Karen Hughes' first directive to the boys in the bunker

...would be:

You're not testing well with women and minorities, and key value-centric segments of our base, sir. "Contrition sells, Mr. President. Contrition sells!

Posted yesterday about the new undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs. Well, she was sworn in Friday, and spent the weekend rassling testosterone and faux-John Waynes who see "fallibility" as something akin to being caught trying on slingback pumps by your fraternity brothers.

She gets it. But for all the wrong reasons.

Bush: 'I take responsibility'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush took responsibility on Tuesday for any failures in the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and acknowledged the storm exposed serious deficiencies at all levels of government four years after the September 11 attacks.

"To the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush told a White House news conference at which he openly questioned U.S. preparedness for another storm or a "severe attack."

Bush's rare admission of "serious problems in our response capability" came as the White House stepped up efforts to repair his public standing. Bush will address the nation at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT) on Thursday from hard-hit Louisiana, his fourth visit to the disaster zone since Katrina struck....

Funny thing about PR. You learn the levers and the buttons, the Pavlovian Response mechanisms and the power of shell games. Problem is, you reach a fork in the road one day: "Can I walk away from bad business?" In Bushco parlance, "Do I use it for good, or evil?"

Hint: if you have be cued to fake sincerity, remorse and integrity, you've got much worse problems besides a deficit of sincerity, remorse and integrity.