LIKE BOB HOPE IN WORLD WAR II, Sean Penn is able to take a devastated nation and make it laugh:

Movie star and political activist Penn, 45, was in the collapsing city to aid stranded victims of flooding sparked by Hurricane Katrina, but the small boat he was piloting to launch a rescue attempt sprang a leak.

The outspoken actor had planned to rescue children waylaid by the deadly waters, but apparently forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of the vessel, which began taking water within seconds of its launch. . . .

Asked what he had hoped to achieve in the waterlogged city, the actor replied: “Whatever I can do to help.”

But with the boat loaded with members of the Oscar-winner’s entourage, including his personal photographer, one bystander taunted: “How are you going to get any people in that thing?”

Thanks, Sean! (Via Kobayashi Maru). I’m pretty sure I know which one of Bill Whittle’s tribes Penn belongs to. The personal photographer is the giveaway . . . .

UPDATE: Picture (presumably not by the personal photographer) here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Also with a personal photographer — but at least she didn’t leave the plug out.