Americablog: The Big Hits Of The Week Sept. 10 to Sept. 16

Here it is, a rundown of the big hits of the week, the postings that drew the most traffic and generated the most comments from you, our readers. It's a great way to catch up if you've been away, to track down those postings you want to refer to again and again and an ideal method for introducing your friends to Americablog. Thanks for helping us grow every week with your informed commentary and active participation.

THE WEEKEND

By far the biggest attention was stirred by a Newsweek feature detailing "How Bush Blew It." John in DC nailed the embarrassing details with "NEWSWEEK: Bush Didn't Know The Hurricane Damage Was Bad Until THURSDAY AFTER IT STRUCK."

Chris in Paris gathered a great rundown of the callous, mean-spirited or just downright dumb comments and acts of Republicans after Katrina in "Compassionate conservatives in action -- post-Katrina." It includes of course Barbara Bush's breath-taking quote that is a must-hear.

John in DC remains astonished by the MSM, calling out the Washington Post for attacking Democrats for speaking up in "What Is The Washington Post's Problem?"

Joe in DC mocked FEMA head Kevin Brown's moaning about his "mistreatment" instead of apologizing for his incompetence and resigning in "Poor Drownie, getting picked on and all."

Kyle in the Gulf continued filing compelling photos and telling us about "Food Stamp Hell" and reporting that "The Blackwater Mercenaries Are In New Orleans."

John in DC posted photos and pointed commentary that made clear that Pentagon-sponsored war rally (hello, Big Brother!) was a big flop with "What if you threw a wargasm and nobody came?"

Michael in New York spotted the attitude of the black community in the naming of its own disaster relief concert, "BET: Saving OurSelves." Yep, they know Bush abandoned them and they need to help themselves because the cavalry isn't coming.

And John in DC celebrated good news with "Newsweek Poll: Bush approval at 38%!"


MONDAY

John in DC celebrated more good news with "Drownie Just Resigned."

Chris in Paris mops up the mess from that Pentagon-inspired rally with "NY Times coverage of the not-so-much-freedom march." Michael in New York chimes in with the assault of a protestor described in "More Fun News From The 'Freedom' March."

Rob in Baltimore mocked the crocodile tears of a demagogue in "Tom Coburn, GOP Hypocrite."

Joe in DC trumpeted more bad polling and more bad news for Bush by quoting WaPo saying Bush is "An increasingly unpopular president."

John in DC blasts Brownie's replacement in "Bush Puts 'Duct-tape' Idiot in Charge of FEMA."

Michael in New York insists "Oprah Is Wrong -- It's Bush That Needs To Apologize."

Joe in DC tells us "Bush to hold political prayer event" in a cheap bid to recapture that 9-11 aura.

And Kyle in the Gulf offers up "The Thunderdome -- An On-the-scene report from Kyle in New Orleans."


TUESDAY

John in DC -- astonished -- asks "Did Bush just refuse to answer whether he's prepared to handle a terrorist attack?"

Joe in DC says "Negligent Homicide Charges in Louisiana" gives him some ideas about who could be charged next.

John in DC bemoans a new policy at the Grey Lady in "NYT tries to kill the Internet." Michael in New York chimed in with "NYT Pay Per View Articles -- A Terrible Idea."

Michael in New York points out "Bush's Incompetence Weakens US Abroad."

And John in DC loved this roundup of quotes from the disaster that was Katrina and Bush's response -- "Read this entire story, then email it to all your friends."


WEDNESDAY

Joe in DC gave us the heads-up on "GOP Senate Kills Independent Katrina Panel." John in DC blasted the refusal of EVERY Republican senator to form an independent bipartisan commission to examine and draw lessons from the incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina and called for action in "ACTION ALERT: Call the US Senate; Ask GOP Senators Why They Hate America?"

Our first direct outreach from Congress came in Congressman John Conyers' post "Hate Crimes Prevention Act Passes House in Historic Vote."

Michael in New York caught a telling detail about Bush's reaction to Katrina and shared his analysis in "Bush Ignored Blanco, Reached Out To Barbour."

John in DC couldn't resist that Bush photo indicating a bathroom break was on the agenda in "More like he needs a time-out."

Michael in New York shredded the far right's ignorant attempts to paint a nature documentary as somehow pro-monogamy in "The Passion of the Penguins."

Chris in Paris first alerted insomniacs to the carnage in Iraq with "90 dead and 160+ wounded in Iraq," with John in DC giving an update under "More Than 152 die in 12+ nearly simultaneous attacks in Baghdad."

John in DC inspired a fervent debate over blogonomics with "Please consider making a donation to Americablog, if you can." (How's that for a timid, embarrassed liberal request for money? The Republican equivalent would be "Give me money, damnit! That second yacht is expensive. The religious right's version would be "Where's your tithe? We haven't received your tithe yet.")

And it didn't take Michael in New York to turn into Nostrodamus to predict the screaming would begin once word got out that "Federal Judge Declares Pledge Unconstitutional."


THURSDAY

John in DC continued his campaign against the Dirty Bomb 54 -- the Republican Senators who voted en masse to block a bipartisan, independent commission to look into the tragic failures of the response to Katrina and learn lessons. John urged you to contact these senators with that ACTION ALERT. He brought back t-shirt blogging on the topic with "Anyway, I got some t-shirts up," asked you to "Use this thread to post details of your calls to the Dirty Bomb 54 Senators' offices," and Joe in DC noted it garnered some press in "Hotline covers Americablog's Dirty Bomb 54 campaign."

Chris in Paris mocked a Republican Presidential hopeful with "Romney reaches out to wingnuts -- wants wiretaps for mosques."

A not-so-Presidential address hit primetime, and John in DC asked for "Your opinion of Bush's address, real time" and "OK, what did you think, now that Bush's speech is over?"

Joe in DC shouldn't have been surprised but was that "Rove -- Yes, Karl Rove -- Is In Charge of Post-Katrina Rebuiilding Effort."

And Michael in New York had a chuckle over "Brownie's Escuse? The Hurricane Made It Really Hard To Deal With The Hurricane."


FRIDAY

John in DC highlighted the dangers of avian flu and Bush's complete incompetence in failing to take reasonable, common sense steps to prepare for it in "Good news: We may all be dead anyway" and "We're all going to die, part II."

Joe in DC made clear that Bush is only swinging into action to reapir his image in "Analysis: It's all about politics for Bush."

Chris in Paris delights in the fact that "Bush delivered a lead balloon speech."

John in DC gets on the MSM for not asking the right questions about Cheney being AWOL during Katrina and sees an answer in "Cheney to have surgery for leg aneurysm."

Rob in Baltimore says "Consumer confidence after katrina WORSE than after 9-11."

John in DC mocks the photo op nature of Bush's visits to New Orleans with "New Orleans city lights turned on for Bush, turned off after he left."

Kyle in the Gulf reports paints a picture of "His last night in New Orleans."

Michael in New York tried to be fair by pointing out "Bush Defeats One Enemy: The Environment."

And John in DC gave kuods to a terrific, cutting analysis of the Dems by playwright David Mamet in "Great article about the Democrats and their courage problem."