Posted on 09/16/2005 5:20:34 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
ABC News producers probably didn't hear what they expected when they sent Dean Reynolds to the Houston Astrodome's parking lot to get reaction to President Bush's speech from black evacuees from New Orleans. Instead of denouncing Bush and blaming him for their plight, they praised Bush and blamed local officials. Reynolds asked Connie London: "Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response?" She rejected the premise: "No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in." She pointed out: "They had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people."
Not one of the six people interviewed on camera had a bad word for Bush -- despite Reynolds' best efforts. Reynolds goaded: "Was there anything that you found hard to believe that he said, that you thought, well, that's nice rhetoric, but, you know, the proof is in the pudding?" Brenda Marshall answered, "No, I didn't," prompting Reynolds to marvel to anchor Ted Koppel: "Very little skepticism here."
Reynolds pressed another woman: "Did you feel that the President was sincere tonight?" She affirmed: "Yes, he was." Reynolds soon wondered who they held culpable for the levee breaks. Unlike the national media, London did not blame supposed Bush-mandated budget cuts: "They've been allocated federal funds to fix the levee system, and it never got done. I fault the mayor of our city personally. I really do."
Immediately after Bush finished his speech from Jackson Square in New Orleans, at about 8:26pm local CDT, Ted Koppel, anchor of ABC's hour-long coverage, went to Dean Reynolds who was outside in a parking lot with a group of black people from New Orleans who are living at the Reliant Center next to the Astrodome.
(No names were provided on-screen for those interviewed, so I only have first names for two, and no name for one, of the six.)
Reynolds elicited reaction from the group sitting in chairs: "I'd like to get the reaction of Connie London who spent several horrible hours at the Superdome. You heard the President say repeatedly that you are not alone, that the country stands beside you. Do you believe him?"
Connie London: "Yeah, I believe him, because here in Texas, they have truly been good to us. I mean-"
Reynolds: "Did you get a sense of hope that you could return to your home one day in New Orleans?"
London: "Yes, I did. I did."
Reynolds: "Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response?"
London: "No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in. They should have been on their jobs."
Reynolds: "And they weren't?"
London: "No, no, no, no. Lord, they wasn't. I mean, they had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people."
Reynolds: "Now, Mary, you were rescued from your house which was basically submerged in your neighborhood. Did you hear something in the President's words that you could glean some hope from?"
Mary: "Yes. He said we're coming back, and I believe we're coming back. He's going to build the city up. I believe that."
Reynolds: "You believe you'll be able to return to your home?"
Mary: "Yes, I do."
Reynolds: "Why?"
Mary: "Because I really believe what he said. I believe. I got faith."
Reynolds: "Back here in the corner, we've got Brenda Marshall, right?"
Brenda Marshall: "Yes."
Reynolds: "Now, Brenda, you were, spent, what, several days at the Superdome, correct?"
Marshall: "Yes, I did."
Reynolds: "What did you think of what the President told you tonight?"
Marshall: "Well, I think -- I think the speech was wonderful, you know, him specifying that we will return back and that we will have like mobile homes, you know, rent or whatever. I was listening to that pretty good. But I think it was a well fine speech."
Reynolds: "Was there any particular part of it that stood out in your mind? I mean, I saw you all nod when he said the Crescent City is going to come back one day."
Marshall: "Well, I think I was more excited about what he said. That's probably why I nodded."
Reynolds: "Was there anything that you found hard to believe that he said, that you thought, well, that's nice rhetoric, but, you know, the proof is in the pudding?"
Marshall: "No, I didn't."
Reynolds: "Good. Well, very little skepticism here. Frederick Gould, did you hear something that you could hang on to tonight from the President?"
Frederick Gould: "Well, I just know, you know, he said good things to me, you know, what he said, you know. I was just trying to listen to everything they were saying, you know."
Reynolds: "And Cecilia, did you feel that the President was sincere tonight?"
Cecilia: "Yes, he was."
Reynolds: "Do you think this is a little too late, or do you think he's got a handle on the situation?"
Cecilia: "To me it was a little too late. It was too late, but he should have did something more about it."
Reynolds: "Now do you all believe that you will one day return to your homes?"
Voices: "Yes" and "I do."
Reynolds: "I mean, do you all want to return to your homes? We're hearing some people don't even want to go back."
Mary: "I want to go back."
Reynolds: "You want to go back."
Mary: "I want to go back. That's my home. That's all I know."
Reynolds: "Is it your home for your whole life?"
Mary: "Right. That's my home."
Reynolds: "And do you expect to go back to the house or a brand new dwelling or what?"
Mary: "I expect to go back to something. I know it ain't my house, because it's gone."
Reynolds: "What is the one mistake that could have been prevented that would have made your lives much better? Is it simply getting all of you out much sooner or what was it?"
Mary: "I'm going to tell you the truth. I had the opportunity to get out, but I didn't believe it. So I stayed there till it was too late."
Reynolds: "Did you all have the same feeling? I mean, did you all have the opportunity to get out, but you were skeptical that this was the really bad one?"
Unnamed woman: "No, I got out when they said evacuate. I got out that Sunday and I left before the storm came. But I know they could have did better than what they did because like they said, buses were just sitting there, and they could have came through there and got people out, because they were saying immediate evacuation. Some people didn't believe it. But they should have brung the force of the army through to help these people and make them understand it really was coming."
London: "And really it wasn't Hurricane Katrina that really tore up the city. It was when they opened the floodgates. It was not the hurricane itself. It was the floodgates, when they opened the floodgates, that's where all the water came."
Reynolds: "Do you blame anybody for this?"
London: "Yes. I mean, they've been allocated federal funds to fix the levee system, and it never got done. I fault the mayor of our city personally. I really do."
Reynolds: "All right. Well, thank you all very much. I wish you all the best of luck. I hope you don't have to spend too much more time here in the Reliant Center and you can get back to New Orleans as the President said. Ted, that is the word from the Houston Astrodome. And as I said, when the President said that the Crescent City will rise again, there were nods all around this parking lot."
...a video or audio clip from this story, go to this node on the MRC's blog NewsBusters.org, exposing and combating liberal media bias: newsbusters.org
Sorry, I posted this earlier. See thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1485585/posts
It sounds like many of the displaced people have benefited by not listening to the MSM news slant, much to ABC's chagrin.
Hey don't be sorry, I apologize to you. However Brent won't mind the double post as it shows we are reading.
Surprised ABC aired this piece.....
Ted Koppel looked shocked after the interview. He grudgingly said the President's speech was effective if that's the way many people reacted. Then he went to George Stephanopolous and returned quickly to Bush-bashing.
In a nutshell.
:-) It's a great piece
The commies at abc couldn't believe that the "victims from NO" did not have a bad word to say about President Bush, just the opposite, they all believe him and trust in his words. One woman admitted that she could have gotten out, but CHOSE to stay. They blamed the mayor and governor, not the President for the lack of buses going into the neighborhoods to help evacuate the people. These people know that the mayor had access to the school buses and did not use them. The lefty reporterette almost pleaded with these people to say something, anything bad about the President, but to no avail.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, screwed again, abc.
I love the 'captured grammar' ... definitely inner-city folk who did not get a lot of 'schoolin' in their youth.
It's good to see that some of the victims are not buying into the MSM BS that everything is Bush's fault. They were there, they know the real story. When the storm hit, local and state officials were woefully incompetent, period.
I am so glad that this information is getting out there. Not all of the evacuees are of the same mindset. I was discussing this with the wife of someone very high in my husband's command. For some, Katrina may be the door to an opportunity to change their lives to the positive.
Hmmm. If this attitude is widespread among the evacuees from N.O., not only may Louisiana loose a lot of hitherto reliably demonRAT voters, but wherever they end up settling, they may not be so reliably tied to the party of the left anymore.
But Bush's words failed to sway Houstonian Clara Guidry, 49. Her daughter, Kesha Jones, 27, a New Orleans-area hospital worker, had to flee Katrina with her boyfriend's family. The couple and seven others slept in Guidry's one-bedroom apartment several days before returning to southeast Louisiana Saturday.
Guidry said she does not believe the president did all he could to help residents stranded in the city for days after the storm and she suggested Thursday night's speech was more damage control than impassioned commitment.
"He talks well, but I don't think he'll be able to do what he's claiming to do," she said. "But I am glad he admitted that he had a part in what happened there."
At the Reliant Center shelter, New Orleans evacuee Yolanda Johnson endured poor reception on her tiny television as well as frequent interruptions from loudspeaker announcements and children playing nearby as she watched the speech. Afterward, she said she was disappointed.
"I really thought he was going to say something beneficial, something for us to look forward to,'' said Johnson, 39. "It's the same thing we've been reading in the paper. Every politician makes promises and the promises are never kept."
New Orleans residents gathered at Mhakea LaMotte's Clear Lake home cheered when the president pledged to rebuild their city and affirmed its historic importance.
"Now let's just see if he holds up to his word," said Liande Wainie, 47, a legal courier from east New Orleans.
Joel Ortego, living with his wife, Tara, in an west Houston hotel, laughed sarcastically when the president said some of the rebuilding funds would be given to local authorities.
"Better be careful in Louisiana," Ortego said, referring to the city's reputation for eccentric politicians and less-than-honest governance.
His friend, Susan Capel, of New Orleans, agreed.
"There's no guarantee that the money is going to get where it needs to go," she said.
Though the group looked at the television with skepticism throughout Bush's speech, they couldn't help but get caught up with the presidents' words as he conjured up images of jazz bands playing through a rebuild Crescent City.
"He's absolutely right," Tara Ortego said. "That city will never die."
(Pretty good cross section of public opinion. I don't sense a "raw anger" being expressed against Bush; however, that some in the MSM and on the Hill would like the victims of Katrina to publicly portray.)
The best bit of unintentionally outstanding journalism ever.
Send that link to everyone you know. The truth will out.
Absolutely stunning.
After somewhat fair and reasonable questions to the evacuees did not elicit the desired responses, the left-wing media maggot started in with the usual LEADING questions. Even THEY did not work.
I enjoyed that immensely.
I bet those people won't be let back into New Orleans (and vote against the mayor)!
I saw the interviews last night real time.
While it was happening, I kept thinking to myself: "ABC is not liking this one bit".
It felt like his questions were leading them to bash Bush. None of them bit though. You see, these are the folks on the ground. The one's hardest hit. You can try and sugar coat it and put whatever slant you want, but they know that local and state government failed them first. The federal government has come in to pick up the pieces.
Having lived through Hurricane Andrew and its aftermath, I can tell you that the only thing we felt when we saw the helicopters, tanks, and army convoys come down was a sense of relief. A belief that everything was going to be OK and that the calvary had come in. No resentments for the US government at all. It was a natural disaster. People did the best they could to survive. We were just glad someone was willing to be there to help us pick up the pieces.
agreed
I guess that would be her response; she's from Louisiana!
I almost puked after watching Channel 13 last night at 10PM. They started by showcasing a family who had taken in a bunch of refugees, all of whom were pissed at Bush and blaming him for their plight. It was such an orchestrated event...right down to Dave Ward's look of hatred when the little slack-jawed faggot reporter brought it back to the Studio talking-heads. Channel 13 used to have half-way decent news. Now they have the stupid sound effects and even more stupid news people. It's just all tabloid television now.
This just means that the media hs to crank up the propaganda machine a little harder.
The democrats are deeply saddened.
When they do, you can be sure those same individuals will be paraded across the MSM..hopping from show to show.
Hope Rush replays this on his show today!
Well, this is a glimmer of hope that somehow, someway, the real truth of this situation is getting to the evacuees.
We are winning - - this is a "crack in the levee" of the mainstream media monolith....
My faith in American and humanity is restored.
Ping-a-ling
I watched portions of an ABC News special last night on Katrina, but don't know if this is from the same program. What I watched was a hit piece on president Bush. Recounting trips to Arizona and Arizona, as well as his low level flight over the gulf in Air Force One. At every turn it bashed the federal response and blamed Bush. It was as if Michael Moore was the ABC News producer.
Given this scenario, methinks all the alphabets might be having second thoughts about locating bureaus in N.O. in the coming years while the reconstruction is underway. Comments like these, coming from those most affected, are going to kill their propoganda machine.
After everyone finally left the city...they had a chance to see pictures of buses sitting in parking lots...which they knew the precise lot that was shown. They sat and watch 1000's of GI's move in and help where help was needed. They watched the government literally help fly folks out...at no charge...and provide shelter...at no charge. And then they watched the befuddled mayor attempt to spin this whole story...with the media. These are poor people...but they aren't that dumb. They know that staying at the SuperDome now...was a terrible idea...and never was intended to be a long term solution. If they had known this before the hurricane...most would have found ways to leave town. They counted on the SuperDome...and the city...and the state...and came out the loser.
I listened to New Orleans/Baton Rouge talk radio for hours every day via the internet (they had hurricane-aftermath talk discussions going on 24/7).
I can honestly say I heard absolutely nobody say anything bad about the president. The hosts and callers were mostly black, by the way.
I heard maybe one host and one caller say that Jesse Jackson should shut up. I heard quite a few 'bashes' of the governor and mayor.
But not one bad word, not one about Bush. He was mentioned a few times, usually just casual comments about his visits. He was always referred to respectfully, usually "the president" or "president Bush."
Then I happened to turn on a national radio talk show (I'm pretty sure it was Stern - if I had known it was his show I wouldn't have bothered listening at all) and it wasn't one minute gone by but there was some comedian bashing Bush for just flying over NO or something.
anyway, so after listening to all this, I was convinced that the Bush-bashing is completely an outside-New Orleans thing, and that the people actually affected aren't participating in it.
this nightline segment confirms what I already knew.
"...It was as if Michael Moore was the ABC News producer...."
Maybe he was and is an abc producer.
The MSM and the liberals are going to learn the hard way what we learned through the Clinton impeachment: the American people really want to trust and believe their President, no matter what; and they automatically look to the President in times of crisis, no matter what the MSM "approval rating" polls and biased reporters say they should think about the President. George Bush has the gift of compassion and the ability of communicating it every bit as much as Clinton did, and the people are going to believe him. He looked the American people in the eye last night and said, "my bad, but we're gonna make it right and stand by you now and make sure you have better days ahead." It was pitch-perfect and the people believe him! Tough nuts for the MSM and the liberals. They had best put their guns back in their holsters now and STFU, or else the people are going to turn their guns back in their own faces.
Mary: "I expect to go back to something. I know it ain't my house, because it's gone."
I don't think she will feel the same after Nagin and his cronies take her property and "redevelop" it into a condo. Past wednesday they had their first meeting on "rebuilding" NO. These poor saps in the article think they own their land!! (I know land ownership went out of style with Kelo, but some people didn't get the word) They better grab their ankles.
This shows the real RACISM. ABC thought these people were stupid because they are black.
**To ABC's Surprise, Katrina Victims Praise Bush and Blame Nagin **
The truth will come out!
Video link here
http://thepoliticalteen.net/2005/09/16/abcbias/
Bush has the potential to make serious progress in bringing black voters to the GOP and away from the Democratic plantation.
The initial reaction from talking heads was that the Katrina response would cause the GOP to lose black voters for another generation. I see the potential opposite. they know it's the local and state governments to blame.
I watched the news nearly 24/7 for the first week of the Katrina disaster... mostly Fox, but PMSNBC, CNN, etc.
Blacks, whites, Latinos... nearly EVERYONE interviewed blamed Ray Nagin. The most vociferous group was an attempted interview, live feed, on CNN. The cameraman was panning across the back of a big pickup loaded with displaced N.O. citizens, about eight blacks and two whites. As soon as they saw the camera on them, everyone started yelling "Screw you, Nagin!". One man and one woman got right in front of the camera, flipped the double bird, and yelled "F*** YOU, RAY!! F*** YOU, RAY!! over and over. The cameraman, perhaps unaware that his feed was live, kept recording. Of course, that was the last time I saw CNN broadcast that footage.
It's a simple equation... Local, then state, then federal. It trumps ANY argument offered up by the MSM that FEMA, Bush, etc. is to blame.
Cease thy apologistic prattle, GWB.
"But Bush's words failed to sway Houstonian Clara Guidry, 49. Her daughter, Kesha Jones, 27, a New Orleans-area hospital worker, had to flee Katrina with her boyfriend's family."
That's right.... Katrina was Bush's fault. These are the trype of people that are ready to complain about anything related to Bush. They're not even from N' awlin's!
Big disappointment for ABC news.
I saw this on ABC last night and laughed my head off. ABC's Dean Reynolds was doing his very best to get these people to criticize the President, but they were not taking the bait. One of the women was furious with the local and state officials.
It was a joy to behold.
When God closes a door, he opens a window......I believe that a LOT of people will change their lives for the better.
Story is on Rush show right now...
What you will now have to watch is the DNC fire up the anti Bush machine that will hammer his leadership. Then when that doesn't work, they will all jump aboard the efforts and claim responsibilty for the fast turnaround.
Just a note to NO. When Democrats come knocking, think about Bostons Big Dig.
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