1101331,00.html|How Did This Happen>