Bush wouldn't apologize unless the polling in deep red areas like Mississippi was truly dismal.
Remember, he NEVER apologizes and NEVER explains. This is like a religion to Rove. It's a deliberate strategy. It's worked for 5 years. Why change now? Rove: "If you are explaining, you are losing".
Nancy Pelosi is having the best week ever. First, she demands Bush fire Brown. He does. Then, she demands he take responsibility. He does.
All this does is weaken Bush more, since the Dem mantra will now be "Bush took responsibility for New Orleans, why won't he take responsibility for [x]?".
Plus, I can't wait to see the looks on the faces of the Freepers- they REALLY BELIEVE it isn't his fault, they will be very upset. All this does it add ammo to the argument that Blanco and Nagin did the best they can, and the feds are the screwups.
Analysis after the jump:
The upside for the GOP is that I think their strategy is to have Lame Duck take responsibility for everything under the sun since he can't be voted out, then have the GOP backbenchers deny knowing Bush in the midterms. "It wasn't me, it was the dumb President" is not a winning slogan, ask the '94 Dems.
A strategy like that means the GOP is SCARED SHITLESS, since it is high risk and is a last alternative. This means none of the usual methods are working.
How does Bush rebuild his rep as a 'strong leader' by apologizing? This just makes him look weaker.