Don't it Make Your Red State Blue?

Vice President Dick Cheney -- returning from vacation six days after Katrina came ashore on the Gulf Coast -- is touring the storm zone on a fact-finding mission for President Bush. The purpose is to find out what went wrong.

VP Cheney hasn't found much wrong, calling the relief effort "very impressive" and saying he's impressed with the "very positive, can-do attitude" of Mississippians.

But at least one Mississippian told the VP what he "can-do" to himself. Repeating a line the Vice President famously uttered to Sen Patrick Leahy on the Senate floor.

Another passerby told KATC-TV that the Vice President's trip was just a photo op and a waste of taxpayer money adding the VP "picked a nice neighborhood where people have insurance and most are Republicans."

If that's the reception he got in Red State Mississippi, wait'll he lands in New Orleans -- home of the blues after last week.

Mississippi has had fewer complaints than Louisianna over the federal response. But it has been growing. Sen Trent Lott (R-MS) has complained that FEMA blocked the release of 20,000 trailers tied up in red tape in Georgia, badly needed in Mississippi. And Rep Mark Foley (R-FL) has complained that FEMA has blocked the Coast Guard from taking possession of 500 airboats to aid in search and rescue in Mississippi and Louisianna. (KATC-TV)