Former FEMA Michael Brown should have accepted the blame and thrown himself at the mercy of the Associated Press House Homeland Security Committee. After all, he is the one the mainstream media, and their friends, have blamed since the storm hit.

We have: “Former FEMA director Michael Brown blamed others for most government failures in responding…”

The Associated Press tells us:

His efforts to shift blame drew sharp criticism from Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike.

But the blame was put on Brown in a hasty and irrational game of “FIND THE MAN TO BLAME.” His responses, unless accepting whatever was heaped upon him, would have to put the blame elsewhere. It has all been placed on him.

Sharp criticism from Democrat lawmakers? Most of them boycotting the hearings because they want a 9-11 Commission to investigate and find fault. Sharp criticism from Republican lawmakers? The list Connecticut’s Chris Shays, not the most loyal Republican in the House, and Texas’ Kay Granger. When she first ran for Congress in 1996, she was recruited by both the Democrats and the Republicans. And I am passing judgments on neither Shays nor Granger; rather, I am characterizing the AP’s assertion of universal bipartisan Brown-bashing as misleading.

Brown admitted to two mistakes. From Reuters:

“My biggest mistake was not recognizing, by Saturday (before the storm made landfall), that Louisiana was dysfunctional,” Michael Brown told a House of Representatives panel looking into the aftermath of the catastrophic storm.

“I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade (Louisiana) Governor (Kathleen) Blanco and (New Orleans) Mayor (Ray) Nagin to sit down, get over their differences and work together,” he said. “I just couldn’t pull that off.”

The AP characterized this as blame-shifting. Reuters merely quoted the former FEMA director and conceded that he had become “the lightning rod for media and political allegations that the federal government, including President George W. Bush, reacted slowly.”

And Reuters reports:

The inquiry has been marked by partisan bickering. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California has refused to name members to the Republican-led panel saying it would not undertake an honest investigation of the Republican White House.

Pelosi on Tuesday said Brown’s testimony underscored the need for a non-partisan independent commission investigation of the federal response to the hurricane.

“Surprise, surprise, surprise. The administration sends over their crony to testify and whitewash the committee that it wasn’t their (the Bush administration’s) fault,” she told reporters.

The AP is stuck in blame-Brownie mode.

(cross-posted at Rathergate.com)