Lets blame it on the dumb ass people who were told to leave 5 days before the storm hit and dint.

Well yes, obviously a portion of the blame falls on the victims themselves, simply for allowing themselves to remain in a situation where it was likely they would become victims.

But surely blaming it all on the mayor and governor is just as wrong. Perhaps we can be bi-partisan on this and just blame everybody involved?

Lets blame it on the dumb ass people who were told to leave 5 days before the storm hit and dint.

Blaming it all on FEMA and Bush is wrong.

But surely blaming it all on the mayor and governor is just as wrong. Perhaps we can be bi-partisan on this and just blame everybody involved?

Sort of like when McCain attacked Obama for not visiting wounded troops in Europe, when all the while he had another attack ad in the can to use if Obama had visited them...

Brother, I would *not* want to be the year 2008 in that picture.

“It just wouldn’t be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster,”

What was McCain doing when Katrina was bearing down on New Orleans? Oh yea, partying with Bush...

Like others have pointed out the biggest failures during Katrina were the responsibility of state and local officials. Blaming it all on FEMA and Bush is wrong.

Let's see how Jindal handles this. My expectation is to see a competent leader who hopes for the best but prepares for the worst without expecting others to do the heavy lifting.

The convention should go on as a somber affair, more businesslike than the Dems. It's not only more respectful that way but probably more productive and more admirable to the American people.

This has already brought back the specter of what was perceived as the poor response of the Bush administration to Hurricane Katrina.

Perceived? I gotta tell you I have a relative who's a fairly high up official in FEMA and it wasn't a matter of perception to him.

Regardless, this highlights a point that all of us at OTB have been making for months: External events totally outside the control of the two campaigns will have a tremendous bearing on what happens on Election Day.

Yes, and do not think for a second the Democrats don't think for a second the Democrats don't know it. Example" here assuming the server isn't down from the load:

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler, on an airplane back to South Carolina, is caught laughing that Hurricane Gustav is going to hit New Orleans at the start of the GOP Convention and therefore God must be with the Democrats.

“Everything is cool,” he tells Congressman John Spratt (D-SC), seated next to him. They both laugh it up.

A RedState contributor just happened to be behind them and caught it all on tape.

I just hope the residents heed the mandatory evacuation orders and get out.

As for the convention-the GOP is in a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. I think going low key is the best answer-I can just see the ads from the Obama camp now using the party atmosphere to indict McCain as lacking compassion-granted the Obama camp has to deal with their party officials laughing about the hurricane hitting New Orleans during the conventions, so that route may not be wise.

It is kind of hard to justify a big party though, when people may be losing their homes due to flooding and wind damage.

If there is lot of damage to the oil and nat gas rigs, the storm might present a great opportunity to talk about diversifying our domestic energy supply - say from a resource rich state in the great Northwest that is hurricane free. The only thing standing between us and a more diversified domestic energy supply is the US congress (9% approval rating). I wonder if we can find a politician who actually understands this issue and is willing to go to DC and discuss it?