I just finished writing a column — be up tomorrow — about the media foul-ups on Katrina. The more I think about it, the more I think in a less-polarized environment people would recognize that Ray Nagin really should resign. Aside from the already discussed organizational screw-ups, he repeatedly trafficked in the most explosive rumors about what was going on in New Orleans without knowing the truth. He glibly spoke of rape gangs and murderers inside the Superdome. He freelanced a guess of 10,000 dead. In other words, at every turn he uttered one sensational untruth after another to the press. Why isn’t the press punishing him for it? I thought that during disasters politicians were supposed to err on the side keeping panic in check and maintaining order, not making the situation worse by telling people their worst fears are coming true and that safe areas are lawless and dangerous. Nagin’s heart may have been in the right place, but his performance was surely worse than Brown’s.