Communications breakdown

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, we've certainly heard plenty of voices--both in the blogosphere and in the mainstream media--calling Bush incompetent. Generally, people have been referring to his administration's handling of evacuation and rescue efforts. But apparently, this is a regime that isn't even competent enough to handle its own communications.

First there was the President himself, who on a visit to the Alabama coast, named wealthy senator Trent Lott as the one tragic victim he could come up with on the spur of the moment:

"Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house," Bush said in Mobile. "And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."

Worse still was the President's mother, who toured the Astrodome complex in Houston, where many of the evacuees are being housed, and claimed that they've benefited from the hurricane:

"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas," she said. "Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them."

We're all aware that many upper-level American politicians and their families come from the upper classes. We know that they can often be out of touch with the less privileged of the people they're supposed to be representing. Generally, though, they've got communications specialists to advise them on what to say, and to make sure they don't stick their feet in their mouths. Perhaps those folks are all on vacation?