The Issue is Accountability - The Republican noise machine wants to divert attention from the administration’s Katrina failures.  Questions regarding performance are dismissed as ‘playing the blame game.’  This framing is designed to get most citizens to dismiss the issue as ‘politics as usual.’  Use of the term by Democrats lets the Republicans frame the issue once again.  We must use the terms ‘accountability’ and ‘responsibility.’  See this: 

"A hundred years from now, this must not be remembered as an age rich in possessions and poor in ideals. 
"Instead, we must usher in an era of responsibility. 
"My generation tested limits -- and our country, in some ways, is better for it. 
"Women are now treated more equally.
"Racial progress has been steady, if still too slow.
"We are learning to protect the natural world around us.
"We will continue his progress, and we will not turn back.  At times, we lost our way. But we are coming home....
"We have discovered that who we are is more important than what we have.
"And we know we must renew our values to restore our country. 
"This is the vision of America's founders. 
"They never saw our nation's greatness in rising wealth or advancing armies, but in small, unnumbered acts of caring and courage and self-denial. 
"Their highest hope, as Robert Frost described it, was 'to occupy the land with character.'  
"And that, 13 generations later, is still our goal ... to occupy the land with character. 
"In a responsibility era, each of us has important tasks -- work that only we can do. 
"Each of us is responsible ... to love and guide our children, and help a neighbor in need. 
"Synagogues, churches and mosques are responsible ... not only to worship but to serve. 
"Corporations are responsible ... to treat their workers fairly, and leave the air and waters clean. 
"Our nation's leaders are responsible ... to confront problems, not pass them on to others.  
"And to lead this nation to a responsibility era, a president himself must be responsible."

 - from George W. Bush, 2000 acceptance speech. 

That quote looks like the basis for an indictment to me.

Robert’s Confirmation Minuet - Robert’s confirmation hearings are underway. Democrats must present their view of the Constitution as a document that must respond to societal changes. We must find ways to deal with 21^st century issues using 18^th century language. Strict constructionism dooms us to a stagnant society out of tune with the times and the world.