New Orleanians attacked and insulted--again

They threw beer cans at them.

They poured beer on their heads.

They punched them.

They yelled "Too bad you didn't drown!"

They wore buttons and held signs that said What Katrina Started, the Bears Will Finish.

That's what Chicago Bears fans did to Saints fans who traveled to Chicago to see their team play the Bears. This disgusting display of hatred for New Orleanians isn't the first. When displaced New Orleanians living in New York attended the Saints-Giants game last September, they were greeted with shouts of "New Orleanians are stupid!" "You deserved what you got!" and "Hope you know how to swim!" There were also a number of obscenities hurled at the homeless Katrina fans.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a federal agency, botched the construction of the levee system so badly that the levees failed to work and New Orleans was flooded during Hurricane Katrina. Then another branch of the federal government, the so-called Department of Homeland Security, sat idly by while people died and lost their homes. And a third branch of the federal government, the White House, went out of its way to trash Louisiana's governor and make the situation even worse. The result? New Orleanians are blamed, humiliated, insulted, and physically attacked.

Compassionate conservatism has really worked out well. The barbarism of both Bears fans and Giants fans says much more about this country than any whitewash composed by either the Bush administration or its political opponents.