If You Can't See New Orleans, It Isn't There!

Let's get the obvious out of the way. There is very little one can do when a strong, Category 4 Hurricane blasts through a city below sea level and surrounded by water. Yes, it would have been nice if the levee's had been funded properly. No, I'm not thrilled that FEMA was headed by an administration hack with no disaster experience. So yes, this could have been handled better. But I'm also cognizant that even had we taken all the proper precautions, we'd still have a disaster on our hands, and we'd still be having a devil of a time trying to recover from it (Mr. Proliferation captures the distinction nicely).

But while there has been a bipartisan outpouring of support amongst bloggers for the Katrina victims, the political arm of the GOP seems barely aware that Katrina even happened. Consider the latest email sent by the RNC. The focus? Not disaster relief. Not aid for families impoverished by Katrina (or sluggish economic growth in general). Nope--it's all about The Death Tax:

When they return from their August recess, Senators will consider a key issue: elimination of the death tax. The death tax is an unfair double taxation of income, which hurts America's small businesses and farms and threatens job growth. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats are working hard to oppose our efforts to eliminate this unfair tax.

Yes, that's really the biggest priority right now. I mean, goodness, who knows how many billionaires died during Katrina? After the Death Tax, their heirs will be...millionaires! SOB!

But that isn't even all. Moderate Republican reports that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is questioning whether the government should support rebuilding New Orleans at all. Are you kidding me? And even Republicans are acknowledging that Bush's response, in terms of expressing sympathy for the victims, has been pathetic.

Meanwhile, House Democrats are submitting legislation to protect disaster victims from further financial ruin at the hands of the recently passed Bankruptcy Bill. "Resubmitting" might be more accurate, because the proposal (protecting victims of natural disasters from some of the anti-debtor provisions of the bill) was originally put forth along with the bill itself--only to fail on a partyline vote with no debate. Maybe this time around, they'll be more successful.

I don't want to make political hay out of a catastrophe, I really don't. But it is frankly appalling that Elected Republicans are just ignoring Katrina entirely. Was "compassionate conservatism" ever more than a slogan?