[GretchenM]

School buses were not used as all the NOPS transportation employees were also individuals who evacuated the city. Thanks

The omitted sentence:
And the guv wouldn't let in the National Guard, or anyone else, to do the job.

Since the New Orleans evacuation plan had been written, reproduced and distributed prior to Katrina, ordering the use of buses to evacuate, I wonder what The Plan said about who would be driving those buses.

[Enchante]

"And the guv wouldn't let in the National Guard, or anyone else, to do the job."

Exactly. This is unreal. I have to say, and this is not "Monday morning quarterbacking" that when I first became aware of the impending catastrophe on the Friday and Saturday BEFORE the storm, one of my first thoughts was "wow, they had better declare some ultimate emergency and commandeer every last bus and vehicle in the city to evac the entire population because they will never get everyone out of there otherwise".....(and yes, I had a pretty good idea how difficult it would be to do that at the last minute - but still better than leaving tens of thousands to drown) to find that what seems like such common sense was not done and that the emergency plans of both city and state were not even implemented is just so appalling. And now, to watch Demagogues like Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Jesse Jackson, Mary Landrieu and friends turn this into a partisan onslaught against the Republicans is even more sickening since it was the 'Rats in the city and state who had both the responsibilities and the means to get it done......