Oyster had another great post this weekend.
This time, he has a laugh over John Georges' seemingly inexplicable decision to play nice around Ray Nagin in a recent WBOK appearance, contrasting it with memorable instances in which Georges has not demonstrated a penchant for respectful discourse.
Georges is not even willing to risk a lukewarm, "on the one hand/on the other" assessment of Nagin on a black talk radio station, for fear of alienating black voters. This guy is such a spineless putz. He has no political talent. He makes me want to vomit. I loathe his "if I don't offend them, maybe I can buy them later" mentality.
So, we're only looking "forward" are we? Phew, that's a relief, because I was worried Georges was going to repeat his wild claims about Bobby Jindal having "orchestrated" his child's home birth, and how Bobby intentionally put his son "at risk" so that he could play "midwife". I'm sure the Governor and his merry men have forgotten all about that zinger, among others.
And if we're looking "forward", we won't be reviewing how Georges teamed up with the odious Derrick Shepherd back in 2005 to remove Shawn Barney from the State Senate race. And if we're looking "forward" we won't be calculating how Georges tripled the going rate in street money to secure Orleans parish during the Governor's race. "Politics of the past" and all that...
Indeed, Georges is a putz who embodies the "politics of the past," as they say. And he often makes me want to vomit.
But I don't think he's totally without political talent, or if he is, he's certainly going to try to overcompensate for it. He's being very opportunistic and I don't think his candidacy should be dismissed lightly, especially given the current crop of candidates.
Observe another item from that WBOK interview, as reported by the T-P, one that I thought was far more interesting than his non-criticism of the Mayor (Georges and Nagin were Brass buddies; Nagin endorsed Georges for Governor):
Georges also addressed his relationship with eastern New Orleans businessman Sherman Copelin, the controversial former state representative who built a reputation as a wheeler-dealer during his 14-year career in Baton Rouge.
"Personally, I believe if you don't love every New Orleanian, you don't love any New Orleanian, " Georges said, adding that Copelin impressed him by opposing the push to "shrink the city's footprint" after Hurricane Katrina. "I watched his efforts to allow New Orleans East to come back. And I respect what he can contribute to New Orleans, " he said.
Georges said Copelin wouldn't be a member of his administration but that he would accept the ex-lawmaker's help in speeding the city's recovery.
"I tell you what, he is someone that I have not run from, " Georges said. "I will go to every part of this city and I will try to bridge gaps. . . . And the way to bridge gaps in New Orleans is to break bread with everybody."
John Georges is going to go all over this town with his millions and millions of dollars and break bread with people. That has never failed to be a winning electoral strategy in New Orleans.
I'm not sure if it will work this time, but it sure is a tactic with a track record.
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Without a doubt,
the best part of the T-P article was John Georges' new campaign slogan.
The way the paper published the following JG quote in response to a question about a lack of political experience makes it appear as though Georges sputtered like an engine on its last drop of gasoline before devolving into this handy distillation of what he'd like us to think when we hear his name.
"First of all, Michael Bloomberg, OK?"
You can expect that many future posts about Mr. Georges' bread-breaking will include that quote.
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I am having a nightmare right now where I'm watching a Mayoral debate. The candidates are being asked easy questions about tough issues but are nonetheless struggling to respond. The candidates are giving these painful answers - from oversimplified to nonsensical - that demonstrate an unfortunate lack of knowledge about the city's big problems and more importantly, the possible solutions for fixing them. Then John Georges walks up to the microphone and instead of trying to answer the questions, he just confidently drops two or three word associations outside acceptable sentence structure. He's basically just using boilerplate slogans as sentences instead of trying to weave boilerplate slogans into actual sentences and paragraphs.
Norman Robinson: Mr. Georges, as you know, the NOPD is facing multiple civil rights investigations for possible cover-ups of post-Katrina homicides. There are numerous allegations of corruption and graft from the evidence room. Over
n NOPD officers have themselves been accused of crimes over the last four years. Some people say we need to completely overhaul our police force, and possibly consider a federal receivership with the Department of Justice to ensure a new police culture has time to take root. Others say we just need competent administration over incumbent police practice. What do you think we need to do about the NOPD to make it a more effective crime-fighting agency?
Georges: First of all, national search, OK?!?
Georges sits down as the crowd goes wild.
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