Nagin didn’t look good. His skin looked bad. He was haggard. Maybe he’s not used to being up that early. Since he sometimes doesn’t roll into the office until noon after a long weekend, perhaps that’s exactly what it was.
But whether it was the lack of sleep or the mental health crisis he seems to be enduring, he made a fool of himself again. He put himself in a position where local anchor Eric Paulsen had to pat him on the arm in a pitiful sort of “get help” gesture while anchor Sally Ann Roberts played the role of concerned friend by stating, “People who are listening to you speak, people who care about you, may be worried about you because of your emotional state.”
It was awful. Nagin looked at the ground many times and seemed tired and weary. His body language seemed depressed.
And hey, if I was the victim of a blatant and malicious act of slanted photojournalism like what occurred last week in the Times-Picayune, I would be weary as well, and certainly pissed. The paper was caught deliberately trying to make the mayor look bad. Whomever was responsible for framing the shot in that manner should be fired. I am actually offended myself by it. I expect the paper to be bias only towards truth and the photo was a misrepresentation of the event it depicted. When a frame is precisely picked out from a piece of footage so as to depict a person pointing a gun at another when it wasn’t actually what happened, it seems pretty blatant the paper was going for a money shot.
So Nagin had every right to be upset about it.
But then what does he do?
He threatens to fight and punch people, thus justifying the message that was originally trying to be sent – that he is an impulsive and weak-minded official who consistently makes poor decisions on a moment-by-moment basis.
It’s odd that Nagin was actually the victim when this whole thing kicked off. I don’t care what the ends are, the Times-Picayune bamboozled Nagin. But unfortunately for him, he has done such a poor job of being the face of the city and its recovery that folks can’t wait for another opportunity to bash him. In fact, folks at the Times-Picayune are making up ways to bash him. And many of us took it hook-line-and-sinker. I know I did.
But the embarrassment I felt over being snookered by the newspaper transformed itself back into ridicule of the mayor this morning when he stated Aryan groups were out too get him and when he threatened to “cold cock” people.
After that, everyone could go back to despising him.
I really don’t think the issue with that photo-op had anything to do with where the gun was pointed. The Mayor and the Chief could have just stood next to the high-powered rifles and riot gear (with those idiot grins on their faces) and there would still be every reason in the world to be outraged. The T-P did more damage by backing down than it did by choosing an assailable photo.
But the local media has no balls when it comes to Nagin. They consistently refuse to look into his fundraising ties to city contractors and rarely even raise substantive questions about his competence. In the T-P’s view, the only time Nagin is fair game is when he’s being clownish…. which if you ask me, really isn’t all that bad a character trait. At least it means he has a sense of humor.
That Zurick report was a perfectly legitimate item to run. It concerned the Mayor’s public schedule in executing his duties in a public office. But this triggers a round of (clownish) intimidating ranting? I’d say that looks suspicious.
He’s suspicious as all hell. Especially considering the report was for parts of last year. Who knows where Nagin is at at this late stage of his condition. To be honest, the report last night wasn’t even all that outrageous. It made him look bad from a certain point of view but really wasn’t all that damning. But you’re right, he sure as hell freaked out about it.
And yes, the Times-Picayune does fail often. This photo was another example of that failure.
An ass is an ass is an ass is an ass. Having said that, Nagin is over reaching due to anger just as many in the blogging community has done, is doing and will do again to promote their emotional agenda.
They all can’t be as chilled as me.
Emotional agenda? I am assuming that agenda being pissed off because the city is fucked up?
That Nagin has put himself in a position in which we would believe that picture, how ever misrepresentative it is, is the rub. Even through the Chocolate City remarks, I was with the guy. Now I think one of two things:
1) He has genuinely lost it or
2) This is another maneuver at keeping himself in the spotlight and garnering pity, in preparation for his next big executive position after Mayor of New Orleans.
The paper picked the wrong frame, but the entire clip is pretty offensive. In a city with such a high rate of gun violence between African American young men seeing the two most visible African American men in the city appear to enjoy playing with guns, wherever they were pointed is disgusting.
I also wonder if he has had some polling done that shows that everyone sees him as a fool, and this is some maneuver to portray himself as a victim and regain some support.
But he is the victim, hate to say. Yes he shouldn’t have picked up the guns and joked around with them. but the paper, who is supposed to be relied on for truth, stretched it by showing him maniacally pointing the gun at Riley. I understand we all loath Nagin. I certainly do. But the Times-Picayune hoodwinked everybody and they are the real villain who is being let off the hook by many people because it is understood by some that the ends supposedly justified the means.