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The panel on Anderson Cooper trashes Bush for his remarks about Katrina during his final press conference. What amazed me the most watching this was this comment by David Gergen during their conversation.

I also think, Anderson, just more broadly, I said on the air the other night here on this program that I thought maybe that people would have some sense of warmth about George Bush as he leaves office, as we traditionally do about departing presidents. I think I was wrong.

The responses on your Web site and elsewhere are very hostile. I must say I am revising my thinking about this. I don't think we have had a time since Richard Nixon left office -- and Ed Rollins will remember that -- a quarter-of-a-century ago when people were so relieved to see the end of a presidency and to welcome in a new president.

Gee..you're just now figuring that out? Really? And it took comments made just this past week for you to come to the conclusion that George Bush isn't liked so well? What kind of bubble must Gergen be living in if what he says is actually true? I call B.S. on this one. I have a very hard time believing that he didn't know full well before this week what the country as a whole thinks of George Bush and it should not have taken him reading some comments on blogs this late in the game the week Bush is finally leaving office for him to have finally figured that out.

Transcript to follow.

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October 21, 2008 CNN
An anti-war protester confronted former Bush administration aide Karl Rove while he spoke at a San Francisco mortgage bankers' meeting.
A statement by the group Code Pink identified the woman as 58-year-old Janine Boneparth, who tried to handcuff Rove in what she called a citizen's arrest for "treason."
Rove, who was speaking Tuesday at the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention, elbowed Boneparth away as she was escorted off the stage. In total, five Code Pink members were removed from the hall during Rove's appearance. The organization says none of the five women were charged.

Richard Dreyfuss, appearing on MSNBC to discuss the new documentary he narrates, America Betrayed, on Hurricane Katrina, the worst man-made disaster in American history, seized the opportunity in front of a cheering crowd of onlookers to blast George W. Bush and the Republican party for all the damage they have inflicted upon this country over the last 8 years.

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Dreyfuss: I don't think the Europeans have any confidence in our government. I think that the last eight years has destroyed two hundred years of respect and dedication. And I think we have been the point of meaning and admiration in the world for very specific reasons, and George Bush trashed it.

O’Donnell: So, you don't think that John McCain would be able to manage this government well, would have a different response than George Bush to a Hurricane Katrina?

Dreyfuss: I think the Republican party is corrupt through and through. And even the republicans like Buckley before he died said 'we should lose this election, go into the wilderness, and get cleansed', and I believe that's true. I think that they have been in office too long. I think that they are too adept at thievery, at moving the Constitution into places it never meant to go. I think that they have an extraordinary ability to divide rather than unite. And I think that I'm tired of being called a traitor, because I like my flag and I support the troops.

In what I must say seems to echo a theme similar to that of Naomi Kline's must-read book, Shock Doctrine, America Betrayed promises to go beyond Katrina and delve into the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9/11 attacks, the war in Iraq, and offer "a long, hard look at how this country handles disaster, which ones they indirectly cause and how corporate America and their friends in the White House profit from those disasters in the long run."

Can't wait to see this one.

  What else would you expect from a southern-Senator-turned-energy-lobbyist? Lott and his lobbying partner, former Louisiana Senator John Breaux, appeared on MSNBC today to make the joint case for drilling our way out of the energy crisis, and stressed that we need to start, like, yesterday. And if they have to lie in order to help their Big Oil clientele? So be it.

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One point since we're both from the gulf area. We didn't have one drop of oil spilt when we had the biggest hurricane in recent history, Hurricane Katrina.

Oh, the Big Oil apologist lie that won't ever die.There were, in fact, at least 124 oil spills as a result of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. But just like how "the Chinese are drilling off Florida!!", some of these talking points are just too useful to discontinue.

On another important point, Lott and Breaux represent perhaps the most vivid example of what's wrong with the current culture in Washington. All too often, we see former lawmakers retire (or in some cases leave office before their terms are even finished) so that they can take cushy positions at prestigious firms lobbying their former colleagues on behalf of the interests who can afford the biggest sum.

I like Al Franken's common-sense proposal: Extend the one year waiting period to a lifetime ban. Such a policy could only have beneficial results.

In his eternal quest for the Republican presidential nomination, the supposed maverick John McCain has repeatedly reversed long-held positions and compromised purportedly core principles. From the Bush tax cuts, the religious right and immigration reform to overturning Roe v. Wade, proclaiming Samuel Alito a model Supreme Court Justice and bashing France (just to name a few), McCain changed sides as changing political conditions dictated.

But over the past two weeks, McCain's rapid fire, acrobatic flip-flops have produced whiplash, at least for voters. 10 times since the beginning of June, McCain has retreated from, upended or just forgotten positions he once claimed as his own. On Social Security, balancing the budget, defense spending, domestic surveillance and a host of other issues so far this month, McCain's "Straight Talk Express" did a U-turn on the road to the White House.

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In another sign of the media's sheepish acceptance of the Barack Obama "elitist" story line, the New York Times on Tuesday described the Illinois Senator as "tagged as elitist." But just as disturbing as the Republicans' apparent success in establishing the "out of touch" narrative as a fixture in campaign coverage is John McCain's seeming inoculation from it.

After all, John McCain isn't merely fabulously well off, courtesy of his wife Cindy's $100 million beer distribution fortune. At almost every turn, the Republican presidential nominee has shown almost a total ignorance of – or yawning disinterest in – the real lives of American voters. From the growing financial hardships of the economic slowdown and the foreclosure crisis to the disintegrating American health care system and the dangers U.S. troops face on the streets on Baghdad, it is John McCain who is truly "out of touch." Yet voters and pundits alike agree that the supposed maverick is treated with kid gloves by the press, an elitist masquerading as a man of the people.

Here, then, are John McCain's Top 10 "Out-of-Touch" Moments:

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(Bush in SD during Katrina)

It's very eerie in LA right now. The temperature is unusually hot and the sky is very grey and smokey. I'm not too close to the fires, but I know a lot of people who have had to be evacuated or couldn't get home because the roads were blocked. Over 750 homes have been lost. The Govenator said that Global Warming may be responsible for stepping up the frequency of the CA fires this morning. Will Bunch writes:

The AP has a good story today contrasting the treatment of the Southern California wildfire evacuees who've been forced to take shelter at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium with the notorious conditions at the Louisiana Superdome after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005...read on

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Like Hurricane Katrina evacuees two years earlier in New Orleans, thousands of people rousted by natural disaster fled to the NFL stadium here, waiting out the calamity and worrying about their homes.

The similarities ended there, as an almost festive atmosphere reigned at Qualcomm Stadium.

Bands belted out rock 'n' roll, lavish buffets served gourmet entrees, and massage therapists helped relieve the stress for those forced to flee their homes because of wildfires.......read on