November 30, 2005

"Ray from New Orleans," where, said the host, "They're getting back to normal in the city."

"Things are not returning to normal," said Ray. "I wish you would come down here to see for yourself."

Ray set the tone by criticizing President Bush's fabulously framed Jackson Square TV speech to the nation.

"All lies," the caller said. "None of the things that he promised are happening."

"And I'm not hearing this from them," he said. "I know it's bad but . . . I'm under the impression that the main problem that the local officials have is that they don't have enough Democrats coming back who fled or who were evacuated and they're worried about the next elections."

"There's no place for people to live," Ray said.

"The whole city?" Limbaugh countered. "There's nowhere to live? The French Quarter?"

"They're going to do Mardi Gras for crying out loud," Limbaugh said.

"You're not going to want to hear this," Limbaugh said after Ray mentioned the billions needed for levee restoration. "The problem with that is that you did that once and they didn't hold."

"The taxpayers of this country sent gobs of money down there to the Corps of Engineers, to the local and state departments that are in charge of building those levees, and the money didn't all get spent on the levees and we see what happened as a result," he said.

"Now we're being asked to do it again. I think they're taking some time to make sure that the money that does go there goes this time where it's intended to go, not through the same old hands that are going to siphon some of it off for themselves and their buddies in the process."