Idiom for 'limiting the damage'

Wordsmith.org

Can someone perhaps suggest an saying expressing the notion of attempting to limit or mitigate damage that has been caused (not necessarily by one's own wrong doing)? Thanks.

When asked to explain his stance, the governor likened himself to �the little Dutch boy� with his finger in the damn, trying to hold back the floodwaters

You may be familiar with the story. A little boy who plugs a leak in the wall of a dam with his finger. Is that what you mean?

Quote:

A little boy who plugs a leak in the wall of a dam with his finger. Is that what you mean?

Or either dike, one.

by, how about "to spin" or "put a spin on"? And the sycophants who do that are called "spin doctors."

Revamp? Botch? (in a clumsy way)
Remediation, remediate?

Lieing

assuage, allay, alleviate, abate, palliate, moderate

Enter "moderate" or "mitigate damage" etc in OneLook's reverse dictionary

I still go with "spin."

You mean other than "damage control"? That's the one I've heard the most. Lotsa movies.

also Brit. damage limitation

Thanks for the suggestions. I like the boy with his finger in the dyke, because that's is a little like the figurative expression I'm actually looking to translate, which is:

die Kuh vom Eis holen

Literally that's 'to pull the cow from the ice' and comes from the idea of a farmer attempting (at great risk) to rescue his cow from ice, presumably after he has neglected to keep it enclosed. Perhaps, therefore, the saying is a little like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, but German has a different expression for that. The above link suggests 'save the day' or 'crack it', but both of these fail to imply that the initial problem was the person's wrong doing and that they are trying to make the best out of a bad situation.