Chertoff and the Spin Cycle

As Phil notes in comments below, the afternoon press conference with DHS Secretary Mike Chertoff was a sight for sore eyes and ears. Josh Marshall at TPM and Jonathan Cohn at TPMCafe have already done a decent job condensing the spin from the press conference so I'll recommend their posts, and just add simply that I think Chertoff had better get some really tough questions tomorrow from Russert, Blitzer, and Steph. Wallace I wouldn't expect them from. Schieffer would be a darn good bet for some, but the "Face the Nation" lineup still isn't up.

Neither local, state, nor federal governments are individually solely to blame for the tragedy that has unfolded and is continuing (still!) to unfold along the Gulf - all share in the fault, and all should and will share in the accountability. But for Chertoff to continue saying that nobody expected flooding in the city is just plain ridiculous.

The question that, in all seriousness, is the most important to come out of this response is this one - is this the kind of response we'd see for a major terrorist assault on a large U.S. city? If so, are we really doing all we need to do to protect the homeland? Seems clear to me that the answer to the second question can now be answered emphatically in the negative.

Priorities. It's all about priorities.

[Update: I'm not sure how I missed this WaPo editorial from this morning, "Left Behind," but it does a very good job discussing the local, state, and national failures specifically in regard to those at the SuperDome. I highly recommend. -- 7:01 p.m.]