The MSM blows the story again

Delays by the President and FEMA are not the real story of the New Orleans tragedy. The president declared a federal emergency before Katrina hit. Anybody paying attention must have asked by now, why the president had to call the mayor of the city to tell him to order an evacuation, why there were no caches of water and food and other supplies around the city, and why the pumps that dispose of the city's sewage and rain water weren't flood proofed and and equipped with emergency generators in case the power went out; why there was no way to communicate information on hazards, evacuation routes and destinations; why the so many of the city's cops went AWOL; and why The reason Rudy Giuliani was a hero after 9/11 was because he was on the case almost at once, and was directing police, fire, and emergency responses. The mayor of New Orleans (Does anybody know his name? Should he want anybody to?) was at home on the day Katrina came ashore.

Brad Delong points out a report that the city's officials are making a video telling the people now that the city's emergency plan is to tell everybody to leave town, and "You're responsible for your safety, and you should be responsible for the person next to you.. . . If you have some room to get that person out of town, the Red Cross will have a space for that person outside the area. We can help you, but we don't have the transportation." I wonder how much it would have costed to install some water treatment facilities to provide safe water in an emergency. It doesn't sound like the government of the city have a clue.

Brit Hume today noted that the NYTimes had faulted the president for not seeing to it that the levees were hurricane-proof, but then cited numerous Times editorials in recent years opposing spending on flood control projects and giving more money to the Army Corps of Engineers.

Update: Apparently, I was wrong. The Mayor's name is Ray Nagin and he seems to have plenty of chutzpah, demanding that federal and state worker "get off your asses." What did the city do to prepare for such emergencies? Oh, yeah. It prepared a DVD, after Katrina approached.