POOR OLD RAY...

Well, New Orleans, LA Mayor Ray Nagin (otherwise known as "G.. D.... Greyhound Nagin," "School Bus Nagin," "Chocolate City Nagin," and now "Vagina-Friendly Nagin" just can't catch a break.

I feel bad for Brother Ray. He came into the office of New Orleans Mayor as a very successful businessman. He gave up a lucrative career as an exec with a telecom company to run for one of the nastiest political jobs in the US. Truthfully, it was the white citizens of the Big Easy that put him in office. The black community didn't trust him...not black enough, and on and on.

Five years ago when our new Governor (my buddy Bobby Jindal) ran (and lost) against Kathleen "Blank Check" Blanco in the goobernatorial election, Nagin was the only black political leader in LA to endorse Bobby.

Y'all know I'm a Christian. I always try to put myself in the other guys' shoes. And I don't really know how well I would have done as Mayor in the (worn-out phrase coming here) wake of Hurricane Katrina. Nagin inherited a "mess" in New Orleans. He asked for it, and he got it!

Actually I do know how well I would have done. I would have been looking at the Holy Bible to find justification for suicide.

Just imagine being in charge of an unfixable mess, and realizing that "the mess just got worser." But Ray Nagin didn't bail out. He even ran for re-election...and beat the toughest political family in LA in the process...to retain his reign over squalor.

Sometimes I think, "Ray is a better man than I am." Then I think, "Ray is a better man than I am." It would have been really easy to "bail out" of that enormous mess we call New Orleans.

There is a good chance that if the levees had "held," he would have had time, finances, public support to turn the city around, and have been hailed as a "hero" for his great foresight in getting every willing soul to the SuperDome and the Morial Convention Center before Katrina made landfall.

But the levees failed...So Rudy is the "hero," and Ray is the "goat."

Ray came to the political table with good intentions. I truly believe that. Ray was dealt a bad hand. I have alot of grace for people like Ray. I would have more for him if he hadn't done his best to throw his few good cards away...and just kept his mouth shut!

I'm reminded of the "good old days" of Monday Night Football. While the "instant replay" was running...right before the ref was about to call "unnecessary roughness," Dandy Don Meredith would holler out..."That's pilin' on...that's pilin' on...that's pilin' on!"



So, I reckon I'll pile on. PhotoShop is a wonderful thing...