Message Chaos Afflicts Both Parties as Katrina Aftermath Washes Discipline Away

Yesterday, Reid took the party's reins. Apparently unable to settle on a theme for a morning news conference with Pelosi, the two leaders' news bulletin promised a smorgasbord: Katrina, the federal budget, judicial nominations and the Voting Rights Act.

In the afternoon, Reid held a session with reporters in which he acknowledged that his status as the party's Senate leader only goes so far. "Roberts will get plenty of votes" from Democrats, he said. Reid said he did not ask other Democrats to vote no because "you can only go to the well so many times."

As Reid abandoned hope of a party line on Roberts, Republicans down the hall were openly rebelling against the administration. After meeting with White House budget director Joshua B. Bolten, the GOP senators emerged decidedly off-message, demanding a recovery "czar" and criticizing Bush's spending habits.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) speculated that money will be saved because "we're going to be pulling troops out" of Iraq next year. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) demanded "some idea" from the administration on Katrina spending, saying: "You'll spill more on the ground than you'll get to the trough."

DeLay, for his part, seemed to be paying the administration no attention at all. A week ago, at a time when Bush was saying "we're going to have to cut unnecessary spending" to pay for the Katrina response, DeLay said the House Republicans had cut just about everything there was to cut.

At his weekly news conference yesterday, when a reporter asked about future supplemental spending for Katrina, DeLay interrupted. "We don't know that there's going to be another supplemental," he said.

This seemed odd because Bolten had said two weeks earlier that he expected "a need for additional supplemental spending."

The reporter pressed, saying "we assume there is" going to be more Katrina spending.

"No," DeLay said, "we don't."