it's a hurricane, stupid

Bush was on his six-week vacation ("a vacation so long it would embarrass the French") while New Orleans was drowning. Margaret Carlson's editorial, Noblesse oblige? Not our president, pretty much says it all.

And now, there's this statement. Too little, too late.

Bush takes blame for flaws in Katrina response
President Bush said Tuesday that "I take responsibility" for failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and that the disaster raised broader questions about the government's ability to respond to natural disasters as well as terror attacks.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of Iraq.

"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.

Bonus irony: He said our government can't respond adequately while at a joint press conference with (of all people) the president of Iraq. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence.