Don't Use The Word Conspiracy

So Bush's bold new plan to deal with the PR fallout from Katrina is to lead his own investigation in to the failures of FEMA and the federal government. It would be funny - hell, it is funny - except for all the dead.

Seriously, you can only imagine how afraid Bush actually is. The best he can hope for - the BEST - is a 9/11 style committee which, despite not fingering the President directly, did make life difficult for the Bushies for a few months. Remember Richard Clarke? Remember Condoleeza "I think it was called 'Bin Laden Determined to strike in the US'" Rice?

The Democrats are, unsurprisingly, demanding a fully independent inquiry in to the government's response around Katrina. But I think they should go further, if possible. I don't know what the laws in the US are like on these issues, but Canada has a long history of non-partisan (NOT bi-partisan) judicial inquiries, one of which is ongoing - remember Gomery? The worst that can happen to the Democrats is a blow to the Louisiana state Democratic Party, which frankly isn't that big a deal. So the Democrats should push for as invasive and prosecutorial an investigation as they can get. Even the worst case scenario is much, much worse for the GOP than for the Dems.