So Visiting Isn't Enough

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leading a tour of selected Congressional Dems to New Orleans, was trying to send the message that she understands and cares, and instead put her foot in it, thusly:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said her third trip to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast should reassure local leaders and residents that recovery remains a congressional priority.

"This was a natural disaster exacerbated by a manmade disaster in terms of the response," Pelosi said at a news conference at a French Quarter hotel Monday.

Correction, Madame Speaker. As everyone from Dr. Bob Bea of UC Berkeley to Michael Grunwald in last week's Time Magazine, to the Army Corps itself in its IPET report, can attest, this was a manmade disaster (caused by the design and construction flaws of the levee-floodwall system) exacerbated by a second manmade disaster (in terms of the response). You don't get that, New Orleans has a right to be not reassured...Maybe a fourth visit?