I’m hard pressed to figure out which is worse-diverting trucks and manpower for personal benefit because you’re a powerful politician, or the mindset which says your stuff is more important than people? But I’m sure the good congressman was merely touring the city in an area which happened to include his residence, and the time he spent inside was used for the benefit of the electorate. Yeh. Right.
What an idiot.
Eesh. On the one hand, people can be expected to use all their resources to protect themselves in case of an emergency. On the other hand, he wasn’t protecting himself–he was protecting his property; and we have a right to expect more from our public officials.
In a just world, he’d be out of a job within the week.
Daniel
This is the same guy who recently had his offices raided by federal authorities. I had been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on that until more information came out. Based on the article, however, it sounds like he’s a self-righteous dick who used his position for his own personal advantage, and took resources from others in far greater need.
Well, Jefferson can’t very well afford to let that box of incriminating documents which the FBI missed when they searched his homes, float out into the hands of the cops , can he? That’d be a real disaster. 
Hopefully, he’ll be unemployed as soon as possible. What a dick.
What a flaming jackass. “Sure, people are drowning, but let’s save my stuff!” Plus dicking around with the chopper for 45 minutes.
A corrupt Louisiana politician? :eek:
I never thought I’d see the day…what’s next? Chicago?
I’ve had it with this mindless finger pointing, trying to determine who did what wrong during this national tragedy. There will be plenty of time for that later. Right now I think the best thing to do is focus on the recovery efforts and those working tirelessly to help those in need. If you still feel this politician did something bad when we look back in reflection, there will be plenty of time to get into this whole blame game you all seem so intent upon starting. Now just isn’t the time. Please focus on the problem solving.
Yes, it was dickish to detour into his own home to rescue his personal belongings, there’s no doubt about that. However, I don’t see any evidence that the 45 minute delay with the helicopter could be blamed on him, seeing as how he declined its service. After the first refusal, they should’ve flown off and gone about their business. It remains to be seen why they hung around for so long.
Also, while we decry his actions as potentially costing lives while rescuers were distracted trying to get him out, his decision to go into his district actually saved more lives than if he hadn’t:
Wow. It really does sound just as stupid when it’s coming from our side.
Good thing I had my sarcasm bib (the one with a picture of 1990 Dennis Miller on it) on. That would have made a mess. Nice post.
You forgot to say “blame game.”
Or, perhaps, let me go through my stuff before the FBI does…
:smack: Oh wait, no you didn’t.
Like dashing into one’s burning house: “I’ve got to make sure my pot plants are on fire!”
Except that they would most likely have rescued more people in another neighborhood.
Precisely. From the linked article, water had reached “the third step”, such that unless you’re a basement dweller, you had an abundance of space over those who were doing the roof and attic thang.
The article in the OP is dated Sept. 13, 3005, so maybe we don’t have to worry about this yahoo for about a thousand years.
I dunno. Sounds like a very human (though stupid) response. If you take his statements at face value he didn’t request a military escort…they insisted due to the violence going on. And, again if you take his statements at face value, he did this while touring his district (which is what he should have been doing)…and by doing so they managed to assist some of his people there.
Was it wise to do a little detour to go see his house while doing this? No, probably not. But…I probably would have done it myself, and I bet so would most of you beating your chests over this. Its a very human thing to do. He’s only a human (despite being a politician) like everyone else in the flood, and humans tend to worry about their ‘stuff’ once survival is assured. I can guarentee you that a lot of the folks in the flood are there because they want to look after their stuff…I’ve seen interviews with folks refusing to leave for just this reason.
For myself, if he DID actually do the tour, if they DID actually help out some people in need along the way, then I don’t have a major problem with this…though I agree it was pretty stupid for a politician to do it, as he’s going to take exactly the kind of heat he’s getting here for doing such a thing.
The only thing that saves the situation at all is that the man is a Democrat.
-XT