GET ME REWRITE!: Bush takes... uh... responsiblity... sorta... for... uh... well... uh... you know...

Did you see this "taking responsibility"? He looked everywhere but at the people asking the questions, he shrugged... he was a little kid forced to say something he didn't want to.

What's weird, though, is that all the headlines ran BUSH TAKES RESPONSIBILITY. He didn't at all.

Bush: "Katrina, uh, exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the government, uh, didn't fully do it's job right, I take responsibility."


This is absurd, especially when you combine it with the shrugging body language as he delivers it: It's not really my fault, but if you insist, I'll give you this.

This is the apology your little brother gives you because your parents make him.

Bush doesn't take responsibility; he never apologizes. He says Katrina exposed problems (nobody at fault here, really, the hurricane just exposed these problems - I didn't create them by bringing in cronies and hacks) in response capability (huh?) at all levels of government (not his fault; all levels are at fault) and to the extent that the federal government didn't do it's job, I take responsibility.

So, by the end of this, what exactly is Bush saying he's responsible for? Katrina exposed... problems in... all levels... to the extent that... didn't do it's...

It took just eighteen seconds to totally shift out of any responsibility, before he says he takes it. That thing called the government didn't its job, and I'm magnanimous enough to take the responsibility.

This is about the least responsible taking of responsibility I've ever seen. "To the extent that..." ???

That's a weasle.

How 'bout this:

"People died because we did nothing, and I'm to blame. I've appointed cronies and hacks to key positions, and, again, I'm to blame. If I hadn't done that, many who died would have lived. For their deaths, I'm to blame. I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry, to all those who lost loved ones because of our, my, incompetence. Ultimately I, and only I, am to blame. I take full responsibility.

"Some have wrongly accused local authorities. This disaster wasn't confined to one municipality, and it wasn't confined to one state. That makes it a federal issue. That makes it my job, and I failed. I didn't understand how to deal with this, didn't understand my role, and when it was getting worse and worse, I just went to sleep, for which I will never forgive myself, and never ask you to, either.

"Even if there had been problems on a local level, which I'm not saying there were, one can look back to the example of President Eisenhower, who in 1957 he sent the 101st Airborne to ensure the desegregation of Little Rock Central High.

"If he had met with difficulties, opposition or bureaucratic inertia when American lives were in danger, you can bet he would have parachuted the rescuers in. Life is too important, too precious, to let these things get in the way. I failed in my duty to uphold that, and I'm sorry.

"I have no doubt I should resign, especially when I combine this with the many previous failures of this administration, including 9/11, for which I also today accept full responsibility. It happened on my watch, and we now know it could have been prevented.

"The only thing that keeps me from resigning is that it would mean turning over this office to someone I believe to be both truly evil and utterly without conscience.

"I will, therefore, spend the rest of my term, and the rest of my life, doing my best to undone the massive damage I have done to this country and the world, and do my best - and more - to make things better instead of worse."