GOP Legislators Show Lack Of Sympathy To Katrina Victims.

The Washington Post is reporting that some GOP lawmakers are still having a hard showing any kind of remorse to the beleaguered victims of Katrina.

The pattern seems to have started with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) when he said questioned if New Orleans should even be rebuilt. It was followed by Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) suggesting to punish those who ignore pre-storm evacuation orders. And although she isn’t a lawmaker, the president’s mother, former First Lady Barbara Bush said that Hurricane Katrina “had worked out very well” for the poor of New Orleans. The latest came when the Wall Street Journal reported that Representative Richard Baker (R-LA) told a lobbyist that “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.”

Republican lawmakers have had to issue “clarifications” of earlier statements, and Rep. Baker was no different. In a lengthy statement Baker said, “What I remember expressing, in a private conversation with a housing advocate and member of my staff, was that ‘We have been trying for decades to clean up New Orleans public housing to provide decent housing for residents, and now it looks like God is finally making us do it.’” Baker went on to say that “Obviously I have never expressed anything but the deepest concern about the suffering that this terrible catastrophe has caused for so many in our state.”