Republicans convene in New Orleans, with no mention of Katrina

From Politico courtesy of TAPPED:

Five years after President Bush's failed response to a natural disaster in New Orleans deeply damaged his party's credibility and helped sweep them from power, top Republicans speaking to supporters in New Orleans tonight made no mention of Hurricane Katrina.

The series of speakers to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference at a Hilton conference center on the Mississippi River paid passing tribute to New Orleans' food, its culture, and its championship football team, but made no reference to the disaster still shadowing what Mary Matalin called a "vibrant city."

More here.

Actually, I think it would have been surprising if the Republicans did mention Hurricane Katrina. After all, the anemic federal response to what was essentially a man made disaster, in that the levees failed due to Army Corps of Engineers design flaws and lax maintenance, was the coup de grâce for Republican dominance of the US political system. Out of sight, out of mind. On the other hand, it is bizarre, indeed, that Republicans would put themselves in a position such that they have to ignore the elephant in the middle of the room.

Why on Earth would they return to the scene of the crime and pretend as though it never happened?

Obviously, the GOP continues to be utterly clueless. I mean, so are the Democrats, but much less so. Just more evidence that, even though they are still quite capable of causing all kinds of trouble, the Republicans are effectively on the outside. The real game is now internal to the Democratic Party. Yeah, that's not necessarily good news, but at least a liberal such as myself can rejoice in the fact that Republicans are essentially irrelevant on the national scene, and doing all they can to keep it that way.

Yeah, I'll take these victories where I can imagine them...

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