Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the Katrina strike on the Gulf Coast.  Unfortunately, calling it an “anniversary” imparts to it a certain jovial trait which is undeserved, yet pedestrian mangling of definitions aside, anniversary it is.

While I had planned to make nothing more than a glancing reference to the event in some menial post tomorrow, I feel compelled to preempt that plan with this.

I’m sick of the ignorant and clueless among us who seem mystified that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, renowned for putting his feet in his mouth in a regular basis, once again sought to prove he’s the most ignorant mayor in America.  To wit:

During the CBS “60 minutes” interview, a correspondent pointed out flood-damaged cars still on the streets of New Orleans’ devastated Ninth Ward. Nagin replied, “You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed, and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair,” according to CBS.

Sure, he’s dabbling in the spit-in-they-eyes-of-America territory with this, and I’ve always hated the man for his racism and stupidity and general lack of leadership qualities, not to mention his love of finger pointing, yet in this case I’m forced to agree with him.

A whole lot of people are now saying his comments are unfortunate and he’s still being an ass, and he is, but he’s absolutely right in this case.  THE ENTIRE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS WAS AFFECTED BY HURRICANE KATRINA.  How much of New York was affected by 9/11?  Were hundreds of thousands displaced semi-permanently?  Was a vast majority of the city rendered uninhabitable?  Does New Orleans have the budget of NYC?  Did the POTUS respond to the New Orleans disaster on the same day it occurred like he did with NYC?  Or the next day?  Or the next?  And what of the federal government as a whole?

I dislike Ray Nagin.  That should be clear (re: here, here, and here).  Despite that nauseous feeling I get when his name is mentioned, this is one particular case where I agree with him.

All levels of government failed with regards to the New Orleans Katrina response.  But it’s only been one year (tomorrow, in fact).  NYC has yet to recover fully from 9/11, and it’s been five years.  FIVE YEARS!  Why aren’t we pointing the finger at them and demanding the same level of accountability we’re asking of Nagin and others involved in New Orleans?  It’s because a pathetic level of partisanship is controlling the debate about Louisiana while superior amounts of spinelessness control the debate about New York.

Get over it, buttheads.  Nagin deserves a kick in the teeth, sure, but it has absolutely nothing to do with these comments.  He’s right and you’re wrong.  Period.