The "underestimate, and then claim success" game: Ivan recovery, too.

[Brotherjohn]

You know how the Bush admin does the thing where they say "well, we gained 60,000 jobs last month... not great, but not bad!" and then they subsequently release "revised" numbers (like 80,000) which are still way under what should be considered adequate? Then they say "Look, it's better than expected! We're GREAT! Aren't we great?!"

Well, Bush's bro Jeb is doing the same thing down here in FL, with Hurrican Ivan recovery.

They said I-10 would be open by Oct. 11th. I don't think they ever clarified if that meant only the two lanes least-damaged or all four. But anyway, they opened two lanes to traffic today, and are patting themselves on the back for "completing" the job a week ahead of schedule.

Now, I understand there is a rush for this kind of thing, and I understand the need to be conservative in your estimates. I was willing to think okay, maybe they did a good job and there's no politics involved here whatsoever.

Then I saw this on the front page of my local paper:


That's Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta with Jeb. The north lanes can be seen moving traffic (left side of picture), and the damage to the south lanes are visible behind Jeb (message: we're working for YOU!). Karl Rove couldn't have done it better.

Well, I suppose Jeb could have worn a hard hat, stuffed a sock in his pants, and appeared behind a giant banner reading "Mission Accomplished".