President Bush has gotten a lot of grief for saying, “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees” in New Orleans.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), for example, reportedly said, “Everybody anticipated the breach of the levees, Mr. President.”

Pat at Brainster’s Blog makes a convincing case that Bush’s critics are ignoring a distinction between “overtopping” and “breaching.” Overtopping was expected, but breaches were not.

It apparently makes a big difference. According to Pat, “If the levee had just overtopped, then the flooding would have ceased once the storm subsided.”