President Truman said, “The buck stops here.â€? Bush said, “Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility.â€? Bush has too many writers, not enough readers.

Vote Roberts down, he’s too young for the supreme court. We deserve a sage.

If the public reacts to Katrina by saying incumbents are no damn good, this hurricane could break the rule and have a silver lining after all. No official, local, state or federal, was praised for being totally effective. The blame game has all winners. The next election could have all losers. Electing new people could [...]

So they sent Brown home to prepare for the next disaster. That’s better than awarding a medal, but when will Bush learn to push losers out the door? If Mike was tasked to list the mistakes he made orchestrating this disaster, he’ll be too busy to do any more harm – and maybe Bush hopes [...]

Dance the Bush Bungle: step right into a storm, back with a lush contract.

It sure was reassuring to watch Cheney stroll along Katrina’s path pontificating that “performance… is impressive,â€? and “the progress we’re making is significant,â€? Too bad he wasn’t around when help was turned away for reasons, and by people, still unknown – at least to us. He’ll probably just report, “Looks good, why the fuss?â€?

Bush managed the Katrina disaster like Iraq – planned poorly, skimped on resources, chose inexperienced ideologues for staff, gave lots of contracts to Halliburton. Since he can’t recall making a mistake and keeps repeating deceptions after they’re corrected, he didn’t see the blunder, but when the public did, he quickly promised an investigation – led [...]

Amidst Katrina’s devastation, in Bush’s collapsed house of cards, lie repeal of the estate tax, and his derailed drive to ruin Social Security. No good can come from a hurricane, but not all damage requires repair.

The real measure of Bush’s failure: Wal-Mart showed greater compassion.

Now that public embarrassment drove Bush’s bungling bureaucrats into action, Rove can get rid of this distraction. He’ll have Republications say, Louisiana’s fate was due to failure of officials in the state. They didn’t take the lead in filling public need. No blame can lie with the administration because the federal role is secondary. Besides, [...]

John Roberts, Jr., an iffy associate, more dubious chief.

After reducing funds for levees, Bush couldn’t acknowledge the possibility of flooding, besides, historically, hurricanes are good for business. Pictures of human suffering didn’t spur action, but political fallout put him on a plane fast. This administration approached disaster relief like tax cuts – lots for the rich, little for the rest. If we want [...]

A bright spot on CNN was Daryn Kagan’s assessment of Bush’s Mobile briefing: “…that was rather an odd thing to be watching. The president finally making it to the Gulf Coast after five days and then spending a big chunk of time, when he could be out seeing the devastation — getting a briefing that [...]

This administration plans poorly, if at all. They also listen slowly. On the fifth day of the crisis Bush finally arrived for photo ops, and a convoy of National Guard trucks drove into New Orleans just in time for TV coverage during the tour. The President managed to spend at least one day looking concerned. [...]

Susan F. Wood, assistant FDA commissioner for women’s health, resigned because the agency delayed permitting over-the-counter sale of “morning-after pillsâ€? for political reasons. She asked a colleague in the commissioner’s office when the decision would be made, the answer: “We’re still awaiting a decision from above; it hasn’t come down yet.” The HHS Secretary had [...]

The EPA is making another attempt to save air polluters money, and scuttle federal and state suits under a law requiring coal-fired power plants to reduce emissions when they make major modifications. The courts wouldn’t let the agency redefine “major� so now they want to change the meaning of “reduce.�