They Can't Help Themselves

Just when you might want to give the government (or at least the government of California) some credit for its smooth evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from the path of the wildfires, you see a story like this. It tells us a lot about the Bush administration and how deep down the rot goes. I don't doubt that Sec. Chertoff and the other officials quoted are furious about this ridiculous incident, but they're in denial if they don't realize that their underlings were acting on instinct. Common sense would tell you to cancel or delay a press conference if reporters haven't shown up, but the most important thing for these people is to get their message out. So even on an occasion when actions might well have spoken for themselves, they had to perpetrate a sham in order to put their spin on events. "Pathetic" is the only word for it, but in fairness, I'm not sure it would have played out any differently in a Democratic administration. Yes, there are meaningful differences between the two factions, but they're all still two of a kind, and the rules of the game are the same for both of them.