SHRILL IN NEW ORLEANS….The LA Times reports that Hurricane Katrina is a bad memory ? literally:
Veteran members of Congress say they cannot remember another humanitarian issue that started out with such sympathy on Capitol Hill and then lost support so rapidly.
“I don’t think I have ever seen an issue flip so quickly as this did,” said Rep. John J. “Jimmy” Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.), chairman of a key subcommittee involved in reconstruction efforts.
….”I’m not sure it was ever the intention of this administration to really help,” said [Louisiana Sen. Mary L. Landrieu]. “I would say that really it’s a pattern of this administration to promise a lot and deliver very little ? to pretend like you care, but when it comes down to really putting your money where your mouth is, it doesn’t happen.”
….”I’m ready to start a revolution,” said former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.). “This is an absolute outrage. Here we are in Month 4 of a terrible, terrible tragedy, and other than hotel rooms and meals-ready-to-eat and some reconstruction, we haven’t gotten squat.”
Republican congressmen apparently blame the whole thing on Landrieu, who they say has been “shrill” compared to her more stalwart Republican male colleagues in Mississippi. That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
