It seems to me that when bad things happen, people have a tendency of searching for someone or something to blame, at least in part, and that its cathartic to have someone to blame for what happened. I guess it helps to give some kind of meaning to what would otherwise seem to just be a random stroke of fate. I wonder if the government is playing that role following Hurricane Katrina. That isn't to say that anger at the response to Katrina isn't justified-they obviously messed up big time. But this crisis isn't like 9/11, where there was a clear and evil enemy to blame and rally against (al-Queda specifically, terrorism or Islamic fundamentalism more generally). The reaction to the governmental blunderings is of course not the same as the reaction to the terrorists, but i think it does still fill that "need" to blame someone in some way.