Unwagging the Dog

[dweller]

Katrina knocks power out of Bush spin machine
by Laura Rozen

For the Bush spin machine, the dual disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the official response to it presented a rare instance where the
facts proved hard to manipulate.

The idea was to push blame away from the White House and toward Louisiana Democrats like Governor Kathleen Blanco. But
suddenly, the dog wouldn’t wag. The props, the carefully stage-managed Bush photo opportunities, the anonymous White House
quotes smearing local officials, kept unraveling just as fast as the spinners can issue them. And they just keep unraveling. Here are
a few examples.

On Sunday, September 4, the Washington Post quoted an anonymous White House source as saying that in the critical days as
New Orleans was filling with water, the White House was prevented from sending federal assistance to aid flood victims because of
a technicality—Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco had not declared a state of emergency (See). On its face, the claim seemed
absurd—thousands of New Orleanians were left to drown, dehydrate, and starve because of a technicality? And indeed, only hours
later, the Post was forced to publish an above-the-story correction revealing how badly they had been burned by their anonymous
White House source:

Correction to This Article:

A Sept. 4 article on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina incorrectly said that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
(D) had not declared a state of emergency. She declared an emergency on Aug. 26. "

The quote may have revealed a blatant White House effort to steer the "blame game" toward the Democratic governor (all the while
directing the White House and its supporters to respond to critics, as if in chorus, with variations of the pious phrase, "Now's not the
time to play the blame game.")

http://villagevoice.com/generic/show_print.php?id=67724&page=rozen&issue=0537&printcde=MzM3OTU4ODA2OA==&refpage=L25ld3MvaW5kZXgucGhw

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0912-31.htm

dp

[swag]

1. Excellent article - a must-read and share. Another damning bit:

A second example of unraveling spin: On Tuesday, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that 1,000 firefighters from around the country who had urgently reported to FEMA to be dispatched to the Gulf disaster area had instead been sent by FEMA for a day of sexual harassment and sensitivity training to Atlanta, as fires raged in New Orleans chemical plants and warehouses. As the firefighters grew increasingly frustrated at the Atlanta Sheraton training, they were notified that they would not be doing any firefighting or search-and-rescue operations once they got to the region anyhow. Rather, FEMA officials informed them, they would be sent to hand out fliers with FEMA’s phone number. What’s more, the Tribune revealed, the first assignment for 50 of the firefighters? “As specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.” In other words, they were flown to Louisiana for a totally stage managed photo opportunity.

Naturally, such safe presidential photo opportunities, however artificial, were preferred to the risks of Bush meeting with the flood’s most acute—and angry—mostly black victims. As a “prominent African-American supporter of Mr. Bush who is close to Karl Rove,” told the New York Times’ Elizabeth Bumiller:

"If I'm Karl, do I want the visual of black people hollering at the president as if we're living in Rwanda?"

[woodsprite]

3. Is it possible some of these plant fires were more like funeral pyres? n/t

[papau]

2. Sad - but very true - good article

:-)

[skids]

4. Recommended.

When they lie, don't just correct them, call them out as liars.