'I take responsibility'

President Bush utters the words you'll rarely, if ever, hear from a liberal:

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," he said. "And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility.

"I want to know what went right and what went wrong. I want to know how to better cooperate with state and local government, to be able to answer that very question that you asked: Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack or another severe storm?"

I'm curious... have we heard anything from Louisiana Governor Blanco as to any personal responsibility in the aftermath of Katrina... wait... this just in:

... Gov. Kathleen Blanco lashed out at the federal government, accusing it of moving too slowly in recovering the bodies.

The dead "deserve more respect than they have received," she said.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who took charge of the hurricane rescue efforts last week, said Tuesday that federal agencies involved had been meeting their mission to recover the remains quickly "and to treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve."

But Blanco said FEMA has slowed down the process by failing to sign a contract with the company hired to handle the removal of the bodies, Houston-based Kenyon International Emergency Services. Kenyon is working without a contract but threatened to pull its workers out of Louisiana unless either the state or the federal government offered it a signed agreement, Blanco said. Calls to Kenyon were not immediately returned.

"No one, even those at the highest level, seems to be able to break through the bureaucracy to get this important mission done," Blanco said.

And there, in a nutshell, is the difference between the right and the left... in my less than humble view.

UPDATE:  Scott Ott seems to feel the same way:

Responsibility Missing from Gulf Coast, Bush Took It
by Scott Ott

(2005-09-14) -- After two weeks of speculation about what happened to personal responsibility on the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, President George Bush finally admitted yesterday that he has taken it.

"...to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," the president told reporters at a news conference as he stood next to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who first alerted Americans to the absence of responsibility, issued a joint statement downplaying the significance of the Bush announcement.

"Now that the president has taken responsibility, he can keep it," the Democrat leaders said. "We don't have much use for it in state and local government. After years of benevolent Democrat leadership, most of our constituents think that it all lies in Washington anyway, so they won't even notice it was taken."

Meanwhile, some members of Congress called for an investigation.

"Bush's announcement that he takes responsibility is being spun to sound like something new," said one unnamed Democrat senator. "But we can see from his actions that he's been on-the-take for years. He didn't just take responsibility yesterday. He had it all along. I can certainly confirm that it was nowhere to be found in Congress. Our hands are clean."

Comments

[Impeach Bush NOW!]

Rick (and all the other thirty-nine persenters):

President Bush should be commended for finally accepting “full responsibility” for his blunders in managing the Katrina recovery effort. While he’s in the mood to begin taking responsibility, here are 10 other issues for which he should also be held accountable:

- The launching of a war of choice against a country that had no WMD

- The approval of interrogation practices that led to torture at Abu Ghraib

- The failure to disclose the true cost of the Medicare prescription drug bill

- The tripling of global terrorist attacks

- The 6 million more uninsured Americans over the past four years

- The $1.40 increase in the price of gas per gallon over the past four years

- The 7 percent decrease in real value of minimum wage over the past four years

- The 11 percent increase in poverty over the past four years

- The four straight years in which median household incomes have not increased

- The all-time high trade deficit, nearing $700 billion

Feel free to add to the list.

[Nicks]

Here is an idea…

Hey Governor Blanco, sign the contract on behalf of the people and state of Louisiana. Do so with respect and dignity.

Nick

[Nicks]

Hey Mr. Impeach Bush NOW!,

if that is your real name…..

Do you get those talking points by fax, or email? Please add me to the list

happy.it.aint.kerry@yes.he.is.your.presedent.com

[cats]

as long as he does something with the responsibility now that he's taken it i will be happy (and you know how i feel about bush).

[Impeach Bush NOW!]

Are You Going to Take Responsibility for This Too, Little Man?

By Hoffmania

Let's talk taking responsibility, shall we? Half a world away, Bush's war on terrorism is still being waged. How's that going?

At least 73 die in Baghdad suicide blast
Bomb explodes near group of construction workers

At least 73 people were killed and 162 wounded early Wednesday when a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near a group of construction workers in a Shiite district in northern Baghdad, police said.

The blast occurred at 6:30 a.m. near a crowd of day laborers who had assembled before going to work, said police Maj. Musa Abdel Kerim. Lt. Col. Moayad Zubair said 73 people died and 162 were injured. The number of fatalities was expected to rise, Zubair said.

Kazimiyah district is almost entirely Shiite. Sunni militants have mounted a series of attacks on Shiites in an apparent effort to provoke a sectarian conflict.

We're waiting, sir.