Honore Says He's Not Running in 2010

Last night, retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore spoke in Shreveport at the NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet. I'm quoting the bulk of the local paper's coverage of his speech:

"On this day, 9-11, we saw some eight years ago what happened when the enemy attacked our country and killed over 3,000 of our citizens," he opened his talk. "Shortly thereafter, the president of these United States opened a big old cap of whup-ass to go out and deal with the people who came to this country and indiscriminately killed our people.

"And these people we are fighting, we fight them today," Honore said. "Listen to me here: They are our enemies. If they were here tonight, under sharia law, first of all, none of the women would be in this room. And none of you would have the opportunity for education. So don't get confused with some of the things you hear on why we're doing what we need to do in Afghanistan, although it may be a little bit late."

Honore noted that soldiers of 200 years ago fought for a promise of freedom and equality in the Declaration of Independence, even though many were not free.

"Some were indentured, some were slaves, but they fought for a promise that took over 200 years to even come close to fruition. They fought for a promise, an idea, of freedom."

He contrasted that to today, where problems on Wall Street and Main Street have whalloped the elderly, poor and disadvantaged on what he called "Railroad Street."

Honore pointed to the drugs and lack of discipline that have left people today ill-equipped to work.

A video of him in action during Hurricane Katrina drew applause, especially when one segment noted how he had noticed a mother with young twin babies and had ordered the youngsters airlifted to safety.

But in his talk, Honore gave a somber backstory. He said that woman, only about age 18 or 19, had children with blood streaming from their faces; and another woman in the same incident had children in distress.

"What I wanted to know was where were those children's daddies? And who raised them?"

His tone assured that had he met those absent fathers who had abandoned women and children to the ravages of a killer storm, the result would not have been pretty.

Honore also peppered it with admonitions to elected leaders to take initiative to provide jobs, encourage education and prod people and businesses to take basic steps to assure their own survival in the wake of the next inevitable crisis, be it a hurricane or a tornado.

One thing city leaders could do, he pointedly told Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover, is require pharmacies and gas stations to have emergency generators so two basic building blocks of society don't go belly up when the lights go out. "Mr. Mayor, you can make it happen."

Louisiana Weekly, one of the local sources who suggested Honore might challenge Vitter in 2010, reported this week that Honore has no intention of running against Vitter. In fact, Honore tells Louisiana Weekly, "I am not running for office...I never delcared myself as a Republican during the Reagan administration. I have never lived in Zachary [Louisiana]" as initial reports claimed.

In the end, it seems as if Vitter's only challenger is Melancon who is no challenger at all.

Not. Running.

"As of this time, I'm not running for any political office," so says retired Lt. General Russel Honore.

CNN asked him if the rumors were true. He says nobody asked him if it was true before CNN did.

Not. Running.

"As of this time."

Honore Moving Back to Louisiana

Lafayette's The Daily Advertiser (via The Dead Pelican) is reporting that retired Lt. General Russel Honore is moving back to Louisiana. Hmmmmmmm.

He is a registered voter from his Zachary home, but has been traveling the country on his preparedness lecture tour.

Earlier this week, the Bayou Buzz reported that Honore is considering a primary run against Senator David Vitter in 2010. This would be a serious challenge for Vitter; Honore is the tough, no-nonsense leader who restored some semblance of order when local government collapsed after Hurricane Katrina four years ago.

According to the Bayou Buzz post, "While polls show Vitter as the clear favorite in both the primary and the general election, one very senior Louisiana Republican predicted that if Honore runs, "He wins." As that GOP party elder further explained to the www.louisianaweekly.com and Bayoubuzz on the promise of confidentiality, "All he has to say is 'Stuck on Stupid', and Vitter is toast."

Honore dipped his toes back into the Louisiana policial mash last week when he called on the federal goverment to cough up some cash to replace the destroyed Charity Hospital; this quote from NOLA:

Meanwhile, Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore added his voice to those calling for the federal government to help pay for a new hospital to replace Charity, a shift in position for the man who commanded Joint Task Force-Katrina in the wake of the 2005 storm. In May, Honore told The Times-Picayune that Charity should have been reopened after the storm and that "the state of Louisiana needs to pay for its own damn medical center."

"Contrary to what I may have said in the past, the federal government needs to step up and provide a decent grant (to replace Charity) because the storm did destroy the hospital," Honore said last week.

The Charity Hospital connundrum has been festering ever since the storm in 2005. After the storm, the hospital was partially decontaminated but state and local officials made the decision to keep it closed. Honore thought the hospital could have been partially opened to provide emergency care in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. Ultimately, state officials wanted FEMA to pay the full costs for reopening the hospital as it was more than 50% damaged.

Honore was quoted as saying that Katrina had been used as an excuse to close Charity, thus hurting the city's poor residents. For more on Honore and the Charity story, go here.

Honore was raised in Lakeland in Pointe Coupee Parish and served in the Army for nearly 38 years before he retired. On 9/11 he will be speaking in Shreveport at a NAACP event at the Clarion hotel. Details are here if you want to attend.

Here is Honore's famous scene, "Don't Get Stuck on Stupid" which you may remember: