And a fitting array of guests launched the show.  lest we forget that perhaps the most important legacy decisions of the Presidents tenure, the Roberts nomination, will be tested starting Monday the 12th.  Manny Mirand, former counsel to majority leader Frist and founder of the Third Branch Conference weighed in, commenting that while the tone may be heated over Roberts' alleged opposition to civil rights, right of privacy and Congressional authority, it seems clear that he will be confirmed.  As to the O'Connor successor, it's anybody's guess, though the consensus is that a woman or perhaps a minority will accede.  How about Janice Rogers Brown.  A conservative, black woman.  Aaaah, sounds great.....but I forget.....

George Bush hates black people. Right.  Wrong.

Which leads to the morning long verbal target practice aimed at the usual suspects of blame for the Katrina aftermath.  Was it W for causing the tempest?  After all, he didn't sign the Kyoto accords, which caused the global oven that spawned the meteorologic mischief.  Maybe New Ahleans mayor Ray Nagin, who ignored his own disaster plan, or Louisana governor Kathleen Blanco, who after martialing a whopping 200 National Guard troops immediately, delayed 24 hours to 'review' the legalese involved in abdicating control, or at least requesting involvement of, the feds in disaster damage control? 

History teaches that the number one blame should lie in the weather, and the inevitability of it all.  But after that, community common sense nurteured by strong and effective local and state leadership will ultimately determine the initial response.  As for FEMA, of cours Michael Brown is unqualified, but with a coordinating and not executing function assigned to the agency, there is limited ability to swiftly effect change on a changeing paying field, ESPECIALLY when communications are down. 

Perhaps the most confusing and disappointing guest was the Reverend Nelson Rivers, COO of the NAACP.  What started as a cordial discourse about the organizations avoidance of the blame game degenerated into the unfortunate diatribe of the mantra we've heard so often in the last two weeks.  Whether from Kanye West, Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, the brazen politicization of the event using the race card has been an ugly chapter in America's emergence from bigotry and racial divide.  As I cautioned Rev. Rivers, the "folk" (his repeated condescending reference to anyone who isn't drinking the race laced koolaid of the left) are getting tired of black leadership failing to recognize the growing reality that their outrage is unwarranted among those who have genuinely become color blind....and only serves to reopen woulds that many, many whites have long ago healed. 

I can only hope and pray that responsible black leaders will someday cease spewing exactly what they claim they want to stop: generalizations and emotionally charged rhetoric.  And as for the poor people in New Orleans (67% black and 28% white, by the way), they would be better served by their advocates if those supposed 'leaders' would stop biting the hand that feeds them.

To honor the 9/11 victims, we interviewed Jennifer Mincin, executive director of Families of 9/11, to talk about the 'One Day's Pay' initiative, urging us to put aside one day a year to honor the memory of those who perished by doing a good turn for others.  Whether we call it Patriot Day or something else, producer Kelly and I both feel strongly that we should commemorate through 'celebration'....yes, celebration of that special American resiliency we exhibit collectively and individually to come back even stronger than before.  God bless the Gulf Shore folks who have lost so much and will struggle much longer.  And Godspeed to those who sacrifice in whatever way to help the victims on their road back.