The Politics of Katrina

Predictably, Democrats are trying to capitalize on the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina to kick off their fall campaigns. AP runs a story. Chicago Tribune as well.

Lest we forget, Katrina was a Natural Disaster. We know Democrats like to play God, but it is a bit disingenuous to blame Republicans for a natural disaster and the entire ensuing mess, especially in New Orleans and Louisiana which is all Democrat all the time. (There are a few token Republicans.) It should have been a people's paradise.

Unlike Louisiana, the Republican-led state of Mississippi has made remarkable progress in their recovery.

Here's commentary from that Democrat bastion of San Francisco, in the Chronicle:

Democrats are hoping to feast on the "K-plus-1'' date. A group of some 20 party leaders will fly in to underscore the slow recovery and remind voters of one of the Bush White House's biggest blunders.

But the Democratic team has explaining to do as well. The state's fractious leadership was no model of crisis management during Katrina. The mouthy, inept Mayor Nagin, who pledged to preserve New Orleans as a "chocolate city'' and dubbed Air Force One a "pimpmobile,'' doesn't inspire confidence. Also, reports and studies had warned about the city's weak levees for years while Democrats held power and did little.

And the feckless mayor has stepped in it again with a slam at New York's "hole in the ground". More on that and the truth about Katrina from John McIntyre in the RCP Blog.

And here's this earlier excellent myth-busting article with suggestions for the future from Popular Mechanics.

UPDATE: Via RCP, editorial on "Ragin Ray" Nagin in the NY Daily News.