Barbour wisely dismisses Brown's Katrina conspiracy

Michael Brown, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is shooting off his mouth again. Last week in New York City, he claimed that Mississippi and Louisiana were treated differently after Hurricane Katrina because of their politics.

Unfortunately, Louisiana's Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco, jumped on the suggestion, claiming that Brown had "broken the code of silence about the political conspiracy to hurt the people of Louisiana."

Fortunately, Mississippi's Republican governor, Haley Barbour, took the time to consider the source of this conspiracy theory and said Brown's "credibility has been worn pretty thin over the last couple of years - at least that's what Congress said about him, Democrats in Congress said about him."

Whatever case Blanco wants to make, she would be wise not to base any part of it on anything Brown has to say. Anyone who watched Brown's congressional testimony on C-SPAN knows that he did indeed wear out his credibility with Congress.

Blanco and others might also consider letting go of the notion that federal assistance is based on some sort of Louisiana vs. Mississippi tug-of-war over funding.

There is federal funding for the recovery effort in both states. But each state must make its own case.

Is Louisiana losing out to Mississippi?

We aren't keeping score.

But Barbour may have been when he said:

"Sounds to me like Congress is getting their money's worth in Mississippi."