I agree, as I have said, that the evacuation of NOLA appears to have been handled badly, but there's just no excuse - none - for the five days it took FEMA to get moving, or for the lies Chertoff and Brown told about it on TV as men, women and children died in the streets. For five days FEMA said the city was unreachable. For five days FEMA denied knowledge of the convetion center. And during those five days there were Coast Guard ships off shore that were not being used, and private convoys going in and out of the city. When I see some outrage about that from the GOP-water carriers (Toby, CWY, and RespondingtoJblogs, I mean you) I'll know they've moved beyond partisanship.

[Links: The evisceration of Fema, Bush and the USS Baton, Bush and the staged photo op in NOLA, Rescuers met by dispair, not violence, and it was haves vs. have-nots in Katrina evacuation]