THREE THINGS THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE SITE SELECTION MUST DO TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS AND LOUISIANA

1.) Publicly apologize to New Orleans and Louisiana for not scheduling any of the original four debates for New Orleans.

2.) Tell the truth about New Orleans--how she has hosted all sorts of events since Katrina and would host a presidential debate beautifully.

And the last is the most important. It is non-negotiable.

3.) Plan, schedule, and announce a FIFTH presidential debate for New Orleans.

Spread these demands throughout the blogosphere--
copy, paste and pass them on!

It would be smart for the dems or reps to jump on this and schedule their 2012 convention for New Orleans. The first one to do it would receive a nice publiciity boost and leave the other party thinking "why didn't we do that?".

I'll wait for maniacal meanderings from Johnny D who will no doubt praise Mississippi and blame all lazy urban Louisanans for wanting to suck on the governments teet and wait for handouts

The headline of this article is misleading. "New Orleans" HASN'T asked that there be a presidential debate there.

A busybody columnist and a handful of self-styled activists have asked. Nobody else.

Which makes sense. The residents of New Orleans are too busy recovering from the mess their mayor and ex-governor made to bother about presidential debates.

Gee, another reason to register Independent, as if we needed another one.

john:

It's not so much that Mississippi is great for quietly suffering, or even that the people in Louisiana, or New Orleans in particular, whine too much or want a nanny bearing gifts. The problem is that a debate in N.O. would undoubtedly focus way too much on the failures of FEMA. That would be an unwarranted distraction from other, more pressing issues that we face today. Even if the moderators don't ask too many questions about FEMA, you can bet that a lot of candidates will pander to the crowds by injecting FEMA and Katrina into the debate.

It doesn't take a genius to fix FEMA - to the extent it needs fixing. That is actually a problem we can fix by throwing money at it – to increase asset availability and readiness training. On the other hand, it will take someone with brains and the guts to extricate us from our foreign affairs screw-ups, and to fix some of our more pressing, domestic woes. That’s where the debate ought to be.

"A busybody columnist and a handful of self-styled activists have asked. Nobody else."

Bruce why do you lie so much?

I mean the link is right there that proves that you are wrong:

"We've heard that too many people were involved in the application. (Four local universities jointly applied to stage the event at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.) We've heard that only Anne Milling of Women of the Storm actually signed any paperwork, and her signature alone was problematic. "

Here's some further information for people who actually care about the truth, rather than Bruce's outright fabrications.

http://www.lra.louisiana.gov/pr111907NODebateRejected.html

"New Orleans' application to be a debate host was spearheaded by a unique coalition of groups, including the Women of the Storm, Dillard University, Loyola University, Tulane University and Xavier University. Six candidates for president and publications, including the New Orleans Times Picayune, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, USA Today and TIME Magazine, endorsed the idea of New Orleans hosting a 2008 presidential debate."

Which makes sense. The residents of New Orleans are too busy recovering from the mess their mayor and ex-governor made to bother about presidential debates.

Posted by: Bruce | November 28, 2007 3:49 PM

Yeah, it had nothing to with FEMA under the Bush administration (heckuva job, Brownie!) and the Republican Clown in Chief who couldn't be bothered to leave early from his vacation. You're a GOP tool, Bruce.

This is from 'Fear and Loathing'; Literally the first entry in The Swamp by Frank James and this is RNC Bruce's very FIRST Swamp post.

"In the interests of full disclosure, will the Tribune contributors to "the Swamp" (Frank James, Mark Silva et al.) reveal their political biases by disclosing who they voted for in 2000 and 2004 (and other years) for president? How can the readers fully or accurately assess their postings, the "take" they have on current events, or even what they consider "newsworthy", without this information?

Posted by: Bruce | January 5, 2006 9:55 AM"

John W-

You don't think that a large area of two staes remains devastated 2 years after a natural disaster is a pressing domestic woe?

The problems of the Gulf coast are current, real, critical problems.

In Mississippi fewer than one in ten homes demaged by Katrina have been repaired, yet the Government of that state wants to redirect federal housing money approved to aid rebuilding, to expand the Port of Gulfport, including gambling and a "tourist village". This is awaiting Federal approval.

Our government, at all levels, continues to fail these people on a daily basis. I simply don't understand you're willingness to give this ongoing issue affectin millions of Americans third rate status.

Why would the Republicans want to debate in New Orleans???

When a Cat 4 to 5 Hurricane was due within 3 to 4 days notice, and Mayor Nagin (D) and the Governor Blank-head (D) [did nothing] to help their people, they decided to blamed their grave faults on President Bush....with a little help from the liberal media... CNN,MSNBC,ABC,CBS,NBC,PBS, NPR, and 80% of the liberal print media...

But,it's very simple...When you live in a city that's 6 feet below [Sea Level] and a Cat 4 to 5 Hurricane is coming (water) right at you...you go to higher ground!----Duhhhhh!

But, Mayor Ray Nagin (D) and Gov. Blank-head (D) didn't get that simple message out ....because their dopey lib dems.

So---They blamed President Bush (R) and All the other Republicans because their racist and they don't care about black people.

Oh Yea! Let's have a Republican debate in N.O. so the dems can have another chance to lie and spin the truth before an election....Get Real!

Paulo

AJF:

I didn't say that what's going on in New Orleans isn't disturbing. I meant to say that what's going on there is not as pressing as the trouble we've got coming down the pike. My concern is that holding a debate there would make local issues take on a focus that is blown out of proportion to the other troubles we face.

We are all headed for some seriously bad financial times unless this country gets its monetary policy in order. We’re on the verge of a recession now. If we act like it doesn’t matter, and continue on with business as usual – or worse – we could have a very long and painful recession that’ll get the natives using the “D” word. If that happens, New Orleans won’t stand a chance of recovering much faster.

We also have a lot of trouble on the international scene. Our trade relations with other countries have proven detrimental, and must be fixed. Normalizing our immigration situation is also a must. But what eclipses all of this is the precarious and vulnerable situation we find ourselves in because of all of our foreign adventurism. This is having severe consequences at home – for the reasons given above – because it has turned into a black hole for our national resources.

So, to my way of thinking, seeing how the candidates would address these other issues tends to be a higher priority than figuring out how they would deploy federal resources to put New Orleans back together. Reconstruction efforts – like emergency relief efforts – should start at the State level first. If federal aid is needed notwithstanding efforts by the local and State governments, I’m sure that it will be forthcoming regardless of who makes it into the White House the next time around. Who could refuse?

Anne Milling and the universities in the city worked extremmly hard to apply for the debate.

New Orleans is upset because the commision says we are not ready for a debate. This is absurd because New Orlenas has hosted several conventions of 20,000 plus people, and will be hosting several major sporting events in the next few months (Sugar Bowl, BCS Championship, NBA All star game) as well as two professional aports teams, Mardi Gras, and Jazz Fest.

The debate commission is placing a debate in Oxford Mississippi, which has under a thousand hotel rooms, and the Media will have to e bussed several hours from Memphis to get there.

The logistics for putting on the debate is no big deal for New Orleans. we just wish the Commission on Presidential debates will just tell us the truth and say that they did not give us a debate for political reasons.

If We wanted to we would be more than able to pull off one or both of the parties conventions this year.

Remember New Orleans was able to hold the first Super Bowl post 9-11 without any problems.

John W., it is not FEMA's job to rebuild New Orleans, Louisiana or Mississippi.

As has been stated before, you just don't rebuild. Building anything, at least in this country, takes planning meetings, hearings before zoning boards, approval from city councils, approvals from city engineers and bureaucrats, and on and on.

In reality, Mississippi is moving ahead. Louisiana is not, though it will soon now that La. has a governor who has a clue.

And to the other "john," er john e., you know maniacal meanderings well, don't you?

blame President Bush (R) and the other Republicans because their racist and they don't care about black people.

Paulo

Posted by: Paulo | November 28, 2007 7:53 PM

Paulo,
I couldn't agree with you more, the Republicans are so blatantly racist that they refused to have a Presidential debate in front of any all black or all hispanic audience. How pathetic, but I'm glad to see the GOP self destructing like it is.

Here's some truth that Paulo will ignore:

http://www.alternet.org/story/24871/2

Washington knew exactly what needed to be done to protect the citizens of New Orleans from disasters like Katrina. Yet federal funding for Louisiana flood control projects was diverted to pay for the war in Iraq.

Billy Zoom,

Oh! Is that why the top [5] Republican candidates are way ahead of Schillary and Barry Hussein Obama...?

Nice try..but in a recent poll 25%..!!! of more African American and Hispanics will vote for anybody but a democRAT!

Good Luck..Zoomer boy.

Paulo

John W., it is not FEMA's job to rebuild New Orleans, Louisiana or Mississippi.

* * * * *

Posted by: John D | November 28, 2007 10:52 PM

Well, no kidding John. But, please show me where I said it was or is FEMA’s job to build or rebuild anything. I never did.

I suggested the feds might get into the picture at some time because of the way the government has been structured to hand out gimmes, but I never suggested FEMA had anything to do with that.

The failings of FEMA, to which I alluded to earlier, had to do with the allegations that it was too slow with too little after Katrina. Whether or not that's true, someone would raise it. That was a different matter from what I had discussed with AJF regarding the problems of rebuilding New Orleans.

You just jumped to some conclusions that weren't warranted from what I wrote. Be a little more careful.

John W-

Well, I guess it's not a pressing issue if you're sitting in your nice comfy house, in your nice neighborhood. I would imagine if you are one of the hundreds of thousands still displaced, or living in a trailer in the midst of a town that is still utterly devastated, it might look a little different from there. Sounds like you really don't see that there is a problem with the Federal Response at this point. Federal dollars for re-building going to private inudstry having nothing to do with housing is "disturbing" but should be ignored at the highest level of our politics, so has not to distract from fear mongering about illegal immigrants. I guess Louisiana and Mississippi should just take one for the team and go quietly into the night and give up on the notion of getting what they were promised.

Who could refuse to help them? Sounds like you could John. You're perfectly happy to sweep their problems under the rug, and that's just about the same thing.

John D-

If you knew what you were talking about you'd know that it is not approvals or planning that is holding up the rebuilding, it's money. The money that has been approved by Congress and the President is not getting to the people who need it. Miisississippi is moving ahead with redirected housing funds to enlarging a port and build a "tourist village" and casino while fewer than 1 in 10 homes have been repaired. Read John, and see what's really going on

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gulfport22oct22,1,5850307.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo

A lot of misinformation in these posts. Actually FEMA has played a critical part in the slow recovery of the Gulf South. It has the purse string for rebuilding infrastructure. The feds first promised the municipalities they would pay for services and then it reneges or low balls the payments. This happened again and again. Guess what, truckers and workers won't work when they don't get paid. FEMA also would deny payments saying things were broken before the storm so they would not pay for it. Every single water leak, pot hole, and tree removal would have to be argued separately. This is part of the bureaucracy problem you have heard about. And who ever said MS is doing better than LA, come to my mom's home in Pass Christian or drive around Bay St.Louis and say that with a straight face. A destroyed community is a destroyed community and they litter the entire Gulf South and THIS country doesn't give a rat's ass. THIS is the country we have become and I am ashamed of it. Progress has been made from the heroes that live there and wonderful volunteers, not government. The whole political class, including these debate people, have turned their backs on areas of this country that are hurting to this day. So keep pointing those fingers to the right and to the left, but the truth is that the shame lies with both.

AJF:

I'm sorry that you can’t tell the difference between the idea that something is “not important” and the comparative notion that something is “not as important.” To me, what is going on in Louisiana is “not as important” as other issues which will send us all to hell in a hand-basket if left unaddressed. Yet, you keep making it sound like I don’t think what’s going on is important at all. There has been a failure between you and the English language.

In terms of the current political debate, I believe the problems in New Orleans are not as important as other, overarching issues. All the problems you have pointed out can and should be handled in either the courts or administrative proceedings on the State and federal level. I have yet to hear of such proceedings, much less of their outcome. Until one can show that those fora have suffered structural failures which prevent them from correcting injustices, it shouldn’t be a concern to higher level policy makers. To suggest otherwise is to propose that the nation’s Executive and Legislature ought to micromanage every department of the government. That’s not the way the federal government works. Nor is it the way it ought to work. Nothing would get done that way.

Yes, I will also admit that, from a theoretical viewpoint, I believe the States ought to care for their own disasters. The essence of the federal system of government is one in which we have 50 States, each with the primary responsibility of caring for the health, safety and welfare of its own citizens. On top of that, we have a “limited” federal government to care for the tasks that States cannot accomplish adequately by themselves. So, what really bothers me is that Louisiana and Mississippi haven’t been doing enough to care for their own citizens. That’s been true for more than two years now. That bothers me a whole lot more than the alleged inadequacies of the federal government to deal with the problem. [Be careful now: the last sentence has more comparative language in it.]

Furthermore, when I asked, “Who could refuse?” I was referring to someone running for office. I’m not running for President or any public office, so my opinion ultimately has little relative importance.

John W-

Wow, that's a whole lot of words to say that you don't think it's a very (I know "it's comparative")important issue that does not deserve any attention on the national stage.

In the future just have the courage to say nthat since you can't see it from your warm living room, you don't want to be bothered with thre problems of other american citizens if they're not from your state.

AJF:

I told you exactly what I think. I'm sorry you don't like explanations, and it seems that they tend to be lost on you. You, between the two of us, are the only one who can read "don't care at all" into "it's not as important." The two ideas are not the same, and I don't find it valuable to try to exaplain why again.

Insofar as I told you exactly what I think - in detail - there was no lack of courage in my words. Your contrary suggestion that I lack "the courage to say" what I mean is just B.S.

John W-

I'm sorry that I implied you didn't have the courage to say that you don't think issues outside of your state are very important.

You clearly do have the courage to say that the suffering of the people of Louisiana and Mississippi (or any state outside of your own) are not worthy of your attention, the attention of the rest of the nation, or our potential national leaders.

I happen to disagree with that position. I'm a Human first, an American second, and a citizen of Illinois third. You apparently prioritize in a different order.

(Oh, and in the future, if you are going to quote me, quote correctly. I never used the phrase "Don't care at all".)