2000 Buses?

Most of us have seen the Katrina footage of row after row of school buses submerged in flood water, and most have heard the outrage from Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity and others that 2,000 such buses went unused in the evacuation of New Orleans. It's become a conservative rallying cry around Bush, deflecting blame onto the mayor and local officials.

Problem is, the New Orleans school district doesn't own 2,000 school buses. From Media Matters:

According to a September 5, 2003, article in the Times-Picayune, "The [Orleans Parish school] district owns 324 buses but 70 are broken down." In addition, a Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development profile of the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA), last updated May 5, notes that RTA owned 364 public buses, bringing the total of the city's public transit and school buses to fewer than 700....