Since "government doesn't work" has been the conservative mantra for the past 30 years -- at least -- it wasn't all that surprising when initial reactions to the Hurricane Katrina disaster from the Bush camp had a distinct undertone of "Hey, waddya expect us to do?" After all, government isn't the solution -- it's the problem! So let the New Orleans underclass roast in the Superdome and fry on the rooftops while they wait for the magic of the marketplace to start kicking in. There's golf to be played, guitars to be strummed and shoes to be bought. This is the Bush administration we're talking about, and sooner or later we're all going to learn what every Crescent City resident now knows -- if you haven't written a fat check to the GOP in the past year, then you'd best keep those water wings handy....

Meanwhile, I'm afraid I have to say that Mother Nature's disastrous refutation of everything conservatives hold dear -- chiefly the cult of small government and the notion that a 21st century technological civilization can be run like an 18th century farming village -- will have zero long-term effect on voting patterns. The GOP strategy of holding the base and confusing the issues with Swift-Boat tactics is still effective, and the typically ineffectual Democratic response guarantees that there will be no electoral consequences from this catastrophe in the mid-term races. FEMA director Michael Brown may get sent back to the stables, but that's about it.

I'd love to be wrong on this. But the national Democrats seem to have grown comfortable with the way Republican bootheels feel on the back of their necks. Time to start investing in lifeboats.

[via The Opinion Mill]