"I've never heard a single word of complaint."

Now we know why Laura and the elder Mrs. Bush get along so well...

From the AP:

Laura Bush is reprising her role as her husband's first defender, making several trips to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast as President Bush's approval ratings sink to their lowest level yet. ***

Mrs. Bush said Tuesday that much more human good than bad has come from the disaster, despite what people see on TV. She said the evacuees she has met in her three trips to the Gulf Coast are hopeful and thankful that they don't have to start from rock bottom because of the donations and the kindness of strangers.

"That's what I've seen at each of the shelters I've visited," she said. "I've never heard a single word of complaint." ***

"We've seen terrible, terrible things and we've seen unbelievably unselfish acts of giving as well by communities all across the United States and, of course, many more unselfish acts of giving than bad things," she said in a speech Tuesday to the conservative Heritage Foundation.

"Maybe the media hasn't shown us that much, but we've read about it and we do know about it."

Sadly, those unselfish acts of giving were all the acts of private volunteers who were shocked and embarassed by the Bush administration's complete failure to provide timely help to the people of the gulf coast.