it was rough. >> narrator: hurricane katrina had hit the new orleans police department hard. >> katrinahit on august 29, sometime mid-day on august 30, we lost complete communications. >> narrator: warren riley was second in command of the nopd at the time of the storm. >> we were unprepared. the city was covered by water. we had no power, no lights. our radio system went down, our backup system failed. and we lost complete command and control of the police department. >> we were dealing with a police force that was completely inundated with lack of resources. and it was clear that we were having some civil societal breakdown. >> tension mixed with temptation on tuesday as those trapped in a city of rising water took survival into their own hands. >> narrator: quickly news reports were saturated with a lasting image of katrina-- the looter. >> looting in new orleans. shots have been fired. >> downtown new orleans became a looter's free-for-all. >> they represent a frightening breakdown of law and order. >> narrator: but early media reports were exaggerated. >> there was chaos on canal s

this is something that we have done today after katrina. it is something you can do now as well in the event a disaster does strike. again, i told you about other things, the ride share program we have created now. it's aiding residents to get out. as i mentioned there is no place of last resort. again, it's the neighbors who are responsible for one another. we have residents can sign up to take an elderly out. we can take kids out or whom ever needs a ride, pets, things like that. a lot of people in broadmoore and in the city of new orleans because of their pets. pets are our family. i had a beshon that went with me and i wouldn't leave him or plan to in the future. tailor the information to the residents that live within your community and give them the information that they need to make sure they survive. and that we continue to help one another. it's all about what we can do not only for ourselves but for our communities. in closing, i want to leave you with some additional points that i have made throughout the presentation. just it's

i saw that with katrina and again with the oil spill. i think we focus on trying to paint, trying to protect the image, rather than focus on making decisions. we end up making bad decisions. that is what we saw. >> any other final thoughts? [applause] >> on "washington journal," ylan mui discusses the latest predictions for retail sales this holiday season. george liebmann on youth unemployment and ways to create jobs for young people. up to that, author bradford fitch talks about the power lobbyists have in washington and how to approach members of congress when you have an issue that needs to be addressed, plus your e-mails and phone calls. "washington journal" at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. earlier this fall, josette sheeran gave remarks at the national press club here in washington on global view of -- food security and property. here is a look. >> today, we are going to talk about my optimism, and why i believe we can and hunker -- can end hunger in my lifetime. i want to take a journey with you to the front lines of hunger. this i

i covered katrina. standing there in the rubble of what was left in the middle of the worst natural disaster in the united states in modern history. partisan politics was the furthere farthest things from my mind. i would like to talk about first of all, let's look at the worst case scenarios. when you look at recent crisis. in the perfect world, we get along. hold hands and come together for the good of our country and fellow citizens. that doesn't always happen. when you look back to recent years, when has it fallen on its face and what happened? >> you know, i think the truth is, we have a good record of america pulling together in getting beyond partisanship when we truly face a crisis. george bush, who i didn't support politically, but gave a great speech on 9/11 before a joint session of congress. we were all democrats and republicans that night. while katrina was a terrible tragedy and there was a finger pointed whether he responded fast enough. there was no red and blue states. our hearts broke

the war in iraq, katrina, the latest reaction to president bush's exc

we don't have trials like what happened with katrina. so many of you that have been sparks of hope and imagination, people that are engaged we have someone that will talk about how she has sparked the imagination and engagement of a city that was ready to abandon, not just her but the entire broadmoore community. in fact, the mayor who is a friend, this is not a critique, put together after the challenges in katrina, put together a diverse group of what we say the best and the brightest. came up with a bad idea. we don't always get it right. they said broadmoore had been wiped out. they said, it ain't worth bringing back. we are going to make it open space. and the speaker i will introduce in a moment she like many of you said, wait that's my community. that's my neighborhood. you made that decision without us in mind. the community was forced to leave. they were not part of this discussion. and she said, like so many of you said to me and others, no that's not the way it's going to be. she stepped up and stepped in and she was heard. an

>> it's the obvious reasons with the situation with the -- i'm not even saying the katrina disaster evenracters in life that are on this side of the tv that mean so much to the people, whether it's they connect it with music or because they're a president. >> let me make sure i let people understand you're aloluding to when you walked onto the stage with taylor swift and people said this wasn't a guy expressing his musical preference, a guy saying beyonce was better than taylor swift and you got accused of racism. >> it was so funny to me it could be a race thing, i was expressing my frustration from years and years of seeing -- you know -- how am i supposed to talk if you're going to run this thing in the middle of while i'm talking? >> it's under. you won't be hearing it. >> i'm hearing it while i try to talk. >> could you take the sound out of the overheads, please? just pick up. >> please don't let that happen again. it's ridiculous. >> you said it wasn't a race things and you had been frustrated for years and years. >> it's so many things where i'm asking the awards to be a little b

in the way it was done makes it even even worse well it seems that he's trying to highlight this katrina as well and he had missed some of the mistakes made during his presidency and this is apparently something that he has kept in his mind to do you welcome his honesty on this and do you think why do you think he's bringing this up as this priority. well i think what he's trying to do is rehabilitate himself i mean as we saw in the last election members of his own political party or ran away from george w. bush he has a very low opinion rating certainly one of the lowest in fact the lowest opinion ratings from americans leaving office of any president in modern american history and i think he's trying to spin his his ministration and his legacy perhaps to get a better judgment from historians than what the american people are giving him now but you know even in those instances in which he admits wrongdoing let's take a train for example what he admits to doing wrong was not stopping in new orleans on the flight back from his ranch in texas from his vacation on his way to washington that

my feeling about what's happened post-katrina, and to be equal opportunity about it, i feel katrina'sarly a demonstration of ineffectiveness and hollowness at the core of american society right now and it's been demonstrated not just by the federal response to katrina but by the state and local response. i don't think the city has made its way back as far as it has by political fiat or by economic competitive. of those things generally failed new orleans. what brought the city that is the fact that new orleanians, without thinking committing a political act had a search for the culture they couldn't live anywhere else. they came back for what they knew of as the city provided them as a cultural experience and the city came back one second of line and one saints game at a time and that is what has brought new orleans back. it's remarkable it has come back as it has in five years although there are many people who can't come home, but i will be equal opportunity about it. if it was the republicans and the mismanagement and agreed involving the emergency money in the immediate aftermath

so talk to me, during the most stressful times of your presidency, iraq, katrina, you never fell off the wagon? >> no. >> not a sip? >> not since 1986. >> no temptation. >> no, i through. >> he called it the most important decision of his life. eight years after he took his last drink he won his first election. >> you learn about a relationship between your father and you in a letter that he wrote to you on the occasion of you as governor texas. do you have your glasses? >> no. you'll have to read it. here's the thing you've got to understand. if you want me to weep, let me read some of the letters he's writ on the me as a son. >> yeah, let me read a part of it. >> thank you for doing that. >> these cufflinks are the most treasured possession. they were given to me from my mom and dad in 19 # 3 when i got my wings at navy, corpus christi. i want you to have them. you are in a sense getting your wings as you take the oath of office as our governor. you have sack rye fised, given us your unwavering loi loyalty and devotion. >> yeah. as i said i could barely get through it. i know there

ka treu katrina and her son will face the young men her son is accusing. the outcome remains unclear, because katrina tells wjz news that suspect denies he urinated on his shoes. 50% of students are accused of bullying, it's a problem president obama has condemned. >> we have to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage. that it's a part of growing up, it's not. >> reporter: the school thoroughly investigated this incident. and like any incident, they take it seriously. the victim's mother is upset because she says the school district reveals any details of the investigation. >> reporter: the boy in this case is now at a different school. >>> alarm at anne arundel county after a woman is raped after she was taking out the trash. she says the man came at her with a weapon, raped her and then ran away. anne arundel county police are still looking for the attacker. >>> the ravens ray rice is pulled over for a traffic stop and receives a warning. now some are questioning whether his celebrity status got him off without a ticket. adam may

did katrina give them an opportunity? did george bush give them an opportunity?well, it was sort of all the above. that was certainly gave democrats a lot of fuel to campaign in 2006 and win back control of congress and it compounded some of the problems that you had seen with the president. this is a fascinating interview where he says the words, i failed. that was something we were talking about in the last segment. the president acknowledging shortcomings very fascinating. i'm very curious to see how much president george w. bush is able to rebuild his image in a way that maybe 2012 presidential contenders would see him on the trail, again. as we all remember, he was absent completely from the 2008 campaign trail. can this restore his image a little bit and help him raise money for republicans and campaign with the nominee. >> there are a lot of people who have read the book and i have not. they say in terms of policy, there is no shocking revelations, but it does give you sort of a view into this man and one in particular that i think did raise a lot of eyebr

and category four hurricane katrina made landfall in louisiana.sident bush declared state of emergency for louisiana and mississippi. the same day. katrina ripped two holes in the superdome roof and two days later, kathleen blanco requests for national guard troops from president bush and ordered total evacuation of the city. the mayor and governor waited to take necessary action to protect their citizens until the event happened. they were unprepared for what happened. 3,000 people never left. they didn't get out in time. instead they wound up on the roofs with signs that said, "save me." 35,000 out the superdome and 25,000 more at the convention center. a little preparation could have saved much of new orleans, and much more importantly the people in it. what if new orleans listened to and acted upon all the advice from the engineers over the years since the 1950s telling them that the levees would not hold? what if they prepared for a disaster by fixing that fundamental problem instead of squandering the money? even i warned about the levees. i

bush says the worst moment of his presidency came when he was accused of racism after hurricane katrina orleans. in 2005 with the city under water and residents desperate for help, rapper kanye west and actor mike myers took part in a televised event during which west blasted the president. >> george bush doesn't care about black people. >> more than 1800 people died during the katrina crisis and mr. bush admits it was not handled well. but, in his memoir due out next week he says while he suffered a lot of criticism, quote, the suggestion that i was racist because of the response to katrina represented an all-time low. >>> straight ahead your thursday morning weather and, in sports, how sweet it is, the world series champion san francisco giants get a hero's welcome. e. caltrate soft chews because they have 20% more calcium per chew than viactiv or for the delicious flavors like chocolate truffle and vanilla creme? mmm. -mmm. -mmm. [ female announcer ] hard to say really. new caltrate soft chews, we put the yum in calcium. ♪ and i feel like... [ female announcer ] kellogg's wants to ma

i just think it is more complicated. >> we are talking about katrina. you were here. what is your opinion? did the party get it right? was there enough by partisanship to get the people what they needed? >> i would like to compare it with the bp oil spill. we see the same thing with regards to go oil spill. it would be push and pull with the different parties. for example, during katrina, the democrats want to take punches in order to take back control of the congress, and you can see it similarly during the bp oil spill, were you have republicans taking punches to get some political points in order to give back. the is were i saw the bipartisanship come into play. the issue was not whether we wanted to help people, but at the same time, we were pulling punches to get political points to paint the other side not to look bad whenever we could in order to convince people we could have done a better job. >> you and i were discussing -- what happens when a president takes an action that is part ascend -- that is partisan. tell us what you saw. >> one of the concerns i hav

i saw this firsthand, i went down to help out with katrina thing in september. it's weird. because you are dealing with people that lost everything and it's kind of hard to imagine that if you haven't done it yourself. basically, you know, she's looking at her curtains here, she probably hand-stitched those things. maybe they have been hanging there the last 5 or 6 years. everything in the house is wrecked, photos, keepsakes, it's a tough thing. and people deal with this kind of stress in different ways. we as disaster workers, we see it all the time. but we have a word we use, professional. we try to be professional around people that have suffered a loss like this because they don't want us to come -- you don't want to go into somebody's house and be joking and having a good time. it's unprofessional. when you are dealing with somebody who has a loss like this, just think of the word professional. that's what we try to do. this sort of body language here, she's trying to comfort here, do you think she's buying it? not with that body language. she's not really buying it. s

the school here abandoned after hurricane katrina.1950, this was the raucous center of a tumultuous civil rights battle. >> a break in the color line. a new orleans girl goes to school. >> reporter: now 56, the memories flow easily for ruby bridges, the little girl who integrated william france school, protected by a team of federal marshals. >> there were lots of people outside screaming and shouting. the police officers. but i thought it was mardi gras. you know? i didn't actually know that all of that was there because of me. >> reporter: the city exploded into sometimes violent protests and an ugly mob picketed outside the school. but ruby's parents determined to challenge the segregation laws uneasily september their daughter into harm's way. were you ever afraid? >> there were days when they would come and they would bring a baby's coffin. inside this baby's coffin was a black doll. i used to have nightmares about the coffin. >> reporter: many... (no audio) from this painting she inspired by norman rockwell which remain one of t

i saw that with katrina and again with the oil spill.i think we focus on trying to paint, trying to protect the image, rather than focus on making decisions. we end up making bad decisions. that is what we saw. >> any other final thoughts? [apppppppppppppppppppp >> part of our exteppeded holiday weekend of no one-c-span writers. and how the commander of u.s. forces in iraq from 004 and highest ranking member in 2006. a group called latino's -- latino leaders network. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [cappings copyright national cable satellite corp 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] nd counter terrorism issues. representative sanchez serve as the vice-chair of the house homeland security committee and also the ranking female member of the armed services committee. who better to introduce general sanchez then the hon. loretta sanchez. please welcome her to the podium. [applause] >> that you. how are you all doing? it is so nice to see aold out crowd. thank you to everybody on the committe

katrina.ina and that the response to katrina specifically the inadequate or incompetent response from fema was by no means an accident. >> i don't think they deliberately screwed that up. i think what they were doing, i interviewed a lot of people who worked at fema for many years. they basically explained to me that when bush came in, they wanted to gut all of these domestic actsies and outsource all the functions to their contributors. they brought in a couple of these guys i described in "family of secrets." michael brown was brought in. the real story of michael brown oond how unqualified he was has never been told. >> the book, "family of secrets." the author, russ baker. if you want to read "decision points," you might want to check this out. a pleasure. nice to see you. coming up on "hardball," chris matthews talks about bush's version of history with joe wilson, the man at the center of the iraq md controversy, but first, the twinkie diet. we'll talk to the professor who lost 20 pounds

after katrina, the new orleans levies were built to the exact same standards before. i didn't want to argue about the height but they certainly did not include climate change and one would argue they built them at an ineffective manner to begin with but they did not rebuild with climate change. brad said the colorado river and it's use of,hydrology, and it occurred to me, why are they not addressing climate change. why is the bureau not integrating it into the analysis of the system and i'll come back to an example of that in a moment. we have not yet done in california a systematic assessment of reservoirs. there have been some studies on specific reservoirs or river basins and how flexible or inflexible they might be under existing rules and there are a couple of studies that look at different kinds of reservoir rules but not systematically and i don't think there's been any system reoperation. corner me later and tell me i'm wrong but i would argue that on the demand for water. it has been mentioned a couple of times here. seattle may have done that and port land m

they go back to katrina.mpact that had on so many bush people and what went so terribly wrong. >> there's no question about it, joe. if i look back at the 7 1/2 years i was in the west wing, no question all the issues we faced, 9/11, afghanistan, iraq, shuttle disaster, all those things, nothing compares to that first week or those 10 days around katrina. on multiple levels, whether it was the fact we couldn't get good information, we were slow in decision making, we were spread across the country, it was in august, the president was in texas, i was in washington, andy card was in massachusetts, et cetera. it was a complete disaster. it's interesting, president bush says in the interview and book, he talks about the flyover and he takes responsibility for that. granted, ultimately, he was responsible. he was covering for his staff because his staff screwed that up. we had a contentious debate internally and he was willing to take -- yeah. >> i'm sorry, we have a delay here. i'm so sorry. i wanted to interrupt

that's katrina at large for president bush. three moments within a week of each other, the american people saying, what? that's what the problem is. >> let's not forget the people most disappointed with president bush were not african-americans, were not a major constituency of his to begin with. people who liked him. christian evangelicals. political supporters who found on a human level his response completely lacking. >> also the come pe tense question. >> when iraq began, katrina extended it. >> if you're winning, you don't read as much of these things into it. but when these moments come when you're not winning, when you're struggling, we read more into them. and they become defining moments of the presidency. >> major, jeff, karen, michelle, thank you so much for joining us. >>> still ahead, i'll ask personal finance expert suze orman whether you should do anything differently with your money, now that republicans are taking over half of capitol hill. >>> later, we go one-on-one with one of the republicans' rising stars.