'I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees”.'

Oh, not so fast there, smart boy.

'Video shows Bush got explicit Katrina warning'

Not surprisingly, White House spokesmen and other proxies are suggesting we shouldn't read too much into these tapes.

“I hope people don’t draw conclusions from the president getting a single briefing,” presidential spokesman Trent Duffy said, citing a variety of orders and disaster declarations Bush signed before the storm made landfall.

“There’s nothing new or insightful on these tapes,” [Homeland Security spokesman Russ ] Knocke said."

Okay. Move along, folks. Nothing here to see ... except the president being told the levees will be breeched. Come on, now. We all know Bush is an idiot but now that's supposed to let him off the hook? We supposed to think it takes more than one briefing to grasp the concept that this isn not going to go well? And that maybe you ought to get off your ass and cut short your vacation? Now.

I suppose the White House just figured they'd get away with spinning their own reality ... that they could deny whatever, delete any incriminating e-mails or deny official requests for meeting tapes and transcripts ... it's what they do best.

But I was reminded of something I heard on the radio while driving home today: tapes brought down Nixon.

Dare we hope?