It took Hell and high water link. Perhaps, this is what happens when Karl is not around to call the shots (he's pushing a kidney stone at the moment), or maybe a more sensitive Karen Hughes has changed the game plan in his absence. Or maybe David Gregory's persistent press briefing "Where's the accountability?" got to be a problem. <br><br>Regardless, I'm glad to hear exactly where the proverbial buck may actually stop.<br><br>Sen. Kerry agrees: "The President has done the obvious, only after it was clear he couldn’t get away with the inexcusable."<br><br>

Good to see him fess up. We can only hope it's sincere. Unfortunately, it doesn't undo the damage. From here on out, it's show us what you can do above what you can say.<br><br>

See? Was that so bad?<br><br>It's good to see Bush finally take responsibility for something. Dare I say it shows some actual growth in his character and while we have yet to see the solutions put forth by both Republicans and Democrats, at least now we know that the Bush Administration (including the important dude at the head of it) knows that the entire system is suspect.<br><br>-- Charlie Alpha Roger Yankee Whiskey

Yeah, but what I wanna know is did he pronounce 'responsibility' correctly?<br><br>

In addition to today's news of Bush "taking responsibility' for the flawed Federal Katrina response, there is this story which may explain the timing of the President's announcement. It was just yesterday that the President was again praising FEMA's initial efforts while certain media put the reponsibility squarely on the Governor.<br><br><br><br>(Text from Rawstory.com: 9/13/05)<br><br><br>Nonpartisan congressional research report finds Louisiana governor took necessary steps<br>John Byrne<br><br>The Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report Tuesday afternoon asserting that Louisiana governor Katherine Blanco took the necessary and timely steps needed to secure disaster relief from the federal government, RAW STORY has learned.<br><br>The report, which comes after a request by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) to review the law and legal accountability relating to Federal action in response to Hurricane Katrina, unequivocally concludes that she did.<br><br>"This report closes the book on the Bush Administration's attempts to evade accountability," Conyers said in a statement. "The Bush Administration was caught napping at a critical time."<br><br><br>The report found that:<br><br>All necessary conditions for federal relief were met on August 28. Pursuant to Section 502 of the Stafford Act, "[t]he declaration of an emergency by the President makes Federal emergency assistance available," and the President made such a declaration on August 28. The public record indicates that several additional days passed before such assistance was actually made available to the State;<br><br>The Governor must make a timely request for such assistance, which meets the requirements of federal law. The report states that "[e]xcept to the extent that an emergency involves primarily Federal interests, both declarations of major disaster and declarations of emergency must be triggered by a request to the President from the Governor of the affected state";<br><br>The Governor did indeed make such a request, which was both timely and in compliance with federal law. The report finds that "Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco requested by letter dated August 27, 2005...that the President declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period from August 26, 2005 and continuing pursuant to [applicable Federal statute]" and "Governor Blanco's August 27,2005 request for an emergency declaration also included her determination...that 'the incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of disaster."<br><br>The full report will be available soon on the House Democrats' Judiciary website.<br><br>

Interesting. I'm sure it's gonna take quite a while for all the pieces of this puzzle to be put together. And I'm also sure that we'll see good steps and mis-steps across the board. But for now, better to get the stricken areas and people back on their feet. Then turn the hounds loose.<br><br>

Yeah, it seems the rush to determine accountability is a lot more driven than the initial response to the disaster itself. It's easy to imagine though; those that smell blood want to take action while everyone's still up in arms about all this.<br><br>We are what we repeatedly do. -Aristotle

Bush is in Manhattan today for the U.N. I'm but a 20-minute walk from there. I emailed Bush this AM and asked him to stop by and help me fix a running toilet. No response yet. Some things never change. <br><br>

I think its very important that this get resolved now, specially since we have one hurricane off the Carolina coast and others sure to follow, a quake waiting to happen on the leftcoast, and the unknown but very likely terrorist attack that FEMA will need to respond to.<br><br>If FEMA was delayed and deployment of NG resources stalled because of bureaucratic red tape and political power struggles, we owe it to ourselves to fix it asap.<br><br> <br><br>

Nagin should have fixed your toilet years ago, but now he's living the highlife in Texas. Didn't you get the memo?<br><br><br><br>