It's the Clown Posse!

Cut to the Head Clown, Ray Nagin:

The cursing had stopped. The tears were gone. Mayor Ray Nagin returned from his meeting with President Bush on Friday a picture of calm, leaning back against a railing in a hotel lobby that for the first time in nearly five days wasn't filled with stranded tourists.

"I feel much better. I feel like we've gotten everyone's attention and hopefully they'll continue to do what they're doing," Nagin said from the downtown Hyatt hotel, his temporary lodgings and command post since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Big Easy.
...
By nightfall Friday, his tone had changed.

"Today was a turning point, I think," he said. "My philosophy is never get too high, never get too low. ... I always try to keep my emotions in check and yesterday I kind of went off a little bit. I was worried about that, but it maybe worked out. I don't know. If the CIA slips me something and next week you don't see me, you'll all know what happened."

I guess he hasn't been taking his medication and won't be likely to any time soon.

Nagin said evacuation has been hampered by officials' difficulty grasping where state authority ends and federal authority begins and he said he urged the president and Gov. Kathleen Blanco to sort it out.

No word on Ray's own authority and all the school buses down at the Ray Nagin Memorial Motor Pool.

But heck, ole Ray isn't the only performer on the card. How about New Orleans deputy police commander W.S. Riley? Aside from not having a clue that the Louisiana National Guard is a state agency reporting to Governor Blanco, he says they were laying down on the job:

"The guard arrived 48 hours after the hurricane with 40 trucks. They drove their trucks in and went to sleep."
...
The National Guard commander, Lieutenant General Steven Blum, said the reservist force was slow to move troops into New Orleans because it did not anticipate the collapse of the city's police force.
...
Riley said he did not even know how many police remained from a normal force of 1,700.

"Many officers lost their homes or their families and there are many we have not heard from. Some officers could not handle the pressure and left. I don't know if we have 800 or thousands today."

Glad he's on top of the situation!

And the entertainment would not be complete without Governor "NO Show" Blanco. President Bush had to twist her and Ray's arms to get them declare an evacuation and then she joined Ray for a little snooze. But she wants everyone to know that she's in charge:

Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.
...
Blanco made two moves Saturday that protected her independence from the federal government: She created a philanthropic fund for the state's victims and hired James Lee Witt, Federal Emergency Management Agency director in the Clinton administration, to advise her on the relief effort.

Woohoo! Way to go, "NO Show"!

Last and certainly not least, some of the New Orleans bit players noticed that their regular robovoters were missing:

As hurricane victims are being moved hundreds of miles from home, the president of the New Orleans City Council is demanding to know why Louisiana isn't housing more of them.

Oliver Thomas says Louisiana has many government buildings and gymnasiums that could be made into shelters. But instead, he says people are being even more uprooted and sent to places like Georgia and Utah.

Thomas believes exaggerated fears of violence have kept some Louisiana cities from offering more help.

Ya think?

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco says she's trying to find more shelters in the state, but that all existing locations are full.

But state Senator Cleo Fields says that's not the case. He points to the abandoned England Air Force base as an example of a large in-state location that the governor should open to evacuees.

Don't let the "clients" get away!