Tonight's mayoral debate

Chris Matthews asked some tough questions of the mayoral candidates.  He asked Mitch "why should a cab driver in Detroit pay for New Orleans to rebuild its city?"  Mitch didn't back down and said that what happened to New Orleans was an American tragedy, just like 9/11 was an American tragedy even though it mostly affected New York, and just like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was an American tragedy.

I still like Ray Nagin.  He was his usual affable self.  But he's just not the best person we can put into office.  We need someone who can work the system, who knows how to coax support out of people.  Mitch is right when he says "we have only one chance to get this right and our margin for error is zero."

Comments

[Frolic]

I think that Mitch has my vote. Mainly, I was completely turned off by Forman and don't want to vote for a second-tier candidate.

I wasn't that impressed with the answer that you site. Any emotional plea for why New Orleans must be saved just won't work. We're not a country that has much interest in intangibles. A better answer would either make an economic argument or remind the country that our citizens are vulnerable and would expect help.

For a politician, I though Mitch was pretty forthcoming. I wish he were willing to be honest about the hard decisions we face, but that's probably no way to get elected.

I also liked Virginia's idea of moving UNO. At first it sounded wacky, but imagine how wonderful the Quarter would be if a college were integrated into it. It's too expensive to happen.

Norman Robinson was a disgrace. Leaving aside his badgering of Nagin, he repeated the falsehood about Mitch having cameras with him on the rescue mission. I knew that was false, there is no reason that Norman shouldn't have. Also, although Wilson is a loon, she's right that putting a landfill in an area without good levees is mistake. Norman cut her off and said a landfill never flooded anyone. True, but she was trying to say that you don't want the contents of a landfill washed throughout an area when it does flood.

[Oswald Sobrino]

Forman came across to me as the most mature, solid, and professional, and as the one with the most credibility to sit down and make the case for assisting New Orleans in Washington. Forman is the opposite of the "personality cult" tendency in New Orleans mayors and other Louisiana political figures. The personality cult has got New Orleans nowhere--but we did get the "Morial" Convention Center and the "Moon" Walk and the "Huey P. Long" Bridge.

[ashley]

Oswald, you're kidding, right? He is the prototype of the personality cult. He wants to create 4 new deputy mayors: 2 black and 2 white, and he thinks that Paris and Madrid are great American cities.

Oh, and he's evil.