Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, September 19, 2005.

Let's not play the Blame Game. All that finger-pointing, heated emotions, accusations, incriminations -- no good can come from it, really. In fact, while we're at it, I think there are some other silly games we shouldn't play. The Newlywed Game. That was pretty stupid. Call me old-fashioned but I just never believed sexual innuendo and homely people were a proper mix. And the Match Game with Gene Rayburn. I don't remember how that was played, but there really is no sense in resurrecting Charles Nelson Reilly if we don't have to. Password was good. I liked that. And the old Hollywood Squares was a decent way to kill a half hour on a Saturday night waiting for the Love Boat to come on. But the $50,000 Dollar Pyramid? Chump change. What's the point?

However, if we're talking about properly investigating what went wrong during hurricane season this year and then holding those responsible accountable for their mistakes, yeah, I think we should play that game.

Listen, we all make mistakes. Everybody. Yes, even me. And I often get the pleasure of revisiting mine in excruciating detail at 4:00 AM. (I just wish my conscious mind and my unconscious mind could come to some agreement on what constitutes acceptable behavior; that way I wouldn't have to endure the pre-dawn debate.)

In that sense, it is wrong to "blame" Barbara Bush for what she said about the New Orleans evacuees in Houston:

"What I’m hearing which is sort of
scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is
so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

It was a mistake. It was an insensitive and patronizing thing to say, and I'm guessing she didn't intend it that way. But is Mrs. Bush, beloved grandmotherly figure that she is, responsible for her own words and actions? Absolutely. We all are. So I've had no early-morning guilt over including her in this comic.