Katrina: The "federalist pause"

Submitted by Rick Perlstein on August 27, 2007 - 1:45pm.

That fatal gap between Katrina's landfall and the arrival of federal assistance? Conservatives defended it—on principle.

In her September 1, 2005 Financial Times column she simultaneously implored the nation to foreswear partisanship, and gushed worshipfully about Bush's manful preparation and immediate response to the disaster.