MSNBC Hardball - Transcript
MSNBC Hardball - Transcript
Monday, September 5, 2005
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MATTHEWS: A new "Washington Post"/ABC News poll shows, while Americans say the government should have been more prepared for Katrina at all levels, fewer are blaming the president personally.
Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, sits on the House Committee for Homeland Security. And he wrote the president a letter today asking why it took so long to declare a national emergency. Bob Livingston is a former Republican congressman from Louisiana.
Let me go to Congressman Thompson.
What do you want to accomplish with this letter to the president today?
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D), MISSISSIPPI: Well, we are trying to make sure that we put the necessary assets in place, so that we can help everybody affected by this devastating hurricane.
MATTHEWS: Do you want the FEMA director fired?
THOMPSON: Well, I think you've talked to local officials all over. Nobody is happy. When a person does not perform a job correctly, you get rid of them.
MATTHEWS: Do you think that the president would be well served to name one person to be in charge of this whole operation now on the site and especially in Louisiana?
WILLIAMS: Well, when you talk to any of the local officials who are working with this hurricane, they are desperately crying out for someone in charge who can make decisions. We're not there yet.
MATTHEWS: Right.
Congressman Livingston, you love that area. You grew up there. That's your home. Do you think we should have somebody like a Rudy Giuliani or a Colin Powell, some big shot on the site who says, I will make the big decisions at federal, state and level right now? Somebody is in charge.
BOB LIVINGSTON, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Well, Chris, I think that you can always point the fingers.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: No, I'm trying to point to the future. Would we be better off with one person in charge, instead of all these levels of government fighting with each other?
LIVINGSTON: Yes. I think you could fix up the government and hone it down, absolutely.
But this was a Category 5 hurricane. And we planned for a Category 3 hurricane. It was bigger than anything that has hit the coast of the United States in-practically in our history. There have been houses, like Trent Lott's house in Mississippi, that was-were around for 150 years, that were wiped out. They're gone now.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
LIVINGSTON: And we just didn't anticipate anything this big. And we weren't ready for it.
MATTHEWS: But what happened in New Orleans wasn't the hurricane being beyond expectations. It is that the levees broke.
LIVINGSTON: Well, the levees broke. And then we also didn't get attention in there quickly enough. And when we did get attention in there, there were snipers shooting at our people.
And it wasn't the Mississippi River levee. We have been beefing up the Mississippi River levees for years and years and years. And they held. Unfortunately, it was the river-the levees around the lake. They were less strong. And I don't think that we paid as much attention to those levees.
MATTHEWS: Is it logistically possible as an engineering feat, I should say? Can we have a secure, dry New Orleans in the future?
LIVINGSTON: Absolutely. You know, we rebuilt Hiroshima. We rebuilt Dresden, Germany. We rebuilt Warsaw, Poland, as humankind. We will rebuild New Orleans.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: I'm looking at this one guy operating this tractor. And I keep thinking-I have been watching this guy all day now. He's the-he is the rebuilding effort, this poor guy. Is that going to work, what we're looking at right now?
LIVINGSTON: That's the beginning.
MATTHEWS: Is that going to hold once the water recedes on one side and it has to hold back everything?
(CROSSTALK)
LIVINGSTON: Well, you have got to take a first step.
MATTHEWS: OK.
LIVINGSTON: And it is going to take lot of...
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Congressman Thompson, is this an historic event, the way in which this government has failed or has been-let me leave it open to you...
THOMPSON: Well...
MATTHEWS: ... has handled this matter?
THOMPSON: Well, Chris, DHS made this an incident of national significance, which, under our regulations, is the first time we have ever done it. It makes the federal assets available at that moment.
And we failed to make the assets available in a timely manner. So, clearly, I'm glad that former Congressman Livingston understands also that the federal government was late in responding. Somebody has to be made accountable and held accountable. What we have to do is get the job done, but, in the process of getting the job done, we need to make those individuals in charge accountable for their failures.
MATTHEWS: Does anybody at the state, local or federal level deserve a gold star for their performance this past week in relief?
THOMPSON: Well, all of those men and women who have been there under insurmountable odds deserve all the gold stars we can give them, because, had we supported their heroic efforts, we probably could have saved a number of individuals, especially in the Louisiana area.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
THOMPSON: Because help was just too long in coming.
MATTHEWS: Well, I hope you guys keep us informed as the months pass by. We can't drop this story. We want New Orleans back. We want that part of the country saved.
Thank you very much, Congressman Benefit.
Thank you, former Congressman Bob Livingston.
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