Wipe Out

Watching the news this morning, and the endless agony of the poor and abandoned of New Orleans, images of Rwanda came to mind. I imagine that's what was also on the minds of many of the cable news anchors -- and that includes Fox's Bill Hemmer, late of CNN. You can see them bristle when politicians and FEMA officials spew their crap about all that can be done is being done.

When even CNN's Daryn Kagan -- Rush Limbaugh's arm candy (scroll down) -- gets briefly snappish with General Steven Blum, chief of the U.S. National Guard, you know that journalists, who have been immersed and, indeed, lived through this disaster, are telegraphing to viewers that what is being spewed at them is nothing but verbal sewage.

KAGAN: Well, sir, with all due respect, I think the window of a timely fashion has closed. And there are many people who are wondering why has it taken so long for the National Guard, let's just say, because we have you on the phone, to get in place. Is it because the resources are stretched so thin because the National Guard fighting in places like Iraq and Afghanistan?

Now we're watching as the President George W. Bush rides in with the cavalry, a long troop train of photo opportunities. Dubya to the rescue. At least some of the cable news types are calling it for what it is.

CNN POLITICAL ANALYST WILLIAM SCHNEIDER: It's five days into the crisis. Where has the president been? He took an aerial tour, which a lot of people found objectionable.

The situation on the ground has been very frightening for many Americans, because what we have seen, all of us, on our television screens is a situation that is out of control. That is a failure of government, period.

There has been a visible vacuum of leadership. Even though it's clear that state and local authorities have done their best, when Americans see this kind of lawlessness, this kind of desperation, they wonder, where is the government? And in that kind of situation, they expect the president of the United States to step in.

Now, he can still -- he still can try to turn this situation around and try to resolve the situation. But I think the vision that we've seen on television has been very angering to people, and it raises a very simple question.

Is this country prepared for a terrorist attack? I mean, when we see this kind of chaos and disorder, something Americans never...

KAGAN: Bill, let me just jump in here, because the president has stepped into the hangar. Let's listen to what he is hearing...

What is he hearing? He is hearing the kinds of things he should have heard almost A WEEK AGO when it was clear that Katrina was steaming for the Gulf coast. But I understand he was on vacation.

KAGAN: I got to say, that was rather an odd thing to be watching. The president finally making it to the Gulf Coast after five days and then spending a big chunk of time, when he could be out seeing the devastation -- getting a briefing that frankly he could have gotten back at the White House. If not then, then on board Air Force One. A lot of that seemed like a political opportunity for the cameras and for the Republican governors of Mississippi and Alabama.

SCHNEIDER: Well, it did. I'm not sure that's what most Americans and certainly most people in the area wanted to hear, as if the president were being filled in, told what was going on. There was a lot of thanking, a lot of congratulations. Look, these are frantic, desperate people who have lost everything, who are in a desperate situation. What they want is someone to come there and say the government is in control, we have control of the situation, there's a leader in charge here, and we're going to make it work.

Eventually, he did get to his point. And his point was that his priorities were the right priorities. Number one, saving lives; number two, restoring order. But what people want there is leadership. They don't want someone being briefed. They want leadership.

No, they want water, food, shelter, toilets, showers, medicine  ... and hope.

It's too late for leadership, especially leadership that comes out of a political spin play book.

SNARK CITY: You gotta love the nerve of these right wing clowns:

Accuracy in Media (AIM) today accused MSNBC of resorting to a cheap, sleazy and insensitive gimmick by running an on-screen clock that tells viewers how long it has been since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

“MSNBC has made it quite clear that the purpose of this ticking clock is to try to blame the Bush Administration for an alleged slow response to the disaster,” said AIM editor Cliff Kincaid. “This represents partisan posturing by a network that is hoping to score political points rather than help people and solve problems.”

The on-screen graphics show how many days, hours, and minutes it has been since the hurricane hit.

Kincaid said MSNBC anchor Lisa Daniels deserves special criticism for almost constantly trying to fix blame on the Bush Administration for the natural disaster.

“Even as the trucks were arriving today with emergency supplies, Daniels was complaining that it was ‘too little to late,’” noted Kincaid. “She seems to be auditioning for a blog on the Michael Moore web site. It is shameful conduct for a news anchor.”

Comments

[Dana]

There really is no limit to which the Bush apparatchiks will not go. It reminds me of nothing quite as much as the old Soviet operators or banana republic ministers of state. And they'll be along any minute here too.

[True North]

Sad to say this is ALL politics (and race) !

Randi Rhodes on Air America Radio (www.airamericaradio.com) is making a clear, strong case this afternoon.

The DEMOCRAT governor and the DEMOCRAT mayor PLEADED for help.

As late as Saturday they begged for emergency sand bagging of the portion levy that THEY KNEW had not been completed due to WHITE HOUSE cuts in FEDERAL funding of the anti hurricane survival program initiated by DEMOCRAT president Bill Clinton.

The had been fighting to save this program from BUSH ANDMIN CUTS for years - and in Congress as recently as last month!

THEY KNEW THERE WOULD BE FLOODING.

They knew the poor black population in the below sea level area wouldn't be able to evacuate without HELP!

But no - it took FEMA FIVE DAYS to get food, water and busses in.

FIVE DAYS!

Hell - yesterday Air Canada was asked to do relief flights - and at 1 pm today they flew in tons of water and food to the New Orleans airport - that was never flooded!

LESS THAN 24 HOURS!

In effect the Bush administration held back until their photo op was ready, and with REPUBLICAN officials implicating the DEMOCRAT Governor and Mayor with incompetence.

"War Crimes" no longer covers it!

[Carl]

Memo to Cliff: How come you haven't unleashed AIM's fury on Anderson Cooper,Jack Cafferty or Paula Zahn yet? After all,they dissed the administration's response too!

[Bill-Muskoka]

Bush and his goons should be tried for negligent homicide, manslaughter at the very least. Unlike Canada, that will happen in the U.S. about the same time Hell freezes over.

I have never seen anything so blatantly disgusting as what transpired yesterday with Bush riding into town and miraculously the National Guard found their way at the same time. If there are any members of Congress with integrity, impeachement proceedings should already be in the draft stage. How dumb do those fools think people are? Apparently pretty dumb! NOT!

War crimes doesn't cover it...not even close!

[starboardside]

Yep,hindsight is a wonderfull thing when your sitting in front of your TV, munching on a bag of chitos.Try dealing with reality in a rational manner,instead of spewing your plagiarized BS.Wait until the postmortem,then we,ll find out.

Further memo to Cliff: You might as well add Daryn Kagan,Bill Scheinder,Geraldo Rivera and Sheppard Smith to the roster of those who hate America-based on their reactions to what's been happening.

And another thing,Cliff....you might as well add Daryn Kagan,Bill Schneider,Geraldo Rivera and Sheppard Smith to that list too. Anxiously waiting to see when you'll be dissing them....

[Carl]

Oops...apologies for the double post above.

The sentiments,though,remain.