Marco Polo, don't you know that's how the game goes

I keep thinking I've written my last Katrina post for a while, until this whole debacle gets rehashed in hearings a few months from now... and then I hear about even more astonishingly stupid things occuring.

First off, with a hat tip to Michelle Malkin, is the Congressman who recieved special clearance to get past barricades preventing people from entering New Orleans, and then used National Guard troops to take a tour of his district within the city. While viewing the damage, he diverted them to his own house, then had them cool their heels on his yard while he retrieved personal items from his home including "a laptop, three suitcases, and a box the size of a small refrigerator." While waiting around for Congressman to emerge from his house, the National Guard truck became stuck in the mud, and another truck had to be called off of rescue duty to come pull it out... but not before a Coast Guard helicopter dropped by for 45 minutes trying to convinve the Congressman Jefferson to hop a flight out of there.
But wait for the kicker... Congressman Jefferson is apparently under investigation by the FBI. They even raided his house last month. And his home in D.C. And his car. And his accountant's office. I wonder what they could have possibly been looking for, and why the Congressman was so dead set against flying out of the traffic jam on his lawn?

While Congressman Jefferson's self-serving entitlement attitude is bad enough, he only had the chance to get a handful of people killed by wasting rescuers' time. Mayor Ray "Schoolbus Water Polo" Nagin on the other hand... his body count rises daily.
But wait! Was it really Mayor Nagin's responsibility? Stone Phillips asked him just that. (thanks to Right Wing News)

Appearing on NBC's "Dateline," Nagin was asked by host Stone Phillips: "What was mobilized? I mean were national guard troops in position. Were helicopters standing by? Were buses ready to take people away?"

"No. None of that," the Big Easy mayor replied.

"Why is that?" an incredulous Phillips asked.

Nagin replied: "I dont know. That is question for somebody else."
The Louisiana Democrat didn't explain just who the "somebody else" was, saying only: "All I can do is [say] that I was dealing with it as a mayor -- how do I prepare my city for an incredibly powerful storm? So immediately we tried to get as many people out as possible."

"Well, I mean, somebody else should have tried to get those people out. Possibly the 'real killers' or Tyler Durden or someone, you know?"

So it's not just simple incompetence anymore is it, Mayor Nagin? We're on to gross negligence or deriliction of duty now.

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Previous Dodge City South posts:
Don't You Know Who WE Am?
Cover Your Blank-Hole
The Mayor Ray Nagin Memorial Motor Pool
Mary Landrieu's Punch-Out
Storm of Stupidity