There were a couple of leading candidates for Cluebat of the Week this time around. Some would have been awarded on a collective basis (The French Government for their tepid response to rioting Muslims), some for individual achievement (Harry Reid’s stunt in closing the Senate). I even contemplated giving the first Lifetime Achievement Award to Jimmy Carter whose comments on foreign policy this week were particularly dumb.

In the end, it was really no contest however. Former FEMA Director Michael Brown wins in a walk.

If there was ever any doubt this guy should never have left the horse show business, it has been removed thanks to the most jaw dropping, head shaking series of emails ever dispatched by a government official. Some examples:

* Two days after Katrina hit, Marty Bahamonde, one of the only FEMA employees in New Orleans, wrote to Brown that “the situation is past critical” and listed problems including many people near death and food and water running out at the Superdome. Brown’s entire response was: “Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?”

* “Can I quit now? Can I come home?” Brown wrote to Cindy Taylor, FEMA’s deputy director of public affairs, the morning of the hurricane.

* In the midst of the worst of the crisis, Brown wrote “Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this [crisis] and on TV you just need to look more hard-working.”

* On August 29, the day of the storm, Brown exchanged e-mails about his attire with Taylor, Melancon said. She told him, “You look fabulous,” and Brown replied, “I got it at Nordstroms. … Are you proud of me?” An hour later, Brown added: “If you’ll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you’ll really vomit. I am a fashion god.”

I know that there were many who disagreed with my analysis of the job Brown did during Katrina. While the state and local officials were mostly to blame for the out of control situation, I believe the Congressional investigation will show that Brown failed miserably to move the supplies that had been prepositioned prior to the hurricane making landfall. In short, what FEMA did have responsibility for, he dropped the ball.

Couple that with his inability to play well with the Democrats Nagin and Blanco and the trio of clueless clodhoppers ends up mucking up the biggest disaster in a century.

Those emails capture the cluelessness of the man perfectly. The fact that he is still drawing a salary forces me to give honorable mention to the entire Federal Government of the United States for not collectively kicking this guys rear end back to Oklahoma.

Why not peruse this week’s collection of half wits, nitwits, half brains, and no brains. I guarantee a laugh or two as well as a couple of posts that will raise your blood pressure. So sit back, strap it down, and take a trip into the Land of the Clueless.

“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.”
(Former Notre Dame Football Coach Frank Leahy)

Hey Frank! It’s a damn shame Jimmy Carter never played for the Irish.
(Me)
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Giacomo speculates that Harry Reid’s request that President Bush “apologize” to the American people and that Karl Rove step down may have been written before Fitzgerald released the indictment of Libby and that Senator Roulette Wheel never changed the text. How else do you explain the Cluebat asking Rove to step down for not being indicted?

Mark Coffey returns to the Carnival in grand style as he absolutely skewers Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, AKA Kos, for having “zero political acumen.” Mark is too generous in his analysis of Kos’s political abilities. For a true reflection of that, perhaps he should be graded using Celsius - Zero equals minus 32.

Speaking of long time gone Carnival participants, my old buddy Ogre returns with an excellent rant against North Dakota’s clueless Senator Byron Dorgan who wrote a piece for USA today totally mis-characterizing oil company profits. Leave it to Ogre to set the loon right.

The Maryhunter has a great article on the Democratic Party’s cluelessness when it comes to defending the last bastion of liberalism in America - the courts.

Wonder Woman has a post entitled “Even a sycophantic psychopath has gotta have friends…” If you guessed it was about Hugo Chavez and Iranian Terrorist President Ahmadinejad, you win a cookie.

Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has a new skin to her blog but same old Rottweiler attitude as she takes down Jonathan Alter for…well, read it all and then pity the poor soul for having several large bites taken out of his hide. Also, make sure you click the donate button on Beth’s site and give to Project Valour - IT. Read about it here and please be generous to this worthy cause.

Raven has a several breathtaking examples of liberal hypocrisy so profoundly disturbing, you’re going to want to read it twice just to make sure that your eyes weren’t deceiving you. Un. Be. Lievable.

Cao of Cao’s Blog (pronounced “key”) has some uproarious fun with a clueless troll. If you haven’t seen Cao take down a comment troll before, you are in for a real treat!

Uh-oh…Jay at Stop the ACLU is out of town and somehow Kender got the keys to his blog. Who will the Mad Scotsman have in his sights? Why, the ACLU of course!

If you don’t have Van Helsing at Moonbattery as one of your daily reads, you’re missing some of the best, the funniest stuff out there. Check out his post on Prince Charles and do not be drinking anything when you view the photoshop of “Prince Chaz.”

Anna Rose is blogging at The Right Place this week and has the lowdown on Michael Moore’s investment strategy and how it doesn’t quite jibe with his public utterances.

Miriam has a laugh out loud article on the Canadian moonbats virtually canceling Halloween. What’s next, no Christmas?

Carnival Pin-Up Girl Pamela has a post about the Three Stooges of the Senate - Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, and Dick Durbin - and their see no WMD read no WMD attitude. Good Ms. Pamela reminds us of the facts, thank you.

Below the Beltway has it in for Republican Big Spenders as we all should. Read it and write your Congressman and Senators.

Josh Cohen has one of those “Only in the Entertainment Industry” articles about Harry Potter’s new movie and a clueless musical group named the “Wyrd Sisters.” A real head-shaker.

Check out Pat Curley’s picture of high school students at a University of Texas football game…or is it a “peace” rally? Looks like the youngsters need a little instruction in proper protest signage.

The lovely Mensa Barbie sent me this post on Houdini who made everyone look clueless as they marveled at his magic. Great links about the greatest magician of all time.

Is there any publication more clueless than the New York Times? Iris blog doesn’t think so as they got a lot of play in the sphere this week for exposing some jaw dropping anti-Israeli bias at the paper. Great job!

AJ at the Strata-Sphere has a great piece on Joe Wilson and the gigantic ego the poor guy is forced to carry around with him. What an arrogant POS.

Must read satire this week from the usual suspects: The Peace Moonbeam blog on “Our Mother Of Perpetual Peace And Publicity” Cindy Sheehan and Carnival regular The Nose on Your Face with Al Franken attacking a fan at a book signing who wanted the book signed for his cousin “Reagan F. Hannity Limbaugh III.”

Those pithy pachyderms at Elephants in Academia are taking on former Colin Powell aide Lawrence Wilkerson who sees cabals over at DoD. Maybe he really meant cables?

Remember Mary Mapes? Hoodlumman at File it Under does and has some additional queries that Mapes might have outside of her contention that the TANG memos were not forgeries. Elvis just wants his privacy, right Mary?

Adam of Adam’s Blog has some interesting insight into a local political catfight between two rivals who sling the mud as good as anyone. Good reporting on local issues in Boise, ID.

Philomatheon has a clueless professor whose published wishful thinking in the Wall Street Journal about what he thinks Iran wants nukes for makes me shudder that this kind of thinking could get most of us killed. Read it all and then remember that if Iran thinks for one moment that it could get away with allowing terrorists access to a nuke, they will do it in a heartbeat.

Orac Knows has the raised blood pressure post of the Carnival as he highlights the cluelessness of the parents of a 13 year old cancer patient who want to take the stricken child to Kansas for “Vitamin C Therapy.”

Jimmie K and I are on the same wavelength when it comes to the utter cluelessness of the French and their timid reaction to the riots.

Finally, here’s my take on Harry Reid and the damage he’s done to his party recently.