I am not sure why it is happening, the some in the media are starting to challenge Nagin, and hopefully soon Blanco, on how they totally screwed up. Today’s Washington Post tries to sugar-coat some incredible statements and events which should give a lot of people pause.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin created many new friends and probably as many enemies for his decision to pointedly chastise both Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) and the Bush administration for talking too much and working too little. Now, however, difficult questions are being directed at the mayor.

It is about time. Now is it going to be about accuracy and depth? Not clear since many of the questions the Post proffers we know the answers to

Should there have been a better plan to evacuate those without cars? Was his police force up to the task?

First, there was a better plan than the one executed, because the one executed was not the city or state plan for this very event.

Why weren’t there supplies for the legions of people directed to the Superdome?

That is part of the plan the city and state should have followed. But we know now Blanco held back Red Cross efforts to supply the Superdome. Both Nagin and Blanco needed to adjust their initial pitiful concepts for dealing with Katrina the minute the first levee breeched – as we pointed out here. We know people did not need to die because between Nagin’s city buses moving people out and Blanco letting the Red Cross in the press of people on the Superdome and Convention Center would have been cut in half. These are final questions posited by the Post, which doesn’t provide a hint of answer:

Why were all those city buses left in low-lying areas? Why did so many of his officers leave their posts as the city descended into a chaos that left many residents afraid that either thugs or the elements would kill them?

Here are two stunning reponses from New Orleans:

“He should have evacuated the place earlier,” said one city firefighter, echoing a mostly whispered sentiment here as the collection of dead bodies begins in earnest. The firefighter asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.
….
Joseph R. Matthews, the city’s director of emergency operations, said the city went on alert the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 26, even though a full evacuation was not ordered until Sunday. It became clear then that New Orleans would not be spared at least some of Katrina’s wrath when the storm came ashore on Monday. The Superdome was opened as a shelter of last resort, though it was quickly overwhelmed and those who sought refuge there did not have food and water.

“Nothing prepared us for this,” he said. “It was just too much.”

The last sentence is ridiculous. They should have prepared themselves for what was coming. They had the means to deal with it. They had the plan which would have helped immensely if they had followed it. And what does Nagin say when confronted? He freaks out like a petulant child:

Pressed on the criticisms, Nagin shot back at a news conference this week: “To those who would criticize, where the hell were you?” he said. “Where the hell were you?”

I, for one, was watching elderly people die unnecessarily on TV because you did not move your buses and Blanco refused to send supplies. Since then I have been listening to the media blame everyone who was not in a position to save them. At least the grown ups in Louisiana are getting a little tired of his emotional outbreaks

Now his strong criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies has earned him more than a few enemies, said Robert Hogan, an associate professor of political science at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. “In this crisis, some of his comments have done him a huge disservice,” Hogan said. “Some of his comments come across as a crackpot. To me, he’s just exasperated, but he may not be viewed that way in Washington.”

To me Nagin is over his head and falling apart and yelling at the people sacrificing to come in and fix his mess. But that is just me.

Captain Ed Morrissey has similar thoughts on this story here.

And Mac at Mac’s Mind points out correctly leadership is not voted onto someone, they must have it already in times of crisis. Check out is great posts on the Nagin fiasco, starting here.