FEMA is doing their best to make sure Commander Cokebugs never has to look bad. They’re apparently ‘discouraging’ journalists from photographing the bodies of the dead in New Orleans.

The U.S. agency leading Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts said Tuesday that it does not want the news media to photograph the dead as they are recovered.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, heavily criticized for its slow response to the devastation caused by the hurricane, rejected journalists’ requests to accompany rescue boats searching for storm victims.

An agency spokeswoman said space was needed on the rescue boats.

“We have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the media,” the spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

Right, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the Bush policy of never acknowledging the dead who inevitably spring forth from Bush administration mistakes and policies.

Found over at Eschaton.