Not a Fall-Guy

Florida Governor Jeb Bush, addressing the inadequacies of the state's emergency responders to Hurricane Wilma, came out with a mea culpa the other day, exonerating FEMA from shouldering the blame.

The vituperation that FEMA was subjected to in the wake of the human suffering and social chaos of Hurricane Katrina was an opportunity to attack President Bush vicariously through that agency, and the swamping at the underbelly of the republic (by an Act of God, no less, an implication roundly suggested as relevant-- interestingly enough-- by Leftist, Nature-worshipping Environmentalists for the "sins" on the ecosystem commited by the polluting corporations, by Islamic Jihadists, cheering the wrath of Allah, and by Christian fundamentalists alike, who thought they beheld the judgment of God befalling a city of sin), struck the titanic administration like an iceburg and began to swamp its hold as its First Mate and First Lieutenant's Aide (i.e. Rove and Libby) faced the prospect of court martial, and the conservative passengers threatened to man the lifeboats and abandon ship unless Captain Bush filled an official vacancy with a graduate from Annapolis, not McHale's Navy.

Meanwhile, the cruise in the Persian Gulf was causing sea-sickness for many of the passengers with weaker stomachs.

All of that coincided with an assemblage of tambourine-beating landlubbers at the admiralty calling for mutiny, i.e. the Impeachment March in Washington, which was hardly a landsliding groundswell, or even a tremor poweful enough to form a tsunami and capsize the ship, but it--in tandem with all of the above-- did add to the impression that the ship, the Bush dreadnought, was beginning to list (causing a chorus of persistent critics who have been casting a daily barrage of stones from the shore to dance little jigs and cheer).

So it is time to patch up holes and control the damage and ride out the spate of bad weather, and Bush should be tied to the mast and leave the sirens astern (after jettisoning, Jonah-like, Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers).

Bush's crew should just keep the beeswax in their ears and keep working the oars.

Indeed, ignore "the background noise."

In laying the blame on his own Florida state government for the inadequacies of emergency responders, Governor Bush was drawing fire away from the admiralty in Washington and so deflecting the angle of a follow-up charge on its flagship, the first charge using Katrina and the disaster of New Orleans as a tailwind.

That was not Jeb being a fall guy for his brother, as Republicus would be very surprised to see Florida state polls reflecting that.

Instead, Jeb has stood up for his brother, calmly and correctly telling it how it is by reminding everyone that it was the state's responsibility to see to the matters Bush was lambasted for "neglecting," or "ignoring," or even "abandoning" in the wake of Katrina.

Republicus devoted a few posts informing his people that the federal government followed proper procedure in handling that natural disaster, and that the blame lay with the Louisana governor and the mayor of New Orleans (along with a culture of dependence and self-entitlement).

All the noise that was made was the sound of crowbars working at a chink in the hull of Bush's dreadnought and trying to rip it open to allow sinkage, using the natural disaster as an excuse for the vandalism.

Governor Bush preempted a repeat of that pretext, and is himself immune from attack as the same crowd which absolved Governor Blanco must likewise remain silent, else expose hypocrisy and further deteriorate the sidemouthed principles used as stand-in premises for their unprincipled attacks.

Dat hole is patched. Good job, Jeb.