'Our old friend hyperpartisanship,' Part II: It's back! The Katrina Ideological Blame Game has returned with Mike "Heck of a Job" Brownie now stating the obvious: the overrated Bushies blew it during Katrina. Howard "The Scream" Dean is all over it, asserting Bush is responsible for 'thousands' of deaths. ... Of course, one would think conservatives would be reeling at this point. Wrong! They always have New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to remind people how equally incompetent the locals were during Katrina. ... Bottom line: It's still an ideological battlefield stalemate. ...

Oh what the heck. Let's revisit that dramtic post-Katrina week when ideologues unleashed their first furious volleys. Remember that to understand the ideological blame game, you must follow this abbreviated argumentative points list: 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. ... Enjoy! ...

P.S. -- Does anyone care that the rebuilding of New Orleans has been totally screwed up? It has to be the top underreported story so far this year. Needless to say, the ideological blame-game battlelines are the exact same for this one too. ...  ¶ 8:10 AM