You're Getting Warmer!

Matt Welch | September 27, 2005

The L.A. Times takes a swing today at the inaccurate New Orleans rumors story, making this important (though hardly exculpatory) point:

Some of the hesitation that journalists might have had about using the more sordid reports from the evacuation centers probably fell away when New Orleans' top officials seemed to confirm the accounts.

Nagin and Police Chief Eddie Compass appeared on "Oprah" a few days after trouble at the Superdome had peaked.

Compass told of "the little babies getting raped" at the Superdome. And Nagin made his claim about hooligans raping and killing.

Now the final missing link -- understanding that even elected officials exaggerate, spread rumors, and (horrors!) lie, and/or have incentives to do so. Speaking of depending on bureaucrats for info, the LAT story attributes Louisiana Dept. of Health and Hospitals spokesman Bob Johannessen as saying a total of 4 of the state's 841 reported Katrina deaths were gunshot victims.