Unforgivable ignorance

I guess you have to give Hastert credit for having stones, saying New Orleans shouldn't be rebuilt and strongly implying the same for Los Angeles and San Fran, but this doesn't strike me as something that's been thought through. More important, I'm thinking he'll scoot like a scalded cat (am I being possessed by Dan Rather's ghost?) if he gets too much heat for it.

What really gets me, though, is Breaux:

“That’s like saying we should shut down Los Angeles because it’s built in an earthquake zone,” former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., said. “Or like saying that after the Great Chicago fire of 1871, the U.S. government should have just abandoned the city.”

Tell you what, Senator. I'll bet you the New Deal that it wasn't the feds who rebuilt Chicago.

(BTW, do you think Sen. Breaux knew the fire was in 1871, or is this a sign of a press release at work?)

UPDATE: Just deleted a blog troll or bot entry or whatever those things are. Does this mean PajamaGuy has hit the big time? Or is it merely that the cost of harassment is so low?

UPDATE: Here's a description from the Chicago Public Library:

During Monday the fire burned as far as Fullerton Avenue. Rainfall which started about midnight helped put out the last of the flames. 300 Chicagoans were dead, 90,000 homeless, and the property loss was $200 million.
Chicago quickly rebuilt and by 1875 little evidence of the disaster remained. The 100th anniversary of the fire was commemorated during the period October 3-10, 1971, with a series of events including a fire centennial dinner during which the Mayor expressed thanks to cities and countries that sent money after the fire.

Nothin' about FEMA in there, senator.

LAGuy adds: Speaking of ignorance, unforgivable or not, let's not forget the Great Peshtigo Fire, which happened the same day as the Chicago Fire and caused more death and destruction.