If the other seven parts of this Washington Post series are as good as this one, I'm there for the whole thing. Reported by Dan Balz and Bob Woodward based on interviews and notes of September 11, 2001 and the days following it, it's an incomplete but inside look at how the administration responded to the attacks, what worked and what was in chaos, and how Bush knew how he wanted to respond even if no one had a clear idea of what it would mean or how they'd do it.

Something I liked in part 1: Senate minority whip Don Nickles (R-OK) was one of several congressional leaders, held in a secure area, who wanted to get back to the Capitol and show the world that the US government was in business, even challenging Vice-President/Energy toady Dick Cheney on it. "We're a separate branch of government -- why do we need the approval of the White House, he complained," the story says. "'Don,' the vice president replied, 'we control the helicopters.'"

Nickles is widely recognized as one of the most corrupt members of the Senate, taking any large donation he can find and supporting the worst corporate excesses against the people affected by them. The Republican Senate even had to suspend its campaign-finance investigation after the 1996 elections because, instead of hanging Clinton and Gore out to dry, it was going to show how dirty then-majority-whip Nickles was. I never see any evidence that this guy puts his responsibilities to citizens ahead of his sale to campaign donors. To read about him actually wanting to do something right for one is encouraging.

There's still no way in hell I'd vote for the Senator from Conoco, but at least there's one report that once in his political life he showed a little backbone. Maybe tragedy does affect everyone.