Was Kanye West Right?

"Bush, who yesterday named R. David Paulison, 57, head of the U.S. Fire Administration, as acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to replace Michael Brown, is now looking for someone with a telegenic presence as well as proven management and leadership skills to take on the reconstruction-czar job, said an administration aide who asked not to be identified."

Trip Watch

David Zucchino, Solomon Moore and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar write in the Los Angeles Times about Bush's day along the Gulf Coast, including a drive through parts of New Orleans.

"Bush, riding upright in a rumbling military truck convoy, squinted at vacant shotgun shacks and debris-crusted streets, ducking at times to avoid jutting tree branches and power lines. He was joined in the jostling truck by military commanders, federal officials, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco."

They note, however, that "the convoy did not happen upon the humbled city's saddest sights -- the white-shrouded mortuary teams poking into once-flooded wards, collecting the bodies of Katrina's victims."

Bye Bye Brownie

Richard W. Stevenson writes in the New York Times: "Michael D. Brown resigned on Monday as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying that he wanted to avoid distracting the agency at a time when it faces a major challenge. . . .

"'The press was too focused on what did we do, what didn't we do, the whole blame game,' he said....

"Mr. Brown, 50, said he had felt no pressure to resign. He said he made his decision on Sunday with his family after a long conversation on Saturday night with Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff.

" 'Andy was very, very supportive of me,' Mr. Brown said."

Stevenson also addresses a puzzling exchange between Bush and reporters in Bush's afternoon photo op.

"Asked about Mr. Brown's resignation after he toured a school in Mississippi on Monday afternoon, Mr. Bush declined to comment. He told reporters, 'Maybe you know something we don't know.'

"He pointedly brushed off questions about how Mr. Brown and the administration had handled the storm, saying 'don't ask me again' about the subject."

But, Stevenson writes: "Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, later told reporters aboard Air Force One on the trip back to Washington that Mr. Bush was informed on Monday morning of Mr. Brown's resignation but was not sure when asked about it whether the decision had been made public."

Several reporters and bloggers jumped on Bush's statement as an admission of ignorance -- and therefore as a symptom of his detachment. But in fact, it was more a symptom of his duplicity.

Bush's Multitasking Ability

In a comment reminiscent of the mockery of former President Gerald Ford that he couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time, Bush insisted somewhat defensively yesterday that he can in fact do two things at once.

Nedra Pickler writes for the Associated Press: "President Bush is balancing a harried schedule of diplomatic duties -- from Iraq to China and the United Nations -- while working to stay on top of hurricane recovery efforts that most Americans say should be his No. 1 priority. . . .

"He's fitting those in between meetings with world leaders who came to the United States for a gathering of the United Nations in New York, where he planned to publicly thank world leaders for their contributions to storm relief.

"Before leaving Tuesday afternoon for the United Nations, Bush was hosting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani for a closed-door meeting in the Oval Office, followed by a joint news conference in the East Room."

Asked yesterday whether his upcoming focus on foreign policy would distract him from hurricane issues, Bush replied: "I can do more than one thing at one time. That's what -- I hope you -- by the time I'm finished [being] President, I hope you'll realize that the government can do more than one thing at one time, and individuals in the government can. And so I'll be in constant touch with -- I have a hurricane recovery briefing every morning, for example. I'll be in touch with Mike Chertoff. Andy Card, on my staff, will be in touch with the appropriate people. And so if I'm focusing on the hurricane, I've got the capacity to focus on foreign policy, and vice versa. But I thank you for asking that question."

About Those Levees

Bush was asked yesterday morning about his declaration on a live television interview last Thursday that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

He explained: "What I was referring to is this. When that storm came by, a lot of people said we dodged a bullet. When that storm came through at first, people said, whew. There was a sense of relaxation, and that's what I was referring to. And I, myself, thought we had dodged a bullet. You know why? Because I was listening to people, probably over the airways, say, the bullet has been dodged. And that was what I was referring to."

Yesterday, Joe Hagan and Joseph T. Hallinan explored in the Wall Street Journal whether media outlets initially gave the impression that the levees had held, and concluded: "Some did, some didn't."

But as many, many liberal blogs have noted -- see, for instance, Daily Kos -- it's not as if the coverage indicated that the storm hadn't been a major disaster.

And as I wrote in my Sept. 2 column, there have been plenty of warnings over the years that the levees could fail in a major hurricane.

The News From Hattiesburg

Sometimes the best place to find out what the White House is doing is, well, anywhere but the White House.

Case in point: Nikki Davis Maute writes in the Hattiesburg (Miss.) American: "Shortly after Hurricane Katrina roared through South Mississippi knocking out electricity and communication systems, the White House ordered power restored to a pipeline that sends fuel to the Northeast.

"That order - to restart two power substations in Collins that serve Colonial Pipeline Co. - delayed efforts by at least 24 hours to restore power to two rural hospitals and a number of water systems in the Pine Belt. . . .

"Dan Jordan, manager of Southern Pines Electric Power Association, said Vice President Dick Cheney's office called and left voice mails twice shortly after the storm struck, saying the Collins substations needed power restored immediately."

The Talabani Visit

Jim VandeHei writes in The Washington Post: "Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in an interview yesterday that the United States could withdraw as many as 50,000 troops by the end of the year, declaring there are enough Iraqi forces trained and ready to begin assuming control in cities throughout the country.

"After the White House and Pentagon were contacted for comment, however, a senior adviser to Talabani called The Washington Post to say Talabani did not intend to suggest a specific timeline for withdrawal. 'He is afraid . . . this might put the notion of a timetable on this thing,' the adviser said. 'The exact figure of what would be required will undeniably depend on the level of insurgency [and] the level of Iraqi capability.'

"In the interview, Talabani said he planned to discuss reductions in U.S. forces during a private meeting with President Bush today, and said he believed the United States could begin pulling out some troops immediately."

Bush has insisted that timetables would only embolden the enemy.

VandeHei writes: "Talabani's statement has the potential to put Bush in a difficult position if the troops are not pulled out by year's end, since critics are certain to ask why U.S. soldiers cannot come home when Iraq's own president says they can. The two leaders will hold a joint news conference today after their meeting."

And in the latest Gallup Poll, 41 percent of those polled support an immediate and total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Mark Hosenball writes in Newsweek: "Analysts at the Defense Intelligence Agency have begun war-gaming scenarios for what might happen in Iraq if U.S. force levels were cut back or eliminated, say counterterrorism and defense sources. The officials, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive subject matter, declined to discuss specifics of the DIA analyses, which they indicate are in the preliminary stages. Some officials say that people in the intelligence community are leery about engaging in speculative exercises for fear of being accused by conservatives of undermining George W. Bush's administration policy. However, others say that this analysis could support staying the course in Iraq if a U.S. pullout would result in greater insurgent violence or a religious civil war."

Plame Watch

Sam Coates writes in The Washington Post about the plight of low-level White House officials who are summoned to appear before a grand jury.

Rove Watch

Michael E. Ruane wrote in The Washington Post on Saturday: "A staff attorney with the Texas secretary of state said yesterday that she was fired this week for violating press protocols when she spoke to a Washington Post reporter who was working on a story about presidential adviser Karl Rove."

Zeke MacCormack wrote in the San Antonio Express-News that the lawyer said she was dismissed for violating an agency policy that directs staff to refer controversial inquiries to senior officials -- but that she didn't know she was speaking to a reporter and that Rove never was mentioned.

The earlier Post stories on the topic, now bearing corrections to reflect the fact that the lawyer was indeed not asked about Rove by name, are here and here.

Crank Caller in Chief

George Rush and Joanna Molloy write in the New York Daily News: "President Bush can't resist a little crank-yankin' -- even in the midst of a disaster. Last weekend, Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.) returned a call from FDNY Deputy Chief Bob Maynes, who's been down in New Orleans. The person who picked up asked, 'How come you're not down here with your men?' King couldn't quite place the voice, until the guy on the other end said, 'Hey, Pedro' -- Dubya's nickname for King."