Former Clintonista Sidney Blumenthal has put out the main lefty talking point
regarding Hurricane Katrina: It’s Bush’s fault because he cut the Corps
of Engineers’ budget. To show how quickly the left latches on to and
spreads these talking points, The Carolinian‘s Cash Michaels
dutifully quoted Blumenthal on WPTF this morning only hours after
Blumenthal filed his piece. Here’s Blumenthal’s main point:
A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New
Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush
administration ordered that the research not be undertaken.
Oooo-Kay. So if Bush had allowed the Corps to begin its study a year ago,
then this could have been prevented? How daft do you have to be to
believe that? They’ve been working on I-85 in Durham for 10 years and
they’re still not finished. Do Blumenthal and Michaels actually believe
below-sea-level New Orleans could have been protected from the wrath of
a Cat 4 hurricane in a year? Another question for Sidney: If this was
so important, why didn’t the Clinton Administration address it in its
eight years in office?
