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Home Front: Culture Wars
Today Guest on Ray Nagin: "Maybe a Colt 45 Isn't the Best Choice for Breakfast"
2006-02-11
When's the last time you recall a prominent elected official being called a morning malt liquor drinker on live national TV? It just happened on the Today show.

Today was no doubt looking for a light touch when co-host Campbell Brown interviewed New Orleans magician, comic and eccentric extraordinaire Harry Anderson in a pre-Mardi Gras piece on "Life after Katrina." But the NBC show surely got more than it was bargaining for.

When Anderson took some shots at FEMA and the federal response to Katrina, Brown, in an apparent bid for balance, responded:

"Let me ask you about Mayor Nagin, because your mayor has come under a lot of crticism too for how he's handled the rebuilding effort. What do you think of the mayor?"

That's when Anderson leveled his alcohol allegation:

"I know the mayor, he's a decent man. He's said some wacky things lately. Maybe a Colt 45 isn't the best choice for breakfast."

If Brown was shocked, she hid it well, and continued the interview without skipping a beat. Still, don't expect to see Anderson turning up on a network show again any time soon.
Posted by:Captain America

#5  Wonder if Anderson magic shop is still there...
Posted by: 6   2006-02-11 23:44  

#4  Agreed, seems like a fairly decent man in way the hell over his head.
Posted by: 6   2006-02-11 23:43  

#3  The thought crossed my mind too - though I guessed Bloody Mary. But that may be unfair: I live in New Orleans & get to hear lots of the mayor's comments, and see him interviewed on local tv, and he never seems 'under the influence' - he just tends to open his mouth before putting his brain in gear. And pretty much always has.
Actually, I would say fatigue and frustration are at least as likely causes of his ill-advised comments. He was frustrated dealing with the New Orleans and Louisiana political processes BEFORE Katrina, and it has gotten lots worse. I don't think he's doing a great job with the recovery, and I suspect he knows it. But he probably doesn't think anyone else around here could do/have done any better, and sadly, he's almost certainly correct about that.
Posted by: Glenmore   2006-02-11 16:17  

#2  Alcohol?

talk about a softball tossed slowly through the strike zone...
Posted by: Phil   2006-02-11 15:57  

#1  "I know the mayor, he's a decent man. He's said some wacky things lately. . . ."

Anderson has since been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Understatement for that sentence.
Posted by: Mike   2006-02-11 14:33  

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