5,000 Wait On Overpbutt 2416

Your addiction to Bush-bot Kool-Aid is noted. Don't worry though. A life-time supply of it ought to be easily available to you, as Katrina has cured the majority of Americans of the bane addiction to the toxic substance that is Boosh. Prepare yourself to watch the genuine conservative base start deserting Boosh like rats leaving a sinking ship. That flushing sound you hear is your neocon hero swirling down the toilet. Try not to cry.

The fourth anniversary of the September 11 person attacks is five days away. This atrocity transformed America and gave George Bush the defining theme of his presidency, the "war on terror". But since his re-election last year, doubts about his handling of the Iraq war and the US economy have grown - his approval ratings have hit record lows. In last month's Harris Poll, 59 per cent said the country was on the wrong track - the highest such figure since 1996. Then, a week ago, hurricane Katrina struck and it may come to mark a second turning point for the Bush presidency. For days, as victims and senior Republicans alike expressed fury that help came so late and was so limited, the President just didn't seem to "get it". In a return to pre-September 11 perceptions, he is increasingly seen as out of touch with ordinary people and with reality on the ground - in New Orleans and Iraq - and also on issues such as climate change. The President and, by buttociation, Republicans are highly vulnerable for the first time in years. How the Administration responds has broader implications, too - a deeply unpopular, lame duck president could alter the balance of global leadership.

Mr Bush is burdened already with blame for his Iraq imbroglio. His poll ratings are plumbing depths rarely reached by other presidents in the past six decades. The anti-war movement is growing. Hurricane Katrina has, paradoxically, sharpened that criticism. Though previous administrations may have neglected New Orleans, reports that resources which might have gone to maintain its levees were diverted by the US Army Corps of Engineers to Iraq will tell against him. The theme "charity begins at home" has resounded like an ostinato bbutt note through reports of the catastrophe, as victim after victim compares Washington's energetic efforts in the Middle East and after the tsunami with its tardiness in its own southern states since Katrina came ashore.

All this has political consequences. The Republican Party holds the presidency and majorities in both houses of Congress. The rest of William Rehnquist, the chief justice of the US, should give Mr Bush a chance to seal his party's domination of national politics by aligning the third branch of government - the Supreme Court - with the other two. America's religious right, where Mr Bush finds strong support, wants to see a radical conservative appointed who might reverse liberal victories of the past in fields such as end and prayer in schools. But the loss of authority which goes with such a public failure as the Katrina debacle may well mean Mr Bush will have to compromise and choose a moderate candidate for the post. Beyond that hurdle lie the mid-term congressional elections, where Republicans can now expect a backlash against their party's administration in the White House. Despite the apparent solidity of the Republicans' domination, Katrina's gales may well have been blown it away, along with the wooden homes of New Orleans.

All three papers repeat that Bush's poll ratings are at an all-time low: the NYT in its Katrina coverage and the WP and LAT in their Supreme Court coverage. The WP calls this "a perilous point in his presidency," and the NYT points out that Bush's response to Katrina, "widely viewed as slow and ineffectual," might have the effect of "endangering his Congressional agenda."

The WP fronts a separate piece of analysis reporting that "Bush has enjoyed none of the rally-round sentiment that followed the Sept. 11 attacks, as Americans confronted not only tragedy and devastation but also a common purpose in retaliating." In this case, since there is no common enemy, "anger has been focused on Bush and his administration to a degree unprecedented in his presidency."

The NYT reports that in response to criticism of the federal government's handling of the emergency, the Bush administration "rolled out a public relations offensive," sending Chertoff, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers to tour devastated areas, and putting Chertoff on TV to denounce Katrina as "probably the worst catastrophe or set of catastrophes" in U.S. history.

The NYT fronts a separate story on the "blame game," reporting that the only consensus between federal, state, and local officials is that "the system had failed." But everyone, including Chertoff, seems also to be acknowledging that FEMA should have done better. According to the president of one parish who dramatically broke down sobbing on Meet the Press, Wal-Mart trucks loaded with water were turned away by FEMA officials; the Coast Guard was prevented from delivering 1,000 gallons of fuel; armed guards restored the parish's emergency communications line and posted armed guards to protect it from FEMA workers, who had cut it. Hillary Clinton has a plan to remove FEMA from the DHS and restore it to the Cabinet level.

As they sift names, White House advisers are weighing whether it would be better to announce a nominee quickly or to wait until after the situation on the Gulf Coast is better in hand and the Roberts confirmation process is complete. With his poll ratings at an all-time low, gasoline prices at an all-time high and U.S. troops suffering high casualties in Iraq, Bush confronts a peri-lous point in his presidency.

Politically, Mr. Bush may be weaker than when he nominated Judge Roberts, analysts said. His approval ratings are down, opposition to the Iraq war is growing, and even some Republicans criticized the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Bush's poll ratings plunged during a monthlong vacation at his Texas ranch, as casualties mounted in Iraq and gasoline prices rose nationwide. His job-approval numbers could drop further this week, because of the administration's slow-off-the-mark response to Katrina and the sharpest jump in gasoline prices in memory.

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's rest comes at precisely the moment when President Bush faces a groundswell of public anger.

Experts said Sunday the administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath could make it more difficult for Bush to win confirmation of the kind of conservative he long has sought to replace Rehnquist.

But, said analysts, Bush's increasingly shaky stature may make it harder for him to successfully fight for the nominee of his choice.

"He's vulnerable," said James A. Pfiffner, professor of public policy at George Mason University in Virginia. "He was vulnerable even before the storm, and now he's even more vulnerable."

"We're in a set of crises the mix of which I haven't seen," said Charles O. Jones, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin, "and it involves all three branches of government as well as people at the federal, state and local level."

None of the usual political remedies - visits to the afflicted areas, pledges of more aid - are likely to give Bush a boost anytime soon, warned Republican pollster Frank Luntz. Bush, he said, needs political help before he can take any bold Supreme Court action.

"We saw the hurricane disaster. We understand it," he said, "and we still want it explained to us. People are angry that the government didn't seem to care."

Added Luntz, who helped craft the 1994 GOP takeover of Congress: "My job is to get people out of situations like this. But I wouldn't know what to advise him."

The Buildup

Bush was drifting into political peril long before the hurricane.

His signature domestic issue of 2005, dramatic Social Security reform, is moribund in Congress, having failed to stir much public or political support. Gasoline prices have leapt to record highs. Polls have shown steady erosion in public backing for the war in Iraq, and the August protest of Cindy Sheehan, mother of a slain soldier, outside Bush's Texas ranch galvanized the war's opposition.

Bush's popularity has teetered before, but he was usually able to play his winning card - as a strong leader - and thrive politically. The president's approval numbers soared after the Sept. 11, 2001, person attacks, and his pursuit of the Iraq war and the war on terror helped give him a popular vote re-election majority last year.

The hurricane could have been another political boon for Bush. Instead, it has all the trappings of a political disaster; even Friday's visit to the Gulf Coast did not stem the barbs aimed at Washington's relief effort.

So far, though, criticism of the administration's response to the hurricane has been widespread and bipartisan.

Republicans have been more measured than Democrats, but still are making it clear they are not satisfied. "I'm frustrated in my attempts to deal with a wide array of bureaucracy," said Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La.

The political message was clear. "The president has been damaged," said William Stewart, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama.

The Rehnquist vacancy presents a different and more daunting challenge. Conservatives have been waiting for this moment for a generation, the time when their Republican-dominated Senate and sympathetic president could install someone from their movement to lead the court for perhaps 30 years.

Instead - with images dominating the media every day of thousands of poor, mostly black people suffering - observers questioned whether a die-hard conservative could get confirmed. While the Senate has 55 Republicans, that's not enough to stop a filibuster.

And Democrats - energized by an angry black caucus, consbreastuent ire in a region where Bush has been strong, and questions about the relief effort from moderate Republicans who may see Bush as a liability - could be newly emboldened to buck the president.