New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (Democrat)
Told people to evacuate New Orleans, but provided no means for the 250,000 people without transportation to do so. Sent people to shelters that had inadequate food, water and sanitation to support them. Nagin made broadcasts on the radio during and after the storm, but he didn't have the balls to show his face at the Superdome or the New Orleans Convention Center where people were living in slave ship conditions. Contrast him with Rudolph Giuliani who was on the scene during 911. He didn't actually do anything, but if your constituents don't see your face during a crisis, don't be surprised when anarchy ensues.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (Democrat)
Mobilized the National Guard too late. Slow to ask the federal government for supplies and troops from other states. Too scared to visit the squalid refugee centers. Even lame Governor Pataki of New York made sure to get his ass to Ground Zero quick in the aftermath of 911.
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Head Michael Brown (Republican)
Claims to not have known until Thursday that thousands of people were at the Convention Center, despite the fact that the media showed people arriving there as early as Tuesday and reported that no one was in charge. Brown turned away trucks of water sent by WalMart. When Al Gore arranged a chartered flight to rescue approximately 100 elderly patients from a New Orleans hospital, FEMA threw up roadblocks that delayed the process until Saturday, endagering their lives even further.
Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff (Republican)
Finally arrived in Louisiana on Sunday. Apparently didn't know he was supposed to be in charge. Continued to insist all week that evacuations were taking place in an orderly fashion and that food and water were on the way while people were dying of thirst and diabetics were going into comas. At a press conference today he praised his staff for doing a "fantastic job." He says that 10,000 people were rescued in the last two days, but his own agency's press release says the number is only 4,500.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (Republican)
Was spotted in New York late last week enjoying her vacation, buying $1,000 worth of designer shoes in a midtown store and catching a performance of Spamalot on Broadway while elderly people and babies were dying of dehydration and living in their own filth in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, her home state.
United States President George W. Bush (Republican)
Placed an emphasis in every press conference on the specific number of soldiers he was sending to the affected area, and how they had orders to shoot to kill desperate people who were getting food and water for their families by any means necessary, as opposed to talking about how many doctors were being sent, how much medicine was being sent, how many civil engineers were being sent, etc. Chose to make scheduled stops in Arizona and California to pump up support for the war in Iraq for most of the week. Finally got his ass to the affected areas on Friday for a sanitized photo-op with two clean, calm light-skinned girls from a suburban neighborhood in an attempt to dispel the appearance of a racial aspect to this tragedy.
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