"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."

Those were the words of Fearless Leader while he was being interviewed by Diane Sawyer about Katrina on September 1.

But the following photo, from the White House's official site, is from August 28. The man speaking on the monitor is National Hurricane Center Chief Max Mayfield, who also briefed the heads of Homeland Security and FEMA. Mayfield and his team "had the New Orleans and Gulf Coast area well within the cone of strike probability" by August 24. By the time Bush was briefed, they had predicted Katrina's path within "approximately 15 miles" (and Louisiana had been declared a federal emergency). So it appears that the Hurricane Center knew what was going down. Yet the president, the head of FEMA, and the head of DHS-- who were all briefed by Mayfield-- claimed and continue to claim that there was no way they could have known what was coming. Next bullshit talking point, please. I'll be more than happy to dismantle all I can. Also note that the caption doesn't disclose the identity of the man briefing Bush.

President George W. Bush is handed a map by Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin, center, during a video teleconference with federal and state emergency management organizations on Hurricane Katrina from his Crawford, Texas ranch on Sunday August 28, 2005. White House photo by Paul Morse