To the Extent the Press Has Stuck me with this Buck, I Guess it Will Have to Stop Here

I see Karl is back on the job after his bout with kidney stones, and has decided to go with the “stun the press” approach by having the President accept responsibility for his failures.

Sort of. Here’s what Bush said:

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

Heh. For those of you not familiar with lawyering, “to the extent that” is one of our favorite phrases. It leaves a hole in the statement that a freight train could barrel through. Because according to the speaker, the “extent” that the government didn’t do its job right could be zero.

Of course, anyone who hasn’t spent the last two weeks giving himself a colonoscopy with his own head knows that “extent” goes a little farther than zero.

But in any event, this is a brilliant tactic, because this administration hasn’t taken responsibility for anything it’s done in four years, and the media will be stunned. And will therefore accord Bush far more respect than he deserves. It fits neatly into the “low expectations” game they are so good at playing.

Let me just say that, to the extent I think Bush is sincere, I’m impressed he took responsibility.

Update: See the transcript of the President’s remarks here. I hope he’s serious about fixing the problems. But I think his suggestion that the rescue workers on the ground need “defending” is absurd. No one has attacked them and the job they are doing right now. Moreover, the people on the ground bear no responsibility for when they got to NOLA. So, cut the shit on that, please.  It’s a shameless attempt to imply that people who criticize the feds for the lethally incompetent response to Katrina are really slamming the first responders.  Where have I heard that line of reasoning before?