THE ANSWER IS KARL ROVE. The question is, What is the plan the White House came up with this weekend to control the damage done by Bush's apathetic response to Hurricane Katrina? Kevin Drum calls it Operation Blame the Locals, and that really tells you all you need to know about the strategy.

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Texas's own Marie Antoinette, aka Barbara Bush, is using her beautiful mind again. Editor & Publisher reports that she made the following comments on National Public Radio after touring hurricane relief centers in Houston:

In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to Houston."

Then she added: "What I’m hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this -- this [she chuckles slightly] is working very well for them."

Via John Aravosis by way of Atrios. Audio at Crooks and Liars.

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Barbara O'Brien notes that George W. Bush's lightning fast move to nominate John Roberts for Supreme Court Chief Justice proves that "the child can act quickly when he wants to." When he doesn't want to, however, all sorts of unpleasantness results; hence the need for that damage control plan. Except that, as Barbara shows, it's really a disinformation campaign, and Michael Brown's got his head up his ass. If you don't believe it, check out the post. Barbara's done her homework.

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I think the Democrats should tap Deamante Love for president. He's got everything a president needs: strength, courage, intelligence, heart, and leadership skills. And he's only six. Via Meme.

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When a high-ranking NorthCom officer tells BBC News that NorthCom had everything ready to ferry hurricane survivors by helicopter to the huge floating hospital U.S.S. Bataan, but never got the authorization from Pres. Bush they needed to go into action, you'd best believe it:

When the BBC noted the criticism of the government's slow response, Lt. Commander Kelly explained that NorthCom was ready to go well in advance of Katrina making landfall, but suggested the president didn't make the right call at the right time.

"Northcom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready when it hit Florida, because, as you remember, it hit the bottom part of Florida, and then we were planning once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast.

"So, what we did, we activated what we call 'defense coordinating officers' to work with the states to say, 'OK, what do you think you will need?' And we set up staging bases that could be started.

"We had the USS Bataan sailing almost behind the hurricane so once the hurricane made landfall, its search and rescue helicopters could be available almost immediately So, we had things ready.

"The only caveat is: we have to wait until the president authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion; we have to wait for the president to give us permission."

Apparently, that permission could have been given right away, but it wasn't. Bush was on vacation, sharing some cake with John McCain, and pretending to play some guitar.

Via BuzzFlash.