New emails: Bush had no problems with Brown

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." These were the immortal words used by President Bush on September 2, 2005 to describe FEMA director Michael Brown's handling of Hurricane Katrina.

Bush's enthusiastic "thumbs-up" was shocking at the time, coming a full five days after Katrina struck and the horrors of the failed relief effort had been revealed for all to see.

Bush's comment was greeted with a torrent of ridicule. But according to a new batch of email correspondence released by Brown's office, as much as four days after the endorsement mocked around the world and a week and a half after the storm, Bush still didn't have a bad word to say about Brown. According to Newsweek:

By the following Tuesday, Sept. 6, the post-Katrina backlash was in full frenzy and Brown realized his job was in jeopardy. At 8:32 a.m., Clay Johnson III, a longtime Bush aide, e-mailed Brown. "What a great opportunity for every cheap-shot artist in the world to take a free swing at you and the president." Brown replied, "Yes ... And if [Bush] doesn't have confidence in me -- which is understandable considering the circumstances -- let me know. I will readily step aside." Johnson's reply: "I've not heard one person here disparage you [sic] work. I'll keep you informed."