Shooting Off Your Mouth

In this feature, I will rate the controversial/outrageous pronouncements from public figures issued over the past Martin Luther king, Jr. Day weekend.

- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on MLK Day: "Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country. Surely he doesn't approve of us in Iraq under false pretenses. I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day (emphasis mine). This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way."

This one went over like a lead balloon. The major media and conservative bloggers went at Nagin like he was raw meat. I'll leave aside his comments about God's revenge on the USA. That's his opinion. And I'd like to think God doesn't approve of us invading Iraq under false pretenses, either.

What really put the blood in the water was the "Chocolate City" comments. "What is he trying to say," the media asked. "Is he saying White people will be unwelcome in New Orleans?" If you'd believe the press, you'd think these comments caused developers to stop writing checks and rebuilding efforts stopped until Nagin retracted his remarks yesterday.

I understand the motive behind Nagin's evocation of the old P-Funk song. He was attempting to reassure the aggrieved and suspicious Black population of NO, who feel that they will be displaced in a New Orleans rebuilt into a theme park for binge-drinking Caucasians. Not a bad idea. But the time and place of those remarks was not well-thought-out.

It may be that Ray Nagin is just an idiot. In the early days following Katrina, he lashed out passionately and righteously against the sluggish federal response. I was pulling for him then. Since then, though, I've been questioning his behavior.
His showing up to eat cheese every time Bush wants a photo op down there is understandable, if regrettable. However, his negative comments about the influx of Mexican workers to aid the reconstruction was not a good look. And he can be counted on for a questionable, erratic comment every 4 to 6 weeks. Ray, basically, is a local politician that has been thrust onto the national stage, who quite often seems in over his head. But he needs to realize that conservative and the media are gunning for him, and choose his words more carefully. C-

- Hillary Clinton on MLK Day: "When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about."

For those of you who don't, say, read Matt Drudge or watch the Fox News Channel, you could be forgiven for forgetting that Hillary Clinton had come into prominence as an icon of the left. Because for most of the fall, she has apparently been gearing up for her putative '08 presidential run by pandering to the right on issues like Iraq and abortion.

But Monday in a Harlem church, she got back to pandering to her, um, base, with these remarks. Yes, Hillary, we KNOW what you're talking about. Sigh. Does this woman even talk to her husband? Bill could have coached her on telling Black folks what they want to hear, without being so strident.

As for the substance of her comments: Plantation, sure, why not? Unlike the Senate, in the House, Republicans control most of the channels Democrats could use for debate and dissent. So, "plantation" might be considered an accurate analogy by some. But, jeez, Hil, take it slow. Don't blow your whole rhetorical wad before you even announce. C+

- Al Gore on MLK Day: Gore, on the subject of Bush's domestic spying program called for an independent counsel, stating that the President "repeatedly and insistently" broke the law by eavesdropping on American citizens without court approval. Gore called the program "a threat to the very structure of our government."

Oh, the Bush crew was all over this. The administration called Gore everything but a child of God, as the old folks say. Professional Liar Scott McClellan called Gore a hypocrite (I'm rubber and you're glue, Scott...). AG Alberto Gonzales basically enforced Gore's position that he could not be trusted to investigate the administration on this, by essentially saying, "our spying IS TOO legal!" The RNC accused Gore of still having sour grapes from the 2000 election.

If this is sour grapes, then my lips won't stop puckering (huh?). Gore, thankfully out of the business of lying for a living, can take on Bush's policies in the blunt terms that they deserve, and it's good that someone does. Bush needs to be hammered on this flagrant breach of Americans' rights and the court system EVERY FREAKIN' DAY, but the response from the Democrats on this has been, like much from them, weak and inconsistent. Probably afraid to be labeled as giving "aid and comfort" to the terrorists, Dems have largely soft-pedaled this issue since the early revelation. And if Al Gore wants expend his waning capital with a harsh broadside against an ineffective and possibly illegal spy program, good for him. B

And I'd like to send a special shout-out to the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights for filing suit against Bush over the domestic spy program. Thanks, folks. Shut 'em down!