Life in the responsibility administration:

When Mr. Tenet issued a statement on July 11 assuming responsibility for the State of the Union passage concerning African uranium, he was following in a long tradition of C.I.A. directors: taking blame for intelligence lapses that embarrass the president.

"Somebody had to step up to this, and it couldn't be the president," observed one intelligence official, adding, "It's an appropriate thing for George to do."

So, according to Republicans, it's only Democratic Presidents who don't have the privilege of shifting blame onto subordinates...