Ex-aides say Bush never recovered from Katrina

News.AOL.com:

"Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster.

'Katrina to me was the tipping point,' said Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. 'The president broke his bond with the public. Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn't matter. Legislative initiatives? It didn't matter. P.R.? It didn't matter. Travel? It didn't matter.'

Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director and later counselor to the president, said: 'Politically, it was the final nail in the coffin.'"

Oh, and Let's not forget the thousands upon thousands of people who lost their homes, their livelihoods and some of them even their lives during Katrina. Okay?