Charlie Melancon Quotations

When you are pulling people out of the water and off of rooftops, there are no Republicans and no Democrats.

I'm a proud fighter for the little guy and the people of my state who are struggling to make ends meet. That's what Louisiana values are about.

I think too many of the politicians in Washington have forgotten simple ideals like solving problems and helping neighbors. The Washington game is more about scoring points or sticking it to the other guy.

Lack of compliance is hindering the investigation.

I'm a pro-life, pro-gun Louisiana Democrat.

I don't represent corporations.

It's our duty to get them the things they need when they need it. And it's not happening.

Depict a leader who seemed overwhelmed and rarely made key decisions.

Sen. Vitter worked in this House for six years and knows its leadership, ... He has placed the blame squarely at their feet, and I think they owe the entire Gulf Coast an explanation.

My advice to them: Take the money and run, ... Spend it on your sheriff's deputies, your firefighters and our public hospitals. Spend it and don't pay it back.

I think it's absurd that insurance companies would avoid paying these claims,

I thank the president for his visit today, but it was more show than substance, ... Frankly, we needed action days ago.

People of the Gulf Coast deserve a sober assessment of what went right and what went wrong.

Tie or not for tonight? Button down blue shirt?

We know very little about the role that you played,

We must also be about the job of asking tough questions, my fellow Americans ? questions about the health of our infrastructure and emergency response capabilities,

We are engaged in a massive effort under difficult circumstances to save lives and stabilize this crisis so that we may begin to restore our communities. This is job one.

We cannot do our job if we don't get these documents, and we won't get these documents if we don't subpoena them.

We think it's disgusting, ... We're focused on rebuilding, not politics.

As bad as things are in south Louisiana right now, can you imagine how much worse they'd be without functioning local governments?

Clearly, he understands now the tremendous challenges we face and how much we are counting on FEMA and the resources of our nation, ... The president, by his statements today, is demonstrating the leadership and accountability needed to get the inadequate federal response to this crisis behind us and move forward with rebuilding Louisiana.

If history is any indication, then no, I don't think they're ready. They are still not prepared for doing all that's required for Katrina.

For that reason, as the representative of the homeless, the inundated, the destroyed and the dead, we ask you to give your full support to the formation of an independent, non-partisan commission,

All the president's visit did was tie up New Orleans for a couple of hours.