It isn't just the mayor who is saying 10,000; Sen Vitter, who is a Republican, has also said that he believe about 10,000 were killed. But the estimates for 9/11 were way off (from 30,000 to just over 2,000) so it would not surprise me if it is much less.
Evidently Vitter rushed out to the media saying the President deserved an 'F' for his efforts re the storm.
He was backtracking a bit but it did get him lots of face time on all the cables.
Did the word go out to the NO pols that they had better tow the lib line or their families would pay?
Vitter also rushed out on Day 1 and gave the President an 'F' for his response to the disaster.