Charles Krauthammer, like the other knee-jerk right-wing apologists for the lying, corrupt and incompetent Bush administration, is lying through his teeth when he minimizes the administration’s culpability for the catastrophe in New Orleans (BDN, Sept. 9).

These White House shills posing as journalists fooled the American people during the 2004 campaign, before the truth about the covered up deceptions and failures became apparent and readily available. There is no longer any doubt, however, where the guilt lies, and that is now as apparent in New Orleans as it is in Iraq.

It is fact that the Bush administration cut the funds three years in a row that would have strengthened the levees which were breached by Katrina. It is fact that the National Guard troops and helicopters which would have saved lives after the storm were in Iraq fighting a war created by the president’s lies and deceit. It is fact that Bush appointed an incompetent political crony as head of the agency (FEMA) whose responsibility it is to bring relief to areas devastated by hurricanes.

Krauthammer and other reactionary ideologues of course have every right to voice their opinions, but isn’t it time they honored their responsibility as journalists and stopped parroting the lies of this failed and shamed administration?

Dan Lourie

Bar Harbor