Politician, heal thyself

Chocolate City mayor-reelect Ray Nagin came out with praise for the President in his acceptance speech, then said,

"This election is over, and it's time for this community to start the healing process."

It's not clear whether he meant healing from Katrina, the election, or his own previous comments.

But you gotta take some pity on the poor guy. According to Drudge he did more than defeat the entrenched white democrats of New Orleans, he defeated Howard Dean. We can only speculate at this point as to why the DeanNC would want Landreiu over Nagin from a national perspective. Surely part of it were those goofy tirades and the memories of a parking lot full of unused buses.

Maybe it was race. People across America were pretty much amazed that an electorate who watched their city get nearly wiped out by a preventable flood would desire the same failed government back in power, especially after those racially divisive public comments.

Perhaps the national party figured a new face might help mute the criticism, which will surely come if another hurricane comes remotely close and parts of the city go back under water. Oh how the national spotlight's gonna shine. Again.

Or maybe it was in deference to those southern voters with the rebel flags on their pick-em-ups that Howard once spoke so fondly of. Let's see what develops from the Drudge story. My earlier portayal of Dean as 'crazy like a fox' might be in serious jeopardy.

THIS JUST IN.. 5/22/06

Uh oh.

WHOOPS? 5/22

Drudge has retracted his earlier story about democrat operatives being sent into NOLA to hijack the election.

A pushback was not unexpected, but it must have been pretty iron clad for Drudge to figuratively fall backwards down the stairs tripping over himself. Of course this means the 'crazy like a fox' theory on Dean is still in play!

ANONYMOUS SOURCES 5/22

Wonder who those "well-placed DRUDGE REPORT sources" were? They sure left him twisting in the breeze as they dashed for the doors immediately upon hearing from the DNC. But, if the only threat was from a lawsuit it's doubtful Drudge would have wilted so fast, especially if his sources had been willing to back him up.

(ed--won't such attack dog tactics against members of the media have a chilling effect on the public's right to get erroneous information off the internet? I think so.)