The Blame Game

The Blame Game. Sarah Palin dragged out that motheaten phrase again tonight, when rebutting Biden on a question of Middle East policy:

No, in fact, when we talk about the Bush administration, there's a time, too, when Americans are going to say, "Enough is enough with your ticket," on constantly looking backwards, and pointing fingers, and doing the blame game.

We first started hearing that phrase from Republicans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They were frantic to rush past any scrutiny of the administration's complete failure to act while an American city was drowning. It's a cynical attempt to evoke indulgence for heroic bureaucrats struggling with a difficult situation. Once the magnitude of the administration's criminal negligence became apparent, the choruses of "We don't want to play the blame game," were yodeled at every press conference by everyone from Bush down to the lowliest party hack.

Yeah, I'll bet they didn't want to play the blame game. Why? Because they were to blame! Bush and his incompetent flunkies deserved to be blamed. And if they managed to avoid blame, nothing would be learned. Nothing would be done. When bodies are floating in the brackish water of a flooded American city for days -- in a horror show that was totally avoidable -- you bet someone should be blamed and someone should pay a price.

The point is, when Palin tried to accuse Biden of "pointing fingers and doing the Blame Game," his -- and every Democrat's -- response to the accusation should be unequivocal: This isn't a game. It's deadly serious and when a disaster occurs because of an administration's negligence or incompetence, someone must take responsibility and the blame.

The Blame Game is trying to stage a comeback these past few weeks, while the Republicans and the administration are again refusing to play. After all, we have to save the global economy and we can't afford to stop and play blame games, now can we?

If we don't have the courage to affix blame for these monumental disasters where it belongs, and make those responsible pay a price, we shouldn't be surprised if we're bailing out another city and another economy before too long.

So next time a self-serving Repug tries to make a Democrat sound like a cavilling kill-joy for "playing the Blame Game," you know who to blame.