Santorum floats new bogus scapegoat.

This is pathetic. And once again, it can be proven untrue within about 45 seconds on the Internet.

(9/09) U.S. Senator Rick Santorum is suggesting that early mistakes in predicting the path of Hurricane Katrina may be a symptom of lost focus at the National Weather Service. Santorum, who introduced legislation earlier this year to curb the output of government weather forecasters, says tracking life-threatening weather must be central to what the agency is doing.

As I noted earlier this week, the National Hurricane Center had predicted Katrina's course "within fifteen miles" by August 28, two days before it hit land. This was regarded as a remarkable success.

But what was the NWS saying on the 28th? Oh, just this:

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

And remember, as these were the reports coming from the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center, Bush was being briefed by the head of the NHC. ON THIS SAME DAY! Santorum's lame attempts to further deflect attention are actually-- if any reporters care to look into it for two minutes-- a further indictment of Bush.