[WOSG]

WOW. HOME RUN COLUMN.

---

The vultures of the venomous left are attacking on two fronts, first that the president didn't do what the incompetent mayor of New Orleans and the pouty governor of Louisiana should have done, and didn't, in the early hours after Katrina loosed the deluge on the city that care and good judgment forgot. Ray Nagin, the mayor, ordered a "mandatory" evacuation a day late, but kept the city's 2,000 school buses parked and locked in neat rows when there was still time to take the refugees to higher ground. The bright-yellow buses sit ruined now in four feet of dirty water. Then the governor, Kathleen Blanco, resisted early pleas to declare martial law, and her dithering opened the way for looters, rapists and killers to make New Orleans an unholy hell. Gov. Haley Barbour did not hesitate in neighboring Mississippi, and looters, rapists and killers have not turned the streets of Gulfport and Biloxi into killing fields.
The drumbeat of partisan ingratitude continues even after the president flooded the city with National Guardsmen from a dozen states, paratroopers from Fort Bragg and Marines from the Atlantic and the Pacific. The flutter and chatter of the helicopters above the ghostly abandoned city, some of them from as far away as Singapore and averaging 240 missions a day, is eerily reminiscent of the last days of Saigon. Nevertheless, Sen. Mary Landrieu, who seems to think she's cute when she's mad, even threatened on national television to punch out the president -- a felony, by the way, even as a threat. Mayor Nagin, who you might think would be looking for a place to hide, and Gov. Blanco, nursing a bigtime snit, can't find the right word of thanks to a nation pouring out its heart and emptying its pockets. Maybe the senator should consider punching out the governor, only a misdemeanor.

[facedown]

Black and white churches of all denominations across a wide swath of the South stretching from Texas across Arkansas and Louisiana into Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia turned their Sunday schools into kitchens and dormitories. In Memphis, Junior Leaguers turned out for baby-sitting duty at the city's largest, most fashionable and nearly all white Baptist church, cradling tiny black infants in compassionate arms so their mothers could finally sleep. The owner of a honky-tonk showed up to ask whether the church would "accept money from a bar." A pastor took $1,400, some of it in quarters, dimes and nickels, with grateful thanks and a promise to see that it is spent wisely on the deserving -- most of whom are black.

The most under-reported story of the calamity: Americans doing what Americans always do - getting the job done.

[FlingWingFlyer]

So it was Airhead Huffington's blog that started the cannibalism rumors huh? Figures.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Sen. Mary Landrieu, who seems to think she's cute when she's mad...

Boy, is she deluded. Great line.

[kb2614]

The first polls, no surprise, show the libels are not working. A Washington Post-ABC survey found that the president is not seen as the villain the nutcake left is trying to make him out to be. Americans, skeptical as ever, are believing their own eyes.

Those stupid Americans. How dare they question there MSM betters. Everybody knows IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!!! sarcasm

[Eagles6]

Short and to the point. Very good. I don't know if there were 2000 buses, at least a couple hundred. If anybody knows for sure, chime in. More than enough, anyway, to evacuate everyone who needed it before the storm. The dims and the msm are shameless, as if we didn't know.

[de Buillion]

Home Run! Thanks for this post, smoothsailing.

[onyx]

This is GOLD.

[Lancey Howard]

Wes Pruden is, and has been for a very long time, outstanding.

There used to be a great radio talk show host in this (Philly) area by the name of Tom Marr. He hosted a Saturday night radio show back in the '80s here on WWDB-FM (R.I.P.) and he often talked about his friend Wes Pruden.

[nopardons]

Marvelous column! I wish this stuff was stated more often and by more people.

[Reagan Man]

Nice going Wesley.

Ray Nagin, the mayor, ordered a "mandatory" evacuation a day late, but kept the city's 2,000 school buses parked and locked in neat rows when there was still time to take the refugees to higher ground. The bright-yellow buses sit ruined now in four feet of dirty water.

2,000 buses! WOW. Nagin could have moved 100K people out of NO. Instead he ran off to Baton Rogue and later blamed the President for everything going wrong. What a guy! LOL

[Waco]

Someone explain to me why blogs put the story in a 5 letter column on 1 side of the page? it's silly and useless. How bout the "print" version to start with, and a little box near it marked,,,,"Sh-t house version"????

[Mind-numbed Robot]

...she couldn't attract a camera crew this morning if she stripped down to her step-ins for a march on Prairie Chapel Ranch.

Haven't heard that term in a very long time. Sounds quaint.

It is interesting that Blanco only discovered part of her National Guard is in Iraq when she tried to call them up. Not to worry, the pres got some from other states.

Blanco can't make a decision until she huddles with her husband and his political buds, all die hard Democrats and close friends with the convict and ex governor, Edwin Edwards. Their responses always sounds like they came straight from the DNC.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Cindy Sheehan is yesterday's news; she couldn't attract a camera crew this morning if she stripped down to her step-ins

Let us all firmly resolve NOT to test this theory out, any time in the immediate future. :)

[Navy Patriot]

Oh, yeah, this is a goodie!

[1tin_soldier]

Please don't think I'm an apologist for Nagin. His performance before and after the storm was disgraceful. But......,

Had he deployed these buses (no doubt he should have) how many people would have hopped on the bus? My guess is precious few would have boarded these buses prior to the storm. It is my belief that the great majority of those who did not evacuate CHOSE not to. It was not a lack of "resources" or "infrastructure" or even information that prompted most of those people to stay; it was stupidity, greed, and stubborn pride.

Hindsight is 20/20 and now I think we can all agree that everyone would be better off now had Nagin simply given away buses to anyone who could drive them in return for the agreement that they would leave town immediately. Sadly, had this offer been made and all 2000 buses taken, I'd bet that less than 200 buses would have left the city, each with about five people on board. But even then we'd have 200 more buses available and 1,000 fewer people stranded. As it stands, all the buses are lost and not one soul left the city on them.

Remember this is in hindsight. I'm not suggesting that municipalities give away buses prior to storms but simply pointing out that looking back on a disaster, one will always find ways to have more effectively responded.

That said, I will again state for the record that Nagin is a disgrace and a total failure. We can only hope that his political career is over, but I fear that if a Mayor can smoke crack on camera and make a comeback, that Nagin has little to fear in regards to his political viability. Especially when it's so easy to BLAME IT ON BUSH!

[IrishRainy]

What's amazing to me is how the left has been trying to get this president from day 1, but they never seem to succeed. And I can't help but think the difference between now and 10 years ago when we couldn't seem to make anything stick on Clinton...is US. The internet, the bloggers, the intrepid "reporters" we've all been forced to become.

I think we finally have a fighting chance in this "war."

[driftless]

Like any other story I'm waiting for the big liberal organs to put out all the pertinent information. But I'm not holding my breath. The Slimes and the Compost should have a picture of those unused buses (which were called for to be used in the NO evacuation plans) prominently displayed on the front pages of their respective rags with the headlines screaming " Mayor Nagin: Why Didn't You Use These Buses?" Anyone else not holding their breath?

[leadhead]

Cindy Sheehan is yesterday's news; she couldn't attract a camera crew this morning if she stripped down to her step-ins for

This thought almost killed me from reading the rest.

Uuuugghhly!

[.cnI redruM]

Pretty much what I expected. No one is taking their political or moral guidance from Kanye West. This does bring up an interesting issue. How come no one expects anything out of the Mayor or The Governor? Has the entire country forgotten what Federalism is?