[Rhodes22-list] Hurricane Rita - Don't Get Stuck On Stupid

brad haslett flybrad at yahoo.com
Wed Sep 21 05:15:38 EDT 2005


You gotta love this guy.  Too bad he wasn't in charge
during Katrina.  Brad

----------------------------

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin held a press conference a
little bit ago, and started losing control to a media
pool assembled that was showing signs of panic, due to
the previous incompetence in the region by the local
and state government. Lt. Gen. Russel Honore stepped
in and literally took over. Here's what he had to say:




Honore: And Mr. Mayor, let's go back, because I can
see right now, we're setting this up as he said, he
said, we said. All right? We are not going to go, by
order of the mayor and the governor, and open the
convention center for people to come in. There are
buses there. Is that clear to you? Buses parked. There
are 4,000 troops there. People come, they get on a
bus, they get on a truck, they move on. Is that clear?
Is that clear to the public? 

Female reporter: Where do they move on... 

Honore: That's not your business. 

Male reporter: But General, that didn't work the first
time... 

Honore: Wait a minute. It didn't work the first time.
This ain't the first time. Okay? If...we don't control
Rita, you understand? So there are a lot of pieces of
it that's going to be worked out. You got good public
servants working through it. Let's get a little trust
here, because you're starting to act like this is your
problem. You are carrying the message, okay? What
we're going to do is have the buses staged. The
initial place is at the convention center. We're not
going to announce other places at this time, until we
get a plan set, and we'll let people know where those
locations are, through the government, and through
public announcements. Right now, to handle the number
of people that want to leave, we've got the capacity.
You will come to the convention center. There are
soldiers there from the 82nd Airborne, and from the
Louisiana National Guard. People will be told to get
on the bus, and we will take care of them. And where
they go will be dependent on the capacity in this
state. We've got our communications up. And we'll tell
them where to go. And when they get there, they'll be
able to get a chance, an opportunity to get
registered, and so they can let their families know
where they are. But don't start panic here. Okay?
We've got a location. It is in the front of the
convention center, and that's where we will use to
migrate people from it, into the system. 

Male reporter: General Honore, we were told that
Berman Stadium on the west bank would be another
staging area... 

Honore: Not to my knowledge. Again, the current place,
I just told you one time, is the convention center.
Once we complete the plan with the mayor, and is
approved by the governor, then we'll start that in the
next 12-24 hours. And we understand that there's a
problem in getting communications out. That's where we
need your help. But let's not confuse the questions
with the answers. Buses at the convention center will
move our citizens, for whom we have sworn that we will
support and defend...and we'll move them on. Let's not
get stuck on the last storm. You're asking last storm
questions for people who are concerned about the
future storm. Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters. We
are moving forward. And don't confuse the people
please. You are part of the public message. So help us
get the message straight. And if you don't understand,
maybe you'll confuse it to the people. That's why we
like follow-up questions. But right now, it's the
convention center, and move on. 

Male reporter: General, a little bit more about why
that's happening this time, though, and did not have
that last time... 

Honore: You are stuck on stupid. I'm not going to
answer that question. We are going to deal with Rita.
This is public information that people are depending
on the government to put out. This is the way we've
got to do it. So please. I apologize to you, but let's
talk about the future. Rita is happening. And right
now, we need to get good, clean information out to the
people that they can use. And we can have a
conversation on the side about the past, in a couple
of months. 




	
		
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