I found a bunch of "blame Bush" and "blame DOD" diatribes all over the place.

However, I did also find a "shoe on the other foot" episode, in which the President's plans to deploy troops in another country were opposed. The President, Clinton. The country, Kosovo. Gotta wonder how the Republicans feel about their theoretical reasons for opposing Kosovo, and how the left feels about supporting it.

Hi Annika,

Over at SoCalPundit.com we are examining the Left's response to Katrina from all angles. German daily Der Spiegel did the "fair and balanced" thing by printing the responses it received in regards to the German Enviro-minister's position that Bush's insistence that Kyoto is bullsh** is to blame for Katrina.

Kevin

Just when you think they cannot sink any lower, the left never lets you down. Now evil repubs are responsible for a hurricane.

What's this a-hole's problem? Some people are so blinded by hate.

There IS a political component to all this. LA will swing Red now. No more Breau, Landreau, or that silly woman Guv they have. Well Breau may stick if he flips.

"LA will swing Red now."

We've been swinging red for awhile now. David Vitter is just the beginning. Bobby Jindal was a bonus.

"Landreau"

I can't wait to get her fat Hillary-wannabe ass out of our Senate seat.

"or that silly woman Guv they have."

I didn't vote for her. Now, I know how the Bush haters feel because I still think she's a total dumbass that isn't qualified to lead our state. Why couldn't we have Governor Jindal instead?

Exactly as I expected.

I've been offline since Sunday and can't stomach the blog attitude on the left so I haven't--and will not--go look, but I heard enough on TV while I was in a hotel to know it would be all "Blame it on (everyone)."

I can only imagine their attitude regarding Mississippi and Alabama.

Casca and Reagan80--you nailed it right there. It's incompetent leadership in Louisiana to blame, if anyone, for being unprepared and having a miserable infrastructure. Note the difference between the aftermath of the hurricane in Mississippi (and Alabama) and Louisiana. It's total anarchy and misery in LA. In MS, everything on the entire coast was obliterated--there IS no Superdome (horrifying as that is) or anything in which people can take temporary shelter in the immediate area--yet in MS, they're able to clear the roads to get relief in because they have some law and order and leadership.

I agree 100% that it's taking too long to get the help into NO, but the LA/NO leaders are fully to blame for that, for letting things get totally out of control.

Indeed, Beth. Indeed.

Reagan80, while I agree with the gist of your statements, Vitter's so far struck me as pretty useless (and I say that even despite my inclination to give the benefit of the doubt to a fellow Tulane Law alum). But useless is better than outright harmful.

"Why couldn't we have Governor Jindal instead?"

You already know it's because Blanco 1) played the race card and 2) pulled off all sorts of sketchy and probably illegal stuff with the ballot boxes courtesy of various local friends. Is Jindal already officially running for Landrieu's Senate seat?

I'm sure Vitter will come through for us when we need him. I just hope that he doesn't jump on the Nagin bandwagon anymore.

"Is Jindal already officially running for Landrieu's Senate seat?"

No, but I'm not going to be surprised if he makes an attempt against her in the near future. He's gotten plenty of media exposure during his first year on the job, so he has potential. I heard that he was one of the main organizers of the GOP "purple fingers" after the Iraqi elections.

Anyway, I can't stand Blanco's broken campaign promises. She basically pledged to adopt a pseudo-Reaganomics economic program before her election, but she never cut taxes or state spending. All she did was whine about the lack of federal funding while she was busy trying to subsidize the damn SAINTS! Before Katrina, our economy was unravelling. She's done nothing to make our state attractive to industry or business besides offering subsidies(bribes?). Blanco makes me wish that a Libertarian would topple her in a coup to purge our state of the endemic big gov't and corruption.

A few notes on what's actually going on:

First, while places like Kos are heavy into the let's-find-responsibility-now game (which may have an eventual point, given that it will be imporant to figure out how to prevent this from happening again once things get cleaned up, though I agree that the energy may be a bit misplaced right now), there are plenty of right-wing blogs also doing nothing but spouting how Bush has done no wrong and pointing fingers anywhere and everywhere else, so there's plenty of misplaced crap going by from both sides.

That said, there's plenty of useful help being provided by both sides as well. http://www.hurricanehousing.org/ is a MoveOn project (which is about as left-wing as you can possibly get), a variety of left-wing blogs are posting links to donation sites, or holding drives, or offering personal rewards (a-la-Crooked Timber) for donations. While standing around and lambasting "the left" may make you feel better, I'd like to point out that it's absolutely no different from what you accuse "the left" of doing -- making a partisan attack instead of helping out.

I have a left-leaning blog (and my first few entries on the matter contained links to places where you can donate time or money). I also live in Baton Rouge. I spent my Friday helping a New Orleans refugee get fed and transported to the Baton Rouge Centroplex. Tomorrow I expect to be helping out at a shelter near LSU.

What were you doing? What will you be doing?

i can't remember a right leaning or libertarian blog i've visited in the last few days that hasn't mentioned charitable giving in some way. Most of the blogs on our side have something at the top of the blog.) Just for the hell of it, last Wednesday i decided to go through the list of Liberal Coalition blogs to see which ones had a link to some charity prominently displayed. (The Liberal Coalition includes mostly smaller blogs, not the biggies like Kos, etc. who have been very helpful raising money.)

First, out of 34 blogs i checked, 11 were out of business or hadn't posted since before the hurricane. Only three had a post that encouraged giving to a reputable charity, mostly the red cross. (Four others had links to some suspicious looking Liberal collection site, which was not a reputable charity, and had no information where the money was going to, or who set up the site. That leaves 16 members of the Liberal Coalition who had no interest in helping out the victims of this tragedy. Oh it's not that they don't mention the hurricane, they do, but you can guess what the focus of their blogging is.

Yes i know that by pointing this out i am making a partisan attack. But you are wrong when you say that it's "instead of helping out." My contribution may be small, but it is not nil. If pointing out a hypocrisy encourages some other bloggers to help spread the word, who wouldn't have otherwise, then i think it's okay.