In New Orleans, by contrast, the mayor seemed panicked, the governor seemed medicated, and the airborne wasn’t there until it was there and peace was restored. Until then no one took responsibility. There was a vacuum. But nature abhors a vacuum, so rumors and chaos came in to fill it. Which made things worse.

No one took charge. Thus the postgame commentary in which everyone blamed someone else: The mayor fumbled the ball, the governor didn’t call the play, the president didn’t have a ground game.

[Via OpinionJournal.com]

A reflective piece about the mishaps of Katrina and the failure of our leaders to be preceived as in charge. Whether we like it or not, our media will try to fix the situation by the only means they know how. They will report the story in a way that results in quick action. If we do not like the job the media did in this disaster, we need better leadership by our governments.

NOLA.com: OPINION – A Weblog By The Times Picayune

During Hurricane Betsey, then-Mayor Vic Schiro famously said, “Don’t believe any false rumors unless you hear them from me.” Unfortunately, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, some of the most lurid rumors of violence in the Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center came from those in charge: Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Eddie Compass. And now it appears they were mostly false.

Here is another article lamenting the rumors spread by people we would normally trust.

Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy – Los Angeles Times

This article is probably the first of several articles that will state the obvious, journalists failed to check their stories. The harm from their reporting is obvious. From my viewpoint it appears that the inquisition of FEMA is based on the furor created by these stories.

The vast majority of reported atrocities committed by evacuees ”” mass murders, rapes and beatings ”” have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence, according to key military, law-enforcement, medical and civilian officials in positions to know.

“I think 99 percent of it is [expletive],” said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Lachney, who played a key role in security and humanitarian work inside the Dome. “Don’t get me wrong ”” bad things happened. But I didn’t see any killing and raping and cutting of throats or anything … 99 percent of the people in the Dome were very well-behaved.”

I doubt this lapse in jounalism standards will reach the notoriety on RatherGate but journalists continue to have a real credibility problem. They know what they should be verifying stories with multiple creditable sources but they don’t or won’t.

It has become increasingly obvious that the Katrina disaster has been taken advantage of by the Democratic party and that the liberal bias in the press has once again reared its ugly head. Since the Democratic party needs some cross-over voters to win the presidency I have been surprised at their actions. I really should not advice these two esteemed institutions on this subject but here goes:

1. You should not blame the hurricane on global warming or President Bush. At least half the population thinks you are stupid or biased. So it is much better to say nothing, then to remove all doubt.
2. Do not play the race card! A lot of white people were personally hurt by that allegation. After a lot of research I am fimly convinced that the primary culprit in leaving behind the poor and primarily black people of New Orleans was the city government. If the city government is unwilling to bus its poor and sick people out of town to safety, no state or federal action will be there in time. Poor people are going to die. In case you haven’t noticed the mayor is black. Since I am white I can say that a lot of us are mad at both the press and the Democratic party for playing up this issue.
3. The President sacrificed the head of FEMA and has set the tone for how we as a nation should view incompetence in disaster management. The Democratic party needs to sacrifice at least Nagin although Blanco may be easier to sacrifice. Despite wishful thinking by the Democratic party, the local politics of New Orleans is important to the rest of the nation when you are talking about investing $150 billion in the region. I cannot imagine the rest of United States will be willing to spend this money without some assurances at the local level that they have changed their ways. Spending $150 billion and repeating this fiasco is not an option! I think the bus and police issues have doomed Nagin. I think city hall will be more willing to make the necessary changes with him out of office. Blanco is a dark horse candidate for local whipping boy. She somehow showed some amazingly visible incompetence in a disaster she should have planned a minor part. Since she won in a run off election she maybe more politically vulnerable.