White House Plans to Control Political Damage

The headline and first few paragraphs of this New York Times story say it all. Maybe Bush should have put Rove in charge of the rescue efforts instead of cleaning up his political mess. Bush returns to the Gulf today to try to help himself, not the victims. He's going back because Congressional Republicans thought his first visit was a disaster. Maybe this time he will try to look sincere and have a little affect when he speaks.

White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and ANNE E. KORNBLUT

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 - Under the command of President Bush's two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.

The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. It began late last week after Congressional Republicans called White House officials to register alarm about what they saw as a feeble response by Mr. Bush to the hurricane, according to Republican Congressional aides