And what of President Bush's dim bulb of a mother who today is being quoted about her visit to the Houston Astrodome as saying: "Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to Houston."

Then she added: "What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Did Mrs. Bush maybe forget about the thousands of deaths, the complete loss of houses, businesses, jobs, and lives along the way here? And you're telling me that it's the Republicans that are "the adults" in this situation, Joel?

It'd be nice to get beyond the political mudslinging and try to understand what went well, what went poorly and how to fix it. For years academics and local government officials had been telling the Feds that they needed more money to fix the levee system and hurricane preparedness. What happened with that? And what makes you think that the Astrodome should have had food and water for over 15,000 people just sitting in storerooms anyway?

I think you would feel differently if it was your family left to die in the heat needlessly. They knew the storm was coming and the government did nothing! To say Bush is facing things no other president has ever had to face is just factually wrong. There have been countless disasters faced for hundreds of years in this country. I will never understand the willingness of Bush supporters to forgive him for mistake after mistake. Mistakes that end with dead Americans.

These were Americans who did not die from the storm, rather they DIED OF STARVATION because nobody came for them. This includes little innocent babies. And yes, that IS the responsibility of the federal government to get these people out.

I don’t see how you can make such heartless and insensitive comments and still call yourself a Christian. I thought you were pro life?

Call others partisan all you want but I think you have exposed yourself to be as partisan as they come.

Mike and Cathy, I believe you misunderstand me. What happened in the gulf states IS a tragedy and I believe people DID die needlessly. Did you know it took the government 4-5 days to mobilize into NYC after the terrorists struck? Bureaucracy moves slooooowly. There are some things the government is not equipped to do.

Did Bush blow it? Yes, I think he did. And the Mayor. And the Governor. And the point of my post was not to point fingers. It was to show how the liberals started pointing fingers within 24 hours!!!

The officials on the ground are the ones saying that things are getting under control and that it could have even been worse had more people not taken heed and left the city. Perhaps if more people had the mentality that THEY were responsible for their own actions instead of depending on the welfare state to rescue them, they would still be alive. The elderly and sick should have been on the BUSES that you see soaking in water on this page. THAT is why they died of starvation and heat exhaustion.

And let's straighten a couple things out. It is NOT the job of the federal government to rescue people. People are responsible for rescuing people. You will find churches and charitable organizations, not to mention courageous individuals with big hearts, to be FAR more effective at rescuing people than the bloated bureaucracy known as Washington and the incredibly corrupt New Orleans and Louisiana government. Putting your trust in government to save you is downright foolish, and this is a perfect example.

I am pro-life and I am a Christian. I AM doing something about relief efforts for the vicitms. In fact, my concern and activity has raised over $5000 in the past 48 hours. What have you done? Don't confuse analysis of the facts with any measure or lack of compassion. This is commentary, nothingmore.

My intention was not to castigate the helpless and those who lost their lives and homes. It was to point out the viciousness of the left who couldn't even wait 24 hours before blaming the President. It was to demonstrate the ineptitude of the local officials who HAD the plan on paper and didn't execute it.

And Cathy.. my town WAS hit by terrorists. I live in Oklahoma City. Enough said.

Mike,

I appreciate your respectful attitude and your passion. I agree that Fox and the other stations tended towards tabloid journalism during this whole thing. The site of Geraldo Rivera screaming like a madman at the Superdome made me wonder why this clown is still on TV.

Where were Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco? Neither showed their face at the Superdome.

Here's a fact. President Bush begged Blanco to get everyone out on Sunday.. to declare a state of emergency. She said she needed more time.. 24 hours, to decide. What's funny is Nagin is passing the blame to Blanco now. By law, Bush could NOT send the National Guard until Blanco declared a state of emergency! FEMA could not go until Blanco said so. But should Michael Brown go? Yup. He shouldn't have been there in the first place.

I am convinced that we don't know the whole story of what took place, and we may never know. At least not objectively. There will be a multitude of books, made-for-tv movies, songs and who knows what else.

Certainly, military helicopters can do their bit. Local authorities couldn't handle the looters and it took the National Guard to step in. I certainly don't mean that churches are going to rescue people from buildings, though there were many heroic people doing just that. I'm talking about the efficiency factor that is exhibited in taking care of people. And when I say "the people", I am speaking of the private sector.

Look, I have no doubt that what these people went through was beyond what anyone every thought possible in America. I can't even begin to imagine the conditions and I feel tremendous compassion for these people.

You are correct, liberals and conservatives alike will point fingers. And leadership on both sides will likely shirk their responsibility. They have their jobs to look after.

Just another reason not to trust government and get them out of our lives.

Again, I don’t know if you are purposefully creating facts or if you actually believe them to be true.

Other than a very few examples, like Geraldo, the media was not acting in a tabloid fashion. They were exposing human suffering and thank god they did. Who knows if Bush, FEMA and Homeland Security would have gotten off their butts without the coverage. What is tabloid about that? Geraldo is an idiot but he was an extremely small drop in a huge bucket. I am not a fan of mainstream “news” but was impressed with their coverage during the first week after the storm.

Mr. Bush did not beg anyone to do anything on Sunday. He did not acknowledge the storm until it hit on Monday. Then he went to Phoenix and then off to San Diego for a party rather than visiting the worst natural disaster to occur in America’s history. Meanwhile thousands of people were suffering. And, let me point out that, not only did Bush know they were suffering, they ENTIRE WORLD knew they were suffering. So what does he do? He does a quick fly by the next day, does nothing else and the people were still stuck there. They were trapped there for 3 more days. Bush did nothing and that is a fact.

To say that Nagin and Blanco “never showed their faces at the superdome” is once again completely false. I know you came to that decision because you hate all democrats, but come on Joel, they were two of the MOST visible people during this tragedy. No elected official was kicking and screaming louder for help then those two. And what does our fearless leader do? He snubs them in a very public way. He is such a petty little man that he sneaks into town without telling the governor he’s coming?!? What a bunch of schoolyard crap. People continue to die and huge problems remain and Bush decides to act like an 8 year old rather than lead.

I know that we could go back and forth on this issue, but why bother? You will continue to ignore the facts and simply invent things to help your argument. You complain and complain about partisan finger pointing and yet you are so blinded by your own incredible partisanship that you can’t even see that you are the biggest offender. It is so frustrating.

There are several issues here.

1. Sure, the opportunists will use the disaster to Bash Bush. They ran out of ammunition with the Iraq War so anything new will do.

2. Expecting help within 24-48 hours for an unprecedented disaster is not even realistic. Many of the rescuers couldn't even get to the place and certainly, should be available DURING the hurricane risking their own lives.

3. The Governor seem to have stated that everything was under control, not necessitating further assistance until all hell broke loose.

4. Communities should have helped those who could not help themselves to evacuate, such as the elderly, the sick and the invalids. Many tried, most failed.

5. Thousands of now "dead" people "Choose" to stay behind besides the warnings. Many even came on TV to say they were going to ride the storm. They are dead now. Their own poor choice. Cannot blame the goverment or the people for that.

6. Blaming Bush for everything is fashionable among those that hate him. That's nothing new. This kind of B.S. is not even knew in the history of this country. There will always be people blaming the President for everything.

7. People like the play victims, especially when it involves race issues. Yet, if you look closely, the majority of the rescuers and helpers are not Afro-Americans!!!! So there IS NOT racism here.

8. Being shot at is no fun when you're trying to help, regardless if it is isolated incidents or not.

9. Being raped, beaten or robbed inside the rescue dome is no fun either. What kind of crap is that? Justifiable? Never!

10. Having your store looted under the excuse of "no assistance" isn't justifiable either.

Some people bring their own demise upon themselves, then incite other to blame the President or the country for their own stupidity, ignorance or lack of reasoning. That, in my opinion, isn't fair.

As a lifelong resident of south Louisiana, its' my opinion that federal, state, and city officials deserve part of the blame for the poor and slow response.

However, what I am most upset about is the fact that the corrupt, incompetent and lazy city officials, including the mayor, did so little to prepare for a hurricane like this! It is POSSIBLE to build a levy system that can withstand a category 5 hurricane! Why wasn't this done? It would have cost far less than the $100 Billion PLUS that this will cost. A flood wall is not a levy. There should be a redundant system of levy's which would act as back up when one breaks.

Being prepared for a hurricane is a local/city issue. The city of New Orleans was NOT prepared and its' lead to catastrophe and because of that it is now a national issue. The bottom line is the local officials are responsible for this whole mess. We MUST be prepared for a worst case situation!

I can see why people who don't think but just feel and act on feelings are more liberal because my mother was one of them but the mentality of depending on the government's back (you and me) for your living has come home to roost in new Orleans. These people have made a life of entitlement (free loading jerks) & dependency and it has finally been shown that if you don't do for yourself no one else will when the chips are down. So now the blame game starts but isn't it strange that none of these people are looking in the mirror and asking themselves why they were not prepared better and why they stuck around to see the water rise before they accepted the fact that it was really happening. Even though they live below sea level or lake level or what ever. who's fault is it when you are warned but don't bother to take it seriously. I say this area should be returned to swamp land and written off because you no what? The next big storm will do the exact same thing again and so will the next etc. Who owes who what here? Why should this kind of stupidity cost the rest of so much? Sure people die because they are stupid just as it is stupid to step out into traffic without looking. I have compassion for those who really could not help themselves but the rest of them? Count me out of the big easy tear jerk. Got to hand it to you Joel for standing up and saying what you said even though you know you are going to get mud slung at you for this. I feel exactly the same way. All I can say is right on and keep thinking the "right" way.