Tammy Bruce: How to turn a liability into an asset

How to turn a liability into an asset

A post by Maynard

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin puts a positive spin on the city's soaring murder rate. The body count is at least 117 so far this year, which is pretty impressive relative to the population.

Mayor Ray Nagin said he worries that slayings in the city make it seem dangerous, but news of such crimes "keeps the New Orleans brand out there."

In a city where the tourism industry is the lifeblood of a fragile economy, the wave of violence threatens to derail efforts to bring visitors — and former residents — back. Yet Nagin, at a bricklaying ceremony Thursday, told reporters it's a "two-edged sword."

"It's not good for us, but it also keeps the New Orleans brand out there, and it keeps people thinking about our needs and what we need to bring this community back," he said. "Sure it hurts, but we have to keep working every day to make the city better."

The logic may seem a bit screwy, but you've got to acknowledge the Mayor as a marketing genius.

Posted by Maynard · August 10, 2007 05:47 PM · Permalink
Corruption | Crime | Maynard Post | Moronic Convergence | Politics

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I've been talking to my girlfriend and some of her friends, and they assure me that Nagin's "New Orleans Brand" of BS doesn't fly in the rest of the state. So I'm looking forward to him getting hammered when he tries to get into the Governor's Mansion.

Posted by: N_Campbell at August 10, 2007 06:35 PM

Let's help out the mayor of the Chocolate City. Here are a few proposed bumper stickers:

"New Orleans - a great place to kill some time. Or someone."

"After living in New Orleans, you won't live anywhere else."

"Have a heart-stopping time in New Orleans."

""'CSI' is our middle name."

"New Orleans is for lifers."

Posted by: Mwalimu Daudi at August 10, 2007 06:41 PM

New Orleans = Baghdad on the Mississippi.

Posted by: Red Jeep at August 11, 2007 07:13 AM

This could be a positive pr move for Gary, Indiana.

They could advertise:

"A lower murder rate than New Orleans!"

Posted by: John H Schneider II at August 11, 2007 08:21 AM

I have a friend who was mugged in that city a couple of years ago - his first hour in! He walked the wrong way out of the youth hostel with his sister and was instantly mugged - his jaw broken and her teeth knocked out. As an afterthought the gang took the wallet he threw at them - they never demanded money, they never said anything. He believed the gang's real intent was to terrorize them. Many people on their porches witnessed it but did nothing to help. He told me his white guilt sensibilities were terribly shaken by the experience. What frustrated me was that he never reported the crime! How many crimes there go unreported? What is the REAL crime rate?

Posted by: helpunderdog at August 11, 2007 09:24 AM

Nagin a marketing genius? Only if his target audience is a bunch of loser morons.

Posted by: predoc at August 11, 2007 11:17 AM

Ray Nagin lives in some bizarro world if you ask me. It boggles the mind to think that he was elected to any office, let alone mayor of a large city. And if he is re-elected, it will be proof that the voters in that town are voting for a member of their race instead of a qualified leader. And if they do that, they get what they deserve.

Posted by: ConnecticutBruce at August 11, 2007 11:43 AM

Hey Michigan made the list twice! Don't we get a prize or sumpin'?
I don't mean our Governor Jennifer the Canuck either. She's a booby prize. (pun)

Posted by: brutepcm at August 11, 2007 12:19 PM

New York City is not in the top 10. Good for us. The NYCLU wants to spy on police tactics used for the Republican Convention. I guess they want NYC to be in the top 10 of "everything".

Posted by: Hadsil at August 11, 2007 03:16 PM

Connecticutbruce, Nagin [b]was[/b] reelected, in spite of his "Chocolate City" comments. He's announced that he wants to run for Governor of Louisiana, with Kathleen Blanco deciding to not run for reelection.

Posted by: N_Campbell at August 11, 2007 04:39 PM

Oh dear. So this is what a "chocolate city" looks like. One of the primary reasons that New Orleans has, for decades, been a cesspool of decay and crime is that its citizens have not only looked the other way, but enabled it by electing politically correct idiots based on little but skin color, liberal ideology or both. In reelecting Ray Nagin, they affirmed yet again that they prefer crime and degredation to the hard work of honest citizenship.

Will New Orleans ever be what it once was? Why would anyone wish to sink so low? Sadly, it now seems obvious it will never again reach even those exalted "heights." The residents of New Orleans do indeed deserve what they get.

Posted by: Mike at August 11, 2007 07:00 PM

I never agreed with the notion that there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Posted by: Alan K. Henderson at August 11, 2007 11:41 PM

I've lived in the metro New Orleans area for 47 years, thankfully I can claim "I am not from here" (having been brought to this place by my parents at age three). I have maintained my sense of alienation from this sordid place through the years and I have the following questions: Was New Orleans EVER what it "once was"? Was it ever something other than what it is today, a cesspool of corruption and ignorance with an overarching sense of self importance? It seems to me the romance of this place is symptomatic of a collective delusion.

[Nostalgia is not what it used to be. —Maynard]

Posted by: reinalien at August 12, 2007 07:47 AM

Damn! And to think I'm five minutes down the 110 Freeway (San Pedro) from South Central L.A. and we didn't make the list. That just kills me. Good ole N.O. and Louisiana. The state that gave us the Kingfish Huey Long. They get what they deserve and keep electing. Same for all those other cities. Jeez! Where's Marion Barry when you need him?

Posted by: Rich B at August 13, 2007 09:05 AM

Haha... I love it. People are always saying that my hometown - San Francisco - has no real ghettos. So why are Richmond and Oakland number 7 and 10?

Posted by: camperdude at August 15, 2007 12:32 AM

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