Hastert has already backed off.
in fact, his comment was so assinine, that now I fear that no one will dare ask any intelligent questions about how NO will be rebuilt. Its going to be a blank check from the federal government, pumped into one of the most politically corrupt city and state in the union.
Its going to be like the Big Dig tunnel in Boston - times 1000.
Don't think so.
He's just repeating what the rest of the House is hearing from their constituents.
Seriously. Nobody but the folks from NOLA think it is a good idea. No more so than rebuilding in the path of Mt. Saint Helens.
One of the things that made the Big Dig such a pain in the patoot was that all the people who lived in Boston were still there. So they had to construct the thing without inconveniencing any of the whiners.
With everybody evacuated, New Orleans urban renewal should be relatively easy.
Just bring in the bulldozers and scrape away anything that ain't worth saving before you let the people come back.
Yeah, Hastert's comment was pretty stupid.
If you look at this picture of the New Orleans Skyline you can see that there's an awful lot of modern, commercial high-rises and skyscrapers, just like in any other American city. Granted, the windows were probably blown out and they sustained quite a bit of damage. But chances are, they're all probably still structurally sound and will NOT be simply abandoned.