1. The real truth of Hurricane Katrina is that government failed at all levels. Yes, the Bush administration had a slow and ham fisted response to the disaster. I think most reasonable people would agree with that. But the local government also was incompetent. The governor Kathleen Blanco (a Democrat) also was incompetent as was Mayor Ray Nagin (also a Democrat). Being fair to Nagin, he did a much better job this time with Hurricane Gustav - he took charge, demanding folks evacuate. The new governor, Bobby Jindal, also did a good job. A local coordinated effort is far more important in these types of natural disasters.

David S. at 7:06AM on Sep 7th 2008

2. Cenk-I kinda expected to see him get up and knock over chairs and knock things off your desk.

But what did I see, Cenk ill prepared to do an interview, getting into a discussion without knowing much about what your talking about.

You do great on your show when you are alone where you can bounce up and down in your seat and laugh at yourself, while presenting your one sided views into a blog in which most times you are flat out wrong.

You came out a big loser on this one, but then again, what else is new.

Robert OKane at 7:20AM on Sep 7th 2008

3. So one Republican acts badly and in a way that is similar to those Democrat thugs masquerading as "peaceful protesters" that roughed up the Fox News team last week. At least this guy went after equipment and not people. And not all black people think GW Bush is evil incarnate. What a shock.

Dave at 7:58AM on Sep 7th 2008

4. I believe is that Hurricane Catrina was so strong, and the levee so old, that colapse, That problem went for so many years under Democrats, and Republicans. Presidents Bush problems is, all the catastrophic happens under his Presidency.

sharoo52 at 9:17AM on Sep 7th 2008

5. The interviewer typifies the media trying to lead the public to negative views by mistating facts or with outright lies. Anyway who was unbiased at the time knows that New Orleans due to its elevation is in an almost indefensible position from any large storm and had been lucky for decades. The Federal government and all advisors advised strongly to evacuate. The failure starts where the responsibility lays and that is with local officials. They mayor should have used the buses that sat idle to take the people out of there and the mayor of other cities should be utilized for shelter. The governor should have coordinated the cooperation between the cities and if not enough resources were available called upon other governors for support. The Federal government should only be used when then resources of local governing bodies do not have the capacity to protect its citizens not when they are too stupid to fulfill their responsibilities. Why did Gustav get handled so well, sure the FEMA response was better but most noteworthy was the Mayor learned a lessor and they now have a great governor. To lay this all on Bush is totally lame and Gustav was no Katrina. Ike looks like it may be a Katrina and will be a real test of whether New Orleans is a reasonable location for a major city given our current inability to protect against nature

Gary at 9:39AM on Sep 7th 2008

6. The problem isn't the levies it's the elevation of New Orleans. Below sea level,duh. Not smart! pour billions into a hole and them wonder why they flooded. Nagin and the gov.(both dem's) totally got it wrong the first time even though they lived there their whole lives in the region. They blamed the president for their ineptitude. They got it right this time because a republican is in the governors seat this time. Obama will be just like Nagin and we can't afford that.

Dennis Keller at 9:29AM on Sep 7th 2008

7. Cenk, I don't know how you kept your cool talking to that moron but you did a good job nonetheless. I am sure that since the young man in question can't put a coherent thought together that he will have a great future in right-wing talk radio. (He's also got the shouting down pat too.)
And while it is true,as some here have pointed out, that government at ALL levels failed during Katrina, the fact remains that the Bush administration KNEW things were horrible down there and waited 4 days before doing anything! That,in my opinion, shows the true incompetance of the current administration. Bush is and always will be an uncaring idiot. And anyone who still supports Bush must have the brains of a gnat.
Keep up the good work Cenk!

Rick at 11:59AM on Sep 7th 2008

8. Lessons learned always,

9/11 & Katrina were exactly this under one man's watch.

Leadership learned from these types of events is almost worth the initial pain & suffering if it grants optimum reaction of future happenings....

Bobby at 10:22AM on Sep 7th 2008

9. In a disaster there is a hierarchy of resources and responsibility that can be brought to bear. When local resources are incapable of responding adiquately to the level of need, then state resources are mobilized. When state resources are insufficient then federal resources much be brought to bear because the federal resources are expodentally greater than state or local emergency resources.

Could local resources have responded to the Levi break? Of course not. Over ninty percent of the city was flooded. Their entire support infrastructure was crippled. Their personel were clearly overwhelmed and most saw to the survival of themselves and their families. Corruption and incompetence aside, is there any city in America that maintains the emergency budget to respond to an emergency of that magnitude? Of course not. Even New York City needed immediate outside assistance on 9/11.

On the state level the problem was no better. Not only did Lousiana have to deal with New Orleans, but also with outlying areas that had been hit by the storm. In fact response to there was limited by having to split resources between the city and the rest of the state. And lets not forget the hundreds of thousands of people who could evacuate, were now the responsibility of the state.

This is why the federal government emergency systems exist. It has the most money, the widest powers, and the ability to immediately respond to the disaster. Within 24 hours the air guard could have been dropping off personelle at the superdome and taking out the critically injured or ill. Instead those people are forced to wait while others trapped in the city die trapped in attics. Does anyone believe the airforce, navy, and coast guard couldn't have been mobilized because they had to be on the watch for an attack here? The point is that of all the different levels, the federal government had the greatest ability to respond and blew it. And the buck stops at the man who sits behinds the desk, be they republican or democrat.

Should New Orleans have been built in a flood plain? That's moot. The reality is that it is in a flood plain. Should people have evacuated? Many did, but others could not due to lack of transportation or would not due to fear of losing their property. Would a democrat have done better? Another republican did: Bush's father. In 1992, when hurricane Andrew smashed through Miami, he had the 82nd airbone on the ground within 12 hours of the hurricane's passing.

This is the standard response policy for conservative pundits. One, blame the victims. Two, deny all responsibility, particularly for your officials. Three, blame government. And under no circumstances do you ever admit responsibility or admit that you should have done better. And if any one argues with you, make as big a discordant din as possible so that debate is impossible.

Somber at 10:22AM on Sep 7th 2008

10. And not all black people think GW Bush is evil incarnate. What a shock.>>>>

Yeah, a lot of white people think Bush is "evil incarnate" too.

NotaSecTime at 10:41AM on Sep 7th 2008

11. What irritates me more is what comes after the emergency. It took three years to build the WTC from scratch. Three years, which included having to extend manhattan two hundred feet into the Hudson. It's been seven years and STILL we haven't rebuilt. It depresses me that we still can't put aside our differences and show the world that no matter how many times you knock down our towers we'll just build them up even higher. Or to take new orleans, the ninth ward, and pay each family living there 300,000 dollars to move elsewhere, and then turn the whole ward into one giant park for the community.

It's just discouraging.

Somber at 10:50AM on Sep 7th 2008

12. Those two black idiots should have been shut off.

almarlake at 10:55AM on Sep 7th 2008

13. That video was funny as hell by the way.

Cenk doesn't understand the passion of a brotha when he disagrees.

This black couple undoubtedly fend for themselves & recognize the responsibility of gov't on all levels....

Bobby at 11:05AM on Sep 7th 2008

14. >>>Or to take new orleans, the ninth ward, and pay each family living there 300,000 dollars to move elsewhere, and then turn the whole ward into one giant park for the community.

It's just discouraging.

Somber at 10:50AM on Sep 7th 2008>>>

Wow Somber!

I bet you wonder why we had a mortgage crisis as well....

Bobby at 11:10AM on Sep 7th 2008

15. read david brinkley's The Great Deluge (tulane university), transcripts of emails and phone calls include:
that a mistake in protocol was purposely used to delay katrina response with the expressed purpose of discrediting gov. blanco so as to ensure that the next governor would be "a republican."
and it states that in no uncertain terms.
according to newspapers in India from 5 years ago, Jindal had been already been promised the governorship of Lousiana.

Louis KingofFrance at 11:15AM on Sep 7th 2008