the Bushies think they know where it all went wrong

The impending end of our 8 year odyssey into the depths of the imperial criminal Presidency of Emperor George W. Bonaparte has caused many former loyalists to reflect on where it all went wrong. While the more bitter of us would say "when he took the oath of office the first time" these scholars, aiders, and abetters have decided to take a different path. They have chosen a moment where they thought it all went pear shaped. Not 9/11 or the months the administration spent ignoring intel on terrorism and 9/11, not the war in Iraq, not declaring victory in Iraq before the war was over, not politicizing every aspect of government, not out CIA agents because their husbands point out inconvenient facts, not stonewalling every investigation and pardoning buddies that get convicted, not putting sugar in the economy's gastank then setting it on fire in the middle of a busy intersection, no they have chosen Katrina as the place where the Bush Presidency went wrong.

Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster.

"Katrina to me was the tipping point," said Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. "The president broke his bond with the public. Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn't matter. Legislative initiatives? It didn't matter. P.R.? It didn't matter. Travel? It didn't matter."

Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director and later counselor to the president, said: "Politically, it was the final nail in the coffin."

Sorry Dan, there have been many more nails in the ensuing years, judging by his abysmal numbers. The economy nail might be so large that they just drop it on the coffin, reducing it into splintery shards. But Katrina isn't where it all went wrong guys, it's just where people realized "Oh shit, he really doesn't give a fuck or know or care or anything" and moved him from the "just a shitty President" category into the "worst President ever/may be actively trying to destroy the country" column. People knew he was bad before, hell it took 9/11 to pull him out of the 40% approval rating range, Katrina is just where they realized he doesn't how to do anything and started to actively hate him for it. Katrina didn't sidetrack some roaring success of a Presidency, it just opened everyone's eyes. Meditate on that, Dan.