September 01, 2005
Dennis Hastert Suggests Not Rebuilding New Orleans
By Andrew Dobbs
Earlier, I put up a post about Congress' lack of action in the face of Hurricane Katrina's devastation. Now, the Associated Press is reporting some comments from House Speaker Dennis Hastert that might just clear things up:
It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said of federal assistance for hurricane-devastated New Orleans.
"It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed," the Illinois Republican said in an interview Wednesday with the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill.
Hastert, in a transcript supplied by the newspaper, said there was no question that the people of New Orleans would rebuild their city, but noted that federal insurance and other federal aid was involved. "We ought to take a second look at it. But you know we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake fissures and they rebuild too. Stubbornness."
"Looks like it could be bulldozed" huh? Good to know that the people of this city are so loved by members of Congress.
Posted by Andrew Dobbs at September 1, 2005 05:19 PM
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Haster, Bush, et al., don't care about those parts of the city, since they probably never vote Republican anyway.
I wonder if Speaker Hastert would get away with such outrageous statements if NOLA were a majority White city....
That is almost as good as Bill O'Reilly saying that the poor people in NO deliberately stayed because they knew there would be looting opportunities!
Believe it! www.sweetjesusihatebilloreilly.com.
Actually, it's a pretty realistic response.
I was born and raised in New Orleans and don't think that what Representative Hastert has said is all that outrageous. It might be worth considering not rebuilding those areas that are below sea level without getting into needless race-baiting. You have to put all options on the table in order to come to a rational decision.
