Not 2,000 buses after all.

So these guys, Media Matters, claim that all the conservatives were claiming that there were 2,000 buses sitting in New Orleans after Katrina went by.

I don't recall that figure myself, but they link to LGF, and sure enough, LGF quoted a column mentioning that figure. They also claim that Gingrich and Stephanopoulos were quoting it all over national TV. I won't dispute that; I emptied a magazine into my TV years ago, when I learned that Sam the American Eagle on the Muppet Show wasn't real.

But there it is: Media Matters says there were only about seven hundred buses, school buses and municipal buses combined, controlled by the city of New Orleans at the end of last month. They may be right. Assume they are. Why not? It's a nice round number. There's one question they very carefully avoid: Why in the name of God did nobody use those buses to evacuate the poor, like the plan called for? Media Matters proudly observes that not all of the poor could have been evacuated; assuming the oft-tossed-around figure of 46 adults per bus, that'd be 32,000 people in one trip, which is only about a third of the number left behind. To a lefty, that's quite clear: If you can't save absolutely everybody, you don't bother trying to save anybody. Leave 'em all to die; you've got a good excuse, so that makes it okay. Now, some of us wacky right-wingers might suggest that you turn around and make a second trip... but that's much too complicated for lefties.