Why The Katrina Coverage Made Me Switch To Fox News!

The Post Chronicle ^ | Lee Ellis | Sept 3, 2005

[Alissa]

Watching both Fox and NBC after President Bush had been inspecting the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, I was shocked at how the nets, and even some newspapers, were trying to blame the Bush Administration for the slowness in which help was reaching the damaged cities.

Obviously, Brian Williams and his news team do not know the law, nor do they know the past history of New Orleans--a city built in a bathtub of a swamp. This is a city where the dead, for centuries, have had to be buried in above-ground structures because the water is so close to the surface of this sinking city. If coffins are put in the ground, they will rise to the surface as the underground water pushes them up. I have been to these cemeteries personally to witness this.

For decades, New Orleans has been told that the city is sinking, and that the old levees have to be rebuilt and modernized in order to keep the city from being flooded. Local officials never finished the work, nor have pleas to Congress for additional federal help been heeded. Congress has simply never seen fit to fully complete this effort, whether controlled by Democrats or Republicans.

"Why did it take five days for Bush to help?" is the mantra constantly voiced by all the "Talking Heads" on TV. Here are the reasons:

(1) It is against the law for any President to order troops into a city or across state lines without a request and permission from the Governor of that state.

John Armor, a First Amendment lawyer and one of my favorite writers, told me, "Federal law prevents the President from sending in the National Guard until the Governor gives the order. It is little known, but the Commanding General of the National Guard in every state reports to the Governor, not the President, until the Governor says otherwise. U.S. military units (regular Army, not the Guard) cannot be used because of the Posse Comitatus law, until the Guard has been authorized."

According to some news sources, the Governor of Louisiana, who knew the levees were weak, who knew that the city had been slowly sinking, and who knew that a major # 5 hurricane was approaching her city, did not call Washington for help.

(2) The Mayor of New Orleans did call for evacuation over a loud-speaker, but did nothing to be sure that the police went door-to-door, followed by transportation, to pick up all those who did not have cars or any ability to leave.

There was no other leadership practiced by the mayor there, as had been in New York City during 9/11 by Mayor Giuliani.

(3) The hurricane veered east and saved New Orleans, Brian Williams announced a week ago, and all breathed a sigh of relief...until the levees broke a day or two later allowing the surrounding waters to pour into the city.

(4) It was this predicted levee failure which had been ignored for so long that doomed the local people to be held hostage in their attics or on rooftops, not the storm. It was also the failure of the local bureaucrats and local elected leaders to maintain law and order, and to have pre-arranged for complete evacuations of the city.

It was only after a request went out to the President that troops could be sent in. Can you imagine the anti-Bush media screaming that Bush had invaded Louisiana as he had done in Iraq if he had gone in before being asked? I can just imagine The New York Times headlining, "A Repeat of Shock and Awe by Bush!"

Bill O'Reilly, on Fox News, was the only commentator I heard who explained this. All the other network commentators seemed too willing to allow the implication inferred by the viewers, that this was all the fault of the Bush Administration.

I guess the Far Left also works in mysterious ways!

Now you know why my channel is glued to Fox News, and why I no longer listen to NBC or its aide-de-camp, MSNBC!

[Caipirabob]

Great post.

[Pharmboy]

...except when Whoraldo shows up.

[advance_copy]

Fox News is almost as bad as the rest of them.

[Dustbunny]

Bumping that post !!

[stopem]

Not almost, they are just as bad if not worse, they have gone against the President as bad as the rest don't kid yourself they are enablers too.

[manwiththehands]

It's easier to say "it was Bush's fault" than it is to explain why it wasn't - especially if you have a "blame Bush for everything" agenda.

[TheRobb7]

Does anyone have links to stories criticizing Bush for visiting Florida "too soon" after Hurricane Ivan?

It was about this time last year, around the time of the Debates.

I've Googled for hours and come up empty. Any help you could give me would be appreciated.

[montag813]

The Falafel Factor last week was despicable. Whenever Shep Smith came on he was the voice of reason amidst the shouting madness of Whoraldo and the Leprechaun.

[Straight Vermonter]

ping

[Savage Beast]

The ways in which the Left works are mysterious because the Left is a mixture of deluded and often stupid followers and self-serving, manipulative sociopathic leaders.

The leaders have an agenda, more or less concealed from the followers, that, reduced to basics, amounts to aggrandizement and power for themselves.

Many of the followers mean well and have good intentions but are too dumb and/or too deluded to understand what's going on.

The "Mainstream Newsmedia" is the Propaganda Machine for the Left.

When you understand this--and, for the honest, intelligent, and wise, it's an easy matter--the ways in which the Left works are no longer mysterious. In fact, they're easy to understand.

There's nothing mysterious about sociopaths and morons. They are easy to understand.

[bert]

.....Obviously, Brian Williams and his news team do not know the law, nor do they know the past history of New Orleans.....

The reporter doesn't understand the situation. Law and history are irrelevant to the story. The story is that the president failed. Facts aren't allowed to get in the way or color the story in any way.

General Electric wants President Bush gone and Brian Williams is its tool to eliminate president Bush.

[t2buckeye]

Not so much lately. But I admit...the reporters in there early were irresponsible in some cases. Granted, they were seeing terrible things...but their response led the Bush Bashing I think. Their thinking was...we got in, why can't the food and stuff. All they did was report, "Oh the humanity" rather than be helpful. And my question is...why did they focus so much on reporting the horrors rather than act as human beings, BRING in food and water themselves,and report information so the authorities could get there. Fox, as time went on, did some of this.
Looking back...I think it is quite amazing that they were able to evacuate all those people as quickly as they did...

[Socratic]

Do you know what city the Post Chronicle is published from? One would think that a simple search of the site might give a ready answer, but like most online versions of newspapers and TV stations, the web masters just assume that everyone knows what city they are headquartered in.

[Wolverine]

It's THE DEMOCRATS FAULT..!

 

There's a Democrat Mayor, a Democrat City Council, a Democrat Chief of Police, a Democrat Attorney General, a Democrat Governor, a Democrat Lt. Governor, 24 of 39 Louisiana State Senators are Democrat, 67 of 105 Louisiana State House Representatives are Democrat, there's a Democrat Representative in the House from New Orleans, and one of two Senators in the Senate is a Democrat.

Q.3. Why only Category 3 protection? A.3. That is what we were authorized to do.    http://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/hurricane/KatrinaImages/floodwall-break.jpg

Release Date: July 23, 2004
Release number: R6-04-093

Hurricane Pam Exercise Concludes.(2004 New Orleans Disaster Prediction)
U.S. Government FEMA news release ^ | July 23, 2004 | FEMA

The "Hurricane Pam" scenario called for the evacuation of New Orleans BEFORE New Orleans was destroyed and FEMA's job was to then come in and clean up the mess.

However, in spite of LSU Hurricane Center and U.S. Government scietists predictions of catastrophic damage in the New Orleans flood basin by only "a slow-moving Category 3" hurricane in a FEMA exercise conducted in 2004...............

in spite of the fact that Katrina was predicted as a Category 5 Hurricane...............

...........the Democrat Governor of Louisianna and the Democrat Mayor of New Orleans did nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to plan for the evacuation of New Orleans' low-income population before a predicted Category 5 hurricane although hundreds of city-owned buses remained neatly parked in city-owned parking lots.

These are the Mayor's buses. 

1 YEAR AGO "Ivan exposes flaws in N.O.'s disaster plans" Mayor & Gov. fail to learn lesson

[RnMomof7]

Fox's news coverage was good. But I figured out that IF one is interested in the TRUTH you need to watch all 3 of the major cable news networks.

Of the 3 I watched I felt that MSNBC had the best on the scene coverage ( showing the N.O. police looting Wal-mart and confronting them as an example. )

Fox gave the best analysis and CNN the best international coverage (world reaction and how it was presented to the islamic terrorists matter)

I was impressed with the humanity of Shepherd Smith ( I am a fan of his anyway :) (Hannity never impresses me )

If we want to be informed citizens we can not narrow our information to what we want to hear.

[ken5050]

FYI..John Armour..aka FR's own "Congressman Billybob"

[Humal]

Excellent article. The part about it being the GOVERNOR'S duty to call in the National Guard has been ignored by nearly all talking heads, including FOX, during this whole thing.

I also agree with you about Fox News declining -- especially with Geraldo. They have blended Fox and CNN so much, it's hard to tell the difference.

[txrangerette]

Their home page says they have offices in Rockaway New Jersey and Portsmouth Virginia. Seems to be an online thing, rather than a city newspaper that is also online. But I could be wrong...

[Socratic]

Thanks