James Gill is not in the habit of handing out compliments. As a columnist for The Times Picayune, Gill has distinguished himself in both content and delivery, at least in my estimation, as the best writer in New Orleans.
Well, the best after Ashley Morris. And Adrastos. And there have been days when Seymour D. Fair and Mark Folse are kicking the can with style, too.
Okay, okay, shameless plugs for my favorite local bloggers, I admit it. But back to the topic, James Gill wrote recently about how we locals view our mispoken mayor. We know he's a good guy, no matter how much the media play it up that he's a kook, or that he's a bad leader, or that everything bad that happened because of Hurricane Katrina could have been handled better by anybody-but-Nagin--and Gill even includes his own paper among the guilty.
Check it out: Easily offended? Cover your ears
Simply put, Gill gets it right.
4 comments:
I kept my blogging mouth shut during the election because I am not a New Orleanian and don't really have a right to a say-so, but I have always had a hard time faulting Ray. I saw his near hysterics in the weeks after the storm as similar to what a baseball manager does when his players have been victimized by bad umpiring. Sometimes a little bit of added colorful passion is what it takes to make sure the players know that their manager is there for them. Sometimes when the stakes are big, the manager just needs to go ahead and get kicked out of the game. I was glad to see his anger with the blatant and obvious lack of response.
I also don't think I have much right to criticize anybody who was on the ground in New Orleans that week. The victims of a disaster of that magnitude cannot be expected to rescue themselves.
I am most comfortable with a politician who speaks his mind, consequences be damned, although they are rarely around for long.
Thanks for the compliment, Tim. But as I suspect you already know, I don't agree with Gill. People who spout off and repeatedly say stupid things are some times...well...not so bright.
I'm honored by the compliment. It's amazing what you can do when you're passionate about something.
Flattered, sir. My old colleague Annette S at the TP called you, however, for a good reason.
Even when Gill grates, it's usually a question of style and not substance.
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