The 'envelop strategy' unfolds: This will be Hub Blog's last Blame Game Battlefield Update, for it's pretty obvious this is going to be a protracted variation of a #4 vs. #5 ideological Katrina slugfest (i.e. right vs. left blather). Where's the fun in following that? The fun was the process of watching how the ideologues marshalled their facts, arguments, biases, ommissions and worker-bee forces while dramatic events unfolded over the past two weeks. ... Still, seeing that I missed updates yesterday due to a head cold, a quickie overview of the last 36 hours is in order:

-- Conservatives, out of necessity, clearly employed an 'envelop strategy,' allowing liberals to stream unopposed into a #5 pocket, with conservatives then pinching the gap closed and lobbing #1s, #4s and even #3s grenades (via the 'enough blame to go around' sermons) into the surrounded liberal forces.

-- Liberals, perhaps sensing the trap, are now invoking #2 again, ignoring #1, while still relying overwhemingly on #5 fusillades to keep any and all other arguments at bay.

-- Both sides dig in.

FYI: Following is an abbreviated argumentative points list for those keeping track of the Katrina ideological blame game: 1.) Act of God. 2.) Blame pols for pre-storm levee work etc. 3.) Post-storm fair-game criticism. 4.) Blame locals 5.) Blame Bush.

Thanks to Reader No. 1 and Armchair Gen. Savin Hill for their intrepid contributions over the course of the dramatic Katrina argumentative campaign.  ¶ 6:23 AM