On the occasion of acquiring new weapons and equipment for his police department, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin found time to share a laugh with his chief of police. The moment was captured by a news photographer and published in yesterday’s New Orleans Times-Picayune (and elsewhere).Which brought forth a barrage of criticism on local talk radio and the Internet.
And how did Mr. Nagin, paragon of municipal leadership, react to that? By blaming the press. According to a statement issued by his communication director:
“Yesterday’s announcement was a lift to the morale of this heroic police department that lost much of it’s resources in Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that resulted from the levee breaches. Mayor Nagin was and continues to be on the frontlines working to secure resources for this agency....
“Unfortunately... a photo, taken out of context, was selected by our own local media and now showcased across the nation as a mockery of all this city’s recovery efforts. This is the real tragedy.”
No, your honor. The “tragedy” is the violent crime that bedevils your city. You had no business goofing around, you embarrassment you.
(Hat-tip: Romenesko.)
psh, hes done alot. everyone deserves a laugh every once in while.
ReplyDelete^ Do tell. What has he done?
ReplyDeleteThat Nagin's crazy! :P
ReplyDeleteFirst rule of gun safety: Treat every weapon as if it's loaded. If he can't be trusted with a gun, why trust him with a police force?
ReplyDeleteNagin might belong to that 2nd line cnulan spoke about. What a waste of Black political leadership.
ReplyDeleteEverytime I look at that photo, that voice him in my head keeps screaming in an ever increasing crescendo, "He's a stupid muthafucka!"
ReplyDelete^ Bonehead of the Week, even.
ReplyDeleteThe photo was taken out of context. I work at the paper where it happened. The publisher read the editors the riot act for what happened. The picture was snapped as Nagin was putting the gun down and laughing about something. He did not point the gun at his police chief as a joke, although he practiced bad gun management by allowing a weapon to be pointed at anyone. The local television station. www.wdsu.com, ran a video of the incident that shows what happened.
ReplyDeleteJust so you know.
I hope you check the comments and go to the website and check out what happened.
ReplyDeleteNagin has his issues, but in this case it was a subtle incident of bias among the media creeping into how things are presented. I've already debated this incident with several of my colleagues who even after admitting that the picture didn't accurately reflect what happened, still managed to blame Nagin cause he's just "stupid."
I hope you don't fall into the same trap.
^ Thanks for the comment, Big Man. But I didn't criticize Nagin for pointing the weapon at the chief.
ReplyDeleteWhy does he have his doggone mitts on an assault rifle in the first place? The crisis of violent crime in NoLa is serious business, as I don't have to tell you.
Those weapons weren't acquired for him to play with. So the photo does communicate something real... a lack of seriousness on Nagin's part.
Dave, you's a sick muthafucka! Bonehead1 I feel a Bonehead piece in my system.! I need wide publication unless I'm gonna do a PG-13 version.
ReplyDeleteHey, if he went out to kill a gang member with that gun, he's got my vote.
ReplyDeleteThat video doesn't really improve matters for Nagin. As it reveals that not only did he point that gun at the chief, he swept the muzzle across just about everybody else in the room.
ReplyDeleteSMOOTH
MOVE,
R
fuck you it aint eazy, and even if nagin was stupid, that picture was still brill.
ReplyDelete