From Scout:

You got to hand it to Chris Matthews (backhand). No matter where he goes he’s a Republican Talking Points Magnet. He could swoop into your town and pick up their view to then pass off as Insider Perspective just like he did as “moderator” of the NOLA mayoral debate tonight. In the process Matthews proved his ignorance of what doomed New Orlean (FEDERAL levees) and also stayed clear of the dirty secret behind the charge against Mitch Landrieu, a charge which Matthews of course obligingly passed along. (BTW Republicans are backing Nagin)

First the charge against Landrieu? Well he’s a Landrieu!

And therefore he’s responsible for all the ills of New Orleans for the past 40 years. Specifically he’s the son of Moon Landrieu who, as mayor years ago, supposedly set New Orleans on a path of ruin from which it never recovered.

As for the dirty secret behind the charge? It’s what Moon did that was so wrong….the original Landrieu sin. He desegregated City Hall in the 60’s and anything after that doesn’t seem to matter. This from Harry Shearer….

Then, there was my friend who told me late that evening that all her “uptown white country club friends” were voting for…Nagin. The reason; they could never bring themselves to vote for a Landrieu. I bounced this report off a number of friends and acquaintances over the weekend, and only one looked askance at it. Several others sighed knowingly, and spoke in lowered voices of the ‘real reason” for this seemingly counter-intuitive response: those folks, it is alleged, have never forgiven Mitch Landrieu’s dad, Moon (the last white mayor) for desegregating City Hall.

So here’s the clip of Matthews coughing up the race sanitized meme of Bad Moon Not Rising (if the Republicans have any say in it.) It begins with the other moderator pressing Nagin on a question that cuts pretty close to the bone. Tweety was annoyed with this line of questioning. Then he turns to Landrieu

UPDATE: Welcome Crooks and Liars readers. And if I may…To see a rundown of reaction from NOLA bloggers to Tweety’s “moderating” work…CLick Here