McCain visits New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward
The Republican candidate speaks to residents of the stricken community and draws Democratic scorn. In the Senate, a unanimous vote declares McCain eligible for the presidency.
NEW ORLEANS — Republican John McCain toured this city's still-impoverished Lower 9th Ward today, accompanied by dozens of soldiers from the Louisiana National Guard and trailed by a press corps herded onto the flatbeds of two large green cargo trucks.
Accompanied by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate, McCain and his wife Cindy stopped to greet volunteers at the Lisa Jones House, a Christian charity that distributes clothing and food to local residents in need. Initially, the only crew allowed on the street with him during the three-block walk was his campaign film crew, which has been putting together a video montage of this week's tour of America's "forgotten places" for the convention.
"Never again will a disaster of this nature be handled in the terrible and disgraceful way it's been handled," McCain said in remarks addressed to the people of New Orleans and Louisiana. "History will judge this president," he said in answer to a question about President Bush's legacy. "But it will never, ever again happen."
Democrats criticized McCain's visit to New Orleans, noting that he'd voted against a spending bill in 2006 that would have provided $28 billion in hurricane relief, and legislation that would have extended unemployment and Medicaid benefits to hurricane victims for several months. The Arizona senator also opposed a commission to study the federal government's response.
"Touring the 9th Ward with reporters can't hide the fact that John McCain voted against billions of dollars in Katrina recovery efforts, emergency healthcare for survivors, unemployment assistance for displaced workers, and even the creation of a commission to find out what went wrong," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in a statement. "People in the Gulf Coast can hardly afford four more years of the failed Bush-McCain agenda."
McCain defended those votes aboard his campaign bus as part of his campaign against wasteful spending, saying the legislation could have led to "waste" and "mismanagement."
"They were all partisan votes," McCain said. "I'm proud of my support of American citizens regarding the taxpayers. I will not vote for projects and programs and bills that are laden with pork-barrel projects that waste taxpayers' dollars . . . They were full of pork-barrel, wasteful, unnecessary projects and earmarks."
