Chertoff is committing another PR debacle

[Walt Starr]

They aren't starting the counts low and letting them rise.

They aren't going to release any numbers until after they've gone house to house and recovered all bodies.

That means in about two months, a horrible shock will hit the nation after the intial shock has subsided.

Give 'em enough rope, and they shoot themselves in the foot.

[valerief]

1. I wonder how they're going to count the people eaten by gators

[GretchenRed]

9. That's sick, but true..

so many bodies...

[stevietheman]

26. That assumes the gators survived the toxicity in the water. n/t

n/t

[GretchenRed]

2. I think

the world has a good idea that the death count will be high....it's very sad.

[MadeinOhio]

3. This is going to be so sick....and FEMA is covering it up...

[DODI]

5. Somehow I think Blanco, Witt and Nagin won't let that happen.

At least I pray they won't.

[thinkingwoman]

20. the world does...but Americans do not

Americans in general are not prepared for the numbers they're going to hear. When those numbers come out, some will whine "why didn't you tell us?"

[Pithy Cherub]

4. That is a national disgrace as especially the evacuees

deserve to know as soon as possible.

[mwb970]

6. People will start to speculate.

Maybe they'll release the real number when the speculation goes above it.

[GretchenRed]

7. Don't you think they are already?

I know I am.

[Misunderestimator]

8. He just cut someone off who was asking about Jefferson Parish

:grr:

[Swamp Rat]

10. Yep, because "Of the Devil" ordered JP communications cut by FEMA agents..

... or perhaps Blackwater mercenaries.

[Misunderestimator]

11. "That's BS!" - Lt. Gen. Russel Honore

He's saying there is NO SECURITY ISSUE in NO... That the reports of there being security concerns (sniping, etc.) preventing them from getting in there... is BS!!

Interesting.

[Bumblebee]

15. Chertoff looked somewhat stunned by H. highjacking the discussion :)

[bushisanidiot]

16. Honore also said if people want to come down to help, they can and when

that slime chertoff tried to correct him to say people need to go through FEMA, Gen. Honore stormed off and chertoff shut his trap and followed him...

what a contradiction!! honore went on and on about how there's no red tape slowing down people who want to help, then chertoff directly contradicts him and pisses him off

yes, it's quite interesting!!

[NYC]

21. Then what prevented them from getting there? Did he say?

If he is implying there was no delay, nobody will believe it.

[Misunderestimator]

27. Seemed to me he wasn't doing that... only saying that NOW there should

be no delay. He was speaking entirely about the present situation and that there was nothing preventing them from going in.

[jean]

12. can 'we' get hold of census bureau stats from all affected areas

and someone keep an accounting? It's a sure thing the bush admin (someone said they call it Murder Inc. the other day) will spin, hide, lie on these horrific numbers.

Come to think of it, there should be pretty explicit info on how many people were living where, in our Dem get out the vote databases.

[Warren Stupidity]

19. 1.34M in the NO metro area. eom.

[NYC]

23. Murder, Inc. is what they should be called.

Yesterday, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard called it bureaucratic murder.

[BootinUp]

13. They're gonna get that city drained

faster than the initial estimates, or at least drained enough to work around like within 2 or 3 weeks, imho.

And they won't be able to quell the body count. Relatives will want to know what they are finding.

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. Amazing that they are able to get rid of the water so fast

I had a thread full of trolls the other day, telling me this was impossible. Gee I haven't seen them lately?

[Kenroy]

25. trolls?

no not quite. Just people who understand science.

You made many claims, the silliest of which was that the city would be safe for people to return immediately. You ignore the toxins, you ignore the lack of sewage, electricity, clean water, supplies.

The best estimates STILL say it will take weeks to drain the city. You felt it could be done immediately simply by "punching holes in the levees".

[BootinUp]

14. Most amazing thing to me is they are just now

talking about a unified operation head quarters to improve communications and operation planning. Should have been done on the day after the disaster.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

18. watch them morph this into support for Roberts

and any serious questioning of him becomes unpatriotic.

(not to mention their horrible response) But it is black people. They don't vote and they don't count.

[NYC]

24. Now, they are caring for property, not people.

Perhaps that is why they see the necessity of having a unified operation to improve communications and operation planning.

They didn't find that necessary when dealing with victims in need of rescue and help.

[despairing optimist]

22. I doubt the feds can keep the lid on all of New Orleans and the Gulf

Too many lives lost and disrupted to be able to control it like Abu Ghraib or even Iraq in total. In order for the coverup to succeed, there has to be a certain amount of public indifference, and the public is very interested in New Orleans and the casualties. There are lots of National Guard and other rescue workers--too many people to keep quiet, especially when some of them have personal stakes in the areas they're working in.