In fact, the grainy video of Bush's response was the most damning portrait of an oblivious [Bush] since, well, this same [Bush] continued to methodically read "My Pet Goat" to a Florida elementary school class after being told of the attacks on the World Trade Center buildings on Sept. 11, 2001. Bush did not ask a single question, even as Brown and others predicted a disaster of the magnitude of the one that ocurred the next day...

It all has a disturbingly familiar ring. This is the same administration that tried to claim in the months after Sept. 11 that no one could have imagined that terrorists might hijack airliners and turned them into missiles. At least that was the White House talking point until the release of the president's daily intelligence briefing of Aug. 6, 2001 -- entitled "bin Laden determined to strike in U.S." -- referred to "patterns of suspicious activity" consistent with preparations for hijackings.

Perhaps Americans shouldn't be shocked by the disconnect between the evidence on these videotapes and the surreality of the White House spin. We've had plenty of warning.