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Audacity of Truth
Whiner-in-Chief:
"[W]hether the grumbling is about Republicans on Fox or bloggers in pajamas, there's a word for what the president and his aides are doing. That word is "whining." And nothing [...] does more damage to Obama's credibility or authority than the sense that a popular president is becoming the whiner-in-chief."
- John Nichols, Nation Magazine - 10/12/09
The Katrina kerfuffle, part deux
Note: *scroll down for updates*
————-
The blogosphere is abuzz this morning regarding the story about a ’secure’ (hah!) goverment tape as well as seven days of transcripts obtained by the AP show disaster officials warning the President and Homeland Security head honcho Michael Chertoff about the very serious threat Hurricane Katrina posed to New Orleans.
The best two blogosphere posts up that I’ve seen in response to this ‘breaking news’ come from John at Powerline, who points out the many factual errors contained within this story, and Kevin Aylward at Wizbang, who has an extensive write-up and at the end concludes that the leaker of the tapes and transcripts is none other than disgraced former FEMA director Michael Brown. Also check out Patterico’s post on this, where he points out the glaring factual errors in the LATimes reporting of this story.
The bottom line on all this seems to be 1) that this isn’t new news – except for those who want it to be and 2) the media continues to get the facts wrong as it relates to the timeline on who said what – and when they said it.
Read more via Big Lizards and Captain Ed
9:56 PM Update: Brent Baker at Newsbusters notes conflicting accounts between MSNBC and NBC of what was said on the video:
MSNBC versus NBC News. MSNBC’s David Shuster, at the top of Thursday’s Hardball, and NBC’s Lisa Myers at the start of the NBC Nightly News, played the identical soundbites from Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center warning, on Sunday August 28, about his “grave concern” the levees in New Orleans could be “topped” and a clip of President Bush four days later maintaining that “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” But they used the soundbites to prove opposite assessments. Shuster contended that Mayfield’s video “seems to contradict what President Bush said about Katrina” since Mayfield’s warning “clearly” means that “the President’s team did anticipate the breach.”
Lisa Myers, however, recognized the meaning of words and how water flowing over a levee, topping it, is not the same thing as a breaching, the collapse of a levee, which is what occurred. Myers explained: “Today Mayfield told NBC News that he warned only that the levees might be topped, not breached, and that on the many conference calls he monitored, ‘nobody talked about the possibility of a levee breach or failure until after it happened.’”
*Sigh.*
Read the whole thing.
10:22 PM Update: The AP reports on what La. Gov. Blanco said in briefing video about the levees:
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the hectic, confused hours after Hurricane Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast, Louisiana’s governor hesitantly but mistakenly assured the Bush administration that New Orleans’ protective levees were intact, according to new video obtained by The Associated Press showing briefings that day with federal officials.
“We keep getting reports in some places that maybe water is coming over the levees,” Gov. Kathleen Blanco said shortly after noon on Aug. 29, according to the video. “We heard a report unconfirmed, I think, we have not breached the levee. I think we have not breached the levee at this time.”
Don’t look for the media to hype that interesting tidbit too much. (Hat tip: sanity in the comments section)
Related Toldjah So posts:
- Governor Blanco named one of the nation’s worst Governors
- How much blame goes to Blanco?
- Hurricane Governors ratings soar – except for Blanco
- I love General Honore!
- Nagin reverses course, suspends N.O. reopening
- Impeach Blanco blog
- Taking responsibility equates to taking “full responsibility”
- Blanco Incompetence Caught On Camera
- Katrina response: an honest analysis
- Levee breaches
- Blanco Passes Buck Back to Nagin
- Money Flowed to Questionable Projects
- Media groups say “show us the bodies”
- Katrina: Urban legends, Nagin’s eye openers, etc
- Disastrous disaster response from local and state La. officials
- About those levees
- Media pushes “white guilt” angle
- Bush personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation
- Corps officials: Funding levels not to blame for flooding
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64 Responses to “The Katrina kerfuffle, part deux”
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As to the fools wading around waist deep and bitchin’ about NO one rescuing them. All they have to do is resume their pre-storm position and bend over. They will see a reflection of the single largest reason they are in their latest predicament. Presumably, they have eyes somewhere on the front of their head.
As I recall, there were no Asians killed. Is this because of racial profiling or that they know what typhoon/hurricane inbound WARNING means and took advantage of the three day advance warning?
Can I get an Amen, steve!
If me and mine were there for whatever reason that might be, we get organized. We have taken care of ourselves by ourselves, all our lives. We take care of each other through the result of actions and not “FEELINGS”! We don’t stand around screaming “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”
Actions or the lack of them, are the key elements in any situation. If you want the republicans to provide you a word for your hand wringing analysis “fear of injury or death”, try “cubbie” your word for Jim M trying to explain history to you yesterday. 
Hmm..it’s my simple opinion that everyone dropped the ball relatinve to Katrina…except those who had sense enough (and the ability) to cover their own asses.
All the engineers and scientists have been saying for decades that if N.O. was hit by a cat 4 or 5 hurricane they were screwed! No surprises.
The blame should go to 2 places, those that could help themselves and didn’t, and those who could help others in need and didn’t. There is no excuse for govn’t officials from the mayor to the president. They knew it was coming (we all did) days in advance and relatively speaking, watched in awe. Great! “…biggest recovery effort in history within 3 days after the storm landed…” Whooptee doo…How about 3 days before the storm hit? That’s what’s so dissapointing.
And the people who live in storm alley…what idiots! (not all included in that statement. I know there were many who really didn’t have the means to fend for themselves.) But for those that did…Being a poor country bumpkin from Idaho, I guess I was lucky that my parents taught me to BE PREPARED! H20, food, first aid kits, flashlights, etc.
What the hell were they thinking? For Cris’sakes, they live BELOW SEA LEVEL in hurricane central. Well I guess at the end of the day, seeing this despitude, I shouldn’t be surpised when I see so many bitching that they can’t stay in govn’t sponsored hotels anymore…so much for taking a little innetitive (damn the fact that there is no spell check!)and do something on your own.
I think the most genious thing about the whole situation is that the politions realize that they F’ed up major here and rather than being held accountable for the fiasco, they’ve got you folks arguing about who is MOST to blame amoungst each other rather than demanding all their heads for gross incompitance…
That’s what I think.
Can I just apologise now for all the past and future spelling errors and typos? I suck….just call me the spellcheck junkie!
-Heh… I distinctly recall Blanco on camera a few days after the storm. The day she “stalled” the Pres. in knowing what to tell him about the general situation (she didn’t have a clue), or asking for federal help (she kept insisting they had it under control and it was a state leadership thing anyway).
- The reporter asked her what she was doing to get the required emergency aid to the stranded prople still in the city and she said quote:
…”Well the governor will…Oh…. that would be me…..ummmmmm”
- Right on top of things *chuckle*
- BTW…I have no doubt that if Bush would have declared Marshall law and a state of emergency and asked for special Congressional powers to go in and take over, the moonbats and MSM would have been screaming within 24 hours that he was acting like a king again, and overstepping his Constitutional powers. See how it works folks. Sort of a permenent state of damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
- Bang
Link
Where is the media screaming about this?
Why is this not being bantered about? Talked about over and over again?
Nope, because Blanco is a Democrat and Bush is a Republican and President, and it is open season on the President.
As Big Lizards
A little more from Big Lizards:
Here is a few other interesting things that never get replayed:
Link
Then there was the busses:
And what happens when the meia becomes part of the problem?
Link
Ah and the Captain has done an excellent job debunking most those myths the Media perpertrated on the public:
Talk to the Captain
I do agree the media was quick to hype and over-exaggerate thier stories causing the catastrophe to be worse because of thier reporting out-right lies and inaccuracies.
It allowed more hatred to ferment, allowed the the efforts of men, women and children of all races and religous denomination to boil down to race.
But what do you do when you get the money from the Federal Government, why you remodel:
This is a VERY good take on what happened with Katrina, I suggest reading it:
Read the rest here
Another one to look through HERE
Just to bring things back in focus again.
And for others to realize this was not just the President involved in this, there was alot of others, though the media seems to be collectively forgetting this fact.
It’s on Yahoo News also
CB wrote, “everyone dropped the ball relatinve to Katrina
I’d say the people who didn’t evacuate dropped the ball. Yes. And the people who didn’t use resources such as the hundreds of local buses sitting idle. Yes. But who didn’t drop the ball? Look at the Popular Mechanics article I linked above and you see who didn’t drop the ball. Hundreds of organizations. The largest rescue and relief effort in history of a hurricane.
Oh yeah. Who else dropped the ball? The Louisiana Department of Health who repeatedly denied the American Red Cross from bringing supplies to Convention Center folks.
Let’s keep this bandwagon rolling huh CB? Isn’t it fun to point fingers. Let’s see. I blame the legacy media for misreporting and not identifying what FEMA’s role after a hurricane is (not first responders). It says it on FEMA’s website. Expect a 72 -96 hour response.
Anyways. Before people get me wrong here. Let me applaud the wonderful people who bled, sweated, tired themselves out helping the people in the Gulf States. This is what the media and CB should be doing. Applauding a tireless set of people who put out so much heart and soul into helping people. Thank you.
And Thank you Sanity for pointing out the double standard of the media. It’s why people do not listen to them anymore and they are bleating to thier dwindling flock of sheep. HA!
bush is the President. bush is in charge. If bush is not up to the job he should go sell shoes. Peace
Bak said: “Let me applaud the wonderful people who bled, sweated, tired themselves out helping the people in the Gulf States.”
Yup. You’re exactly right. There were tons of individuals that risked life and limb…just because it was the right thing to do. My point was more directed at the various govn’t agencies and more specifically, the leaders therein. This deal should have been more of a “group effort” with a helluva lot better timing.
Well well well!!! Hey Andrew, pay attention! Lookie what the AP just released:
“AP FRIDAY NIGHT CLARIFICATION ON BUSH/KATRINA VIDEO
Fri Mar 03 2006 19:48:29 ET
Clarification: Katrina-Video story
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) _ In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials.
The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.
The day before the storm hit, Bush was told there were grave concerns that the levees could be overrun. It wasn’t until the next morning, as the storm was hitting, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had inquired about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing.”