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Mary Landrieu Ties Tongue in Knot

by John F. Tamburo, Editor in Chief, Publisher
Originally Posted: 9/13/2005 12:07:24 PM

On Sunday, senator Mary Landrieu was questioned about the buses that New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin left sitting, when there was a written plan calling for their use to evacuate the poor in the event of a hurricane.  Her answer has been the subject of long discussions by Rush, Hannity and others.  They have accused the senator of slandering city workers.  I’m not so sure, but my skepticism of the motives assigned to the senator’s statement does not change its nefariousness.  Let me explain.

"This statement has been taken as ’Most city workers are so lazy that most mayors cannot even get them to work on a sunny day.’  I now posit that senator Landrieu may not have meant that."

The statement: "Mayor Nagin and most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out of the city in front of a hurricane."  This statement has been taken as "Most city workers are so lazy that most mayors cannot even get them to work on a sunny day."  I now posit that senator Landrieu may not have meant that.  I don’t know for sure.  However, we should treat others as we wish to be treated.  Therefore, let’s consider that Sen. Landrieu may have meant something different.

She may have meant something like "Most mayors have to deal with hassles to provide transit to ensure that their employees get to work on a sunny day; trying to get them out in front of a hurricane is even more difficult."  As you can see, that construction appears more innocent.  When you accuse someone of slander in court, the case will get thrown out if the statement is reasonably capable of an "innocent construction."  That means it’s not slander if it can be reasonably seen in a non-slanderous way.

"However, even if you take the innocent interpretation of senator Landrieu’s statement, it’s still nefarious from a personal freedom point of view."

However, even if you take the innocent interpretation of senator Landrieu’s statement, it’s still nefarious from a personal freedom point of view.  Why?  The statement presumes that the city employees, union members with lavish benefit packages and good salaries, are not responsible to report for work.  Instead, the mayor is, to the senator, responsible to provide these people with transportation.  It’s another example of how liberals naturally think that people must be dependent upon the government for everything.  They cannot conceive of a reality where people stand on their own, and the government is limited strictly to those roles for which it is best suited: national defense, law enforcement and liberty protection.

Another note should be made.  Sen. Landrieu made these statements as part of a tirade that was designed to blame the aftermath of hurricane Katrina on our President.  However, either interpretation of this statement correctly blames the mayor of New Orleans and/or the governor of Louisana.  If the mayor had lazy city workers who are not motivated (the slander option), then he should have made a request of FEMA or the governor or even of ordinary citizens to drive the buses.  I am sure that there would have been abundance of volunteers to drive out of the city before the hurricane struck.

"If the mayor had good city workers who needed transit help to get in and do the job (the non-slander option), then the mayor should have allocated a subset of these workers to take a number of these buses out and collect these employees."

If the mayor had good city workers who needed transit help to get in and do the job (the non-slander option), then the mayor should have allocated a subset of these workers to take a number of these buses out and collect these employees.  Hannity said yesterday that the mayor could have offered to let these workers board their families on the buses as well.  There’s not even a requirement that only bus drivers would be used.  Anyone who was not a policeman or fireman could be spared. Had all buses been used, that would have removed 75,000 or more people from New Orleans!  Had only 1/4 of those buses made a dropoff and come back for a second load, the entire city could have been evacuated.

This horrid blame game has caused the FEMA director to lose his job without just cause.  Sen. Landrieu was caught off guard by strong questions on Sunday, and her tongue got tied in a knot.  As of now, this is water under the bridge.  However, it stands as a lesson to us all of the dangers and evils of liberalism.