The Lights are on, but Nobody's Home

The lights came back on in New Orleans last night – er, for awhile. This is from journalist Brian Williams’ blog:

I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the live update edition of Nightly News that we fed to the West Coast. The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans. It's enough to make
some of the folks here who witnessed it... jump to certain conclusions.

In other news, Mississippi's Clarion-Ledger has obtained documents that suggest the administration is rooting around for another target in its own “blame game:”

Federal officials appear to be seeking proof to blame the flood of New Orleans on environmental groups, documents show.

The Clarion-Ledger has obtained a copy of an internal e-mail the U.S. Department of Justice sent out this week to various U.S. attorneys' offices: "Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation."

Cynthia Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said Thursday she couldn't comment "because it's an internal e-mail."

I guess this is what happens when you put Karl Rove in charge of the administration – I mean, New Orleans – reconstruction effort. (You’ll have to read quite well into that New York Times article to find that nugget, unfortunately.)

So let’s see. So far, the administration or their shills have blamed black people, gay people, Democrats, single mothers, and the evacuees generally for the administration’s own failures, and now they’re looking for evidence to pin it on environmentalists. I suppose I should be stunned that they’re even bothering to look for evidence, but I don’t suppose it will matter to them whether they actually find it or not (since there is none). But who will be the next target? Surely the French had something to do with it. Didn’t they design part of the damn city? Anyone else?

(Via Talking Points Memo.)