Meet the Press

Good afternoon to all,
hope your day is going well.

Today on Meet the Press I saw an interview between Tim Russert and Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, I have to admit that it had me choked up, as President Broussard described a terrible experience he had witnessed first hand, breaking down into tears as he told of what he had seen. Below is a transcription of the interview, Meet the Press will be shown again this evening at: 7pm Pacific, 9pm Central, 10pm Eastern, but please check your local listings to be certain, as some local areas could have other shows that they air before.

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MR. RUSSERT: And we are back.

Jefferson Parish President Broussard, let me start with you. You just heard the Director of Homeland Security's explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?

MR. AARON BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. I am personally asking our bipartisan congressional delegation here in Louisiana to immediately begin congressional hearings to find out just what happened here. Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired? And believe me, they need to be fired right away, because we still have weeks to go in this tragedy. We have months to go. We have years to go. And whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chainsawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership.

It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here, bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before congress now. It's so obvious FEMA needs more congressional funding, it needs more presidential support, it needs to be a cabinet-level director, it needs to be a, independant ageny that will be able to fulfill it's mission to work in partnership with state and local governments around America. FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do. It needs to come somewhere, like New Orleans, with all of it's force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives. Forget about the property, we can rebuild the property, it's got to be able to come in and save lives.

We need strong leadership at the top of America right now in order to accomplish this and to-- reconstructing FEMA.

MR.RUSSERT: Mr. Broussard, let me ask--I want to ask--should...

MR. BROUSSARD: You know, just some quick examples...

MR. RUSSERT: Hold on. Hold on, sir. Shouldn't the Mayor of New Orleans, and the Governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility? Couldn't they have been more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacutating the area?

MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "the calvary's coming" on a federal level, "the calvary's coming, the calvary's coming, the calvary's coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the calvary. The calvary's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs and we're almost a week out.

Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Walmart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back, they said we didn't need them, this was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish, the Coast Guard said, "come get this fuel right away", when we got there with our trucks, they got a word, "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our Sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "no one is getting near these lines." Shefiff Harry Lee said that if America-- American government would have responded like Walmart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

But I want to thank Governor Blanco for all she's done and her leadership. She sent in the National Guard. I just repaired a breach on my side of the 17th Street canal that the secretary didn't foresee, a 300-foot breach. I just completed it yesterday with convoys of National Guard and local parish workers and the levee board people. It took us two and a half days working 24/7. I just closed it.

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly, I want to thank my public employees...

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. _And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and you can tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, Emergency Management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday. And she drowned Friday night.... she drowned Friday night.

***(Mr. Broussard breaks down into tears)***

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...

MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us... the secretary has promised, everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of press conferences. For God's sake, shut up and send us somebody!

MR. RUSSERT: Just take a pause Mr. President. While you gather yourself in very emotional times, I understand, let me go to Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

***(No further mention is made of Mr.Broussard)***

Show proceeds, then ends.

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Approximately 31 elderly Americans died in that nursing home, either as a direct result of the flooding or succumbed to the elements while they waited for help. President Broussard witnessed he horrors of the past few days first hand, but his words reflect the frustration of us all. I respect President Broussard for speaking from his heart, and letting America and the world know exactly how things have been. It truly is terrible and crushing to consider the level of anguish that the survivors must be feeling. My prayers go out for Aaron Broussard, the good people of St. Bernard and Jefferson Parishes, all the survivors, and all the loved ones lost, for him and so many others to still be seeking help one week later is truly an injustice inflicted upon the American people. I don't know how to say it any more diplomatically than that, as words, feelings, and emotions about what I've been seeing on the news come to mind, but none fit to use. All I can do is shake my head "no", while I type this.