Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

"Is this an interview or an argument" -- Haley Barber to CNN

NY Times:

The Bush administration has been stung by criticism of its handling of Hurricane Katrina by anguished Louisiana officials and by nervous Republicans from across the country, but it has one stalwart defender right in the heart of the devastated region - Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

From the earliest moments of the crisis, Mr. Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has praised President Bush and a federal response to the storm that even the president later called "not acceptable." At one point last week, when Mr. Barbour's glowing assessment was challenged by an interviewer on CNN, he asked "if this is an interview or an argument."

...

While some officials here have found his statements jarring, others said they could pay off if Mr. Barbour is able to parlay his good relationship with the Bush administration into more federal aid for his state. And they noted that the political dynamic here is very different from what is happening next door in Louisiana, where Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a Democrat, was outspokenly critical of the federal response to the storm, and soon found her administration openly sniping with the White House over who was to blame for the ensuing disaster and who should lead the recovery.

So while the frostiness between the president and Ms. Blanco cast a shadow over his trip to Louisiana on Monday morning, warmth and good feelings were on display when he met in the afternoon with Mr. Barbour in Poplarville and told a crowd that "we're here for the long term." As they met, the Navy and Marines set up camp in Biloxi.

Mr. Barbour appeared on television programs on Sunday morning, spreading his message that the federal effort was going well in his state. He told "Face the Nation" on CBS that "the federal government has been fabulous in our state" and "Meet the Press" on NBC that "the federal government has been good partners to us."

...

Mr. Barbour said his praise of the federal government was not a political calculation. "I get all these questions all the time about, you know, there's not enough water in X or there's not enough ice in Y, and almost always there is something to that," Mr. Barbour said at a news conference here on Monday. "But that's why you've just got to manage this deal and keep trying to wrestle this bear down to the ground, and that's what we're doing.

"The federal government, most all the time, has been first to say, 'We want to get you, we're pushing this toward you.' Have there been times where we didn't get as much as we wanted of this or that? Yes, sir. There have been. But, boy, it's been overwhelming, the millions of M.R.E.'s, ice, water that we've received."

Mr. Barbour added: "We haven't looked at it as, I'm going to be whiny, and I'll get more, or, I'm going to act like Tarzan, and I'll get more. We've been saying, what do you need to do to get the job done?"

Is the NY Times reading PrairiePundit? I have been pointing out for days how different things were on the adult side of the Mississippi. Haley is also a much smarter politician than the whiners on the other side of the river. He is also taking a much more effective approach in dealing with the people trying to help him. Insults and threats of physical assault are not endearing qualities in a relationship, particularly when aimed at the guy with the checkbook.