>>>I don't watch Scarborough on a regular basis either, but he does use MSNBC news reporters who are MSM. The TP is the area's biggest paper by circulation and the 35th largest paper in America with 254,897 daily. <<<
Again, even if FEMA was monitoring the MSM, they would have to have been very lucky to catch those reports.
>>>I can look further, but based on your response, I really don't think you are interested in the facts. Anything that conflicts with your preconceived ideas are automatically suspect.<<<
Don't let me stand in the way of your FEMA bashing. If you have more 'mainstream' reports from August 31, 2005, then by all mean post them.
I will repeat the last statement from my last post. "I am still interested in finding out how many MSM reporters (e.g., those who normally report on network and cable nightly news) were actually reporting this on Wednesday, August 31."
>>>Perceptions are more important than reality in this case. Legally, you are correct. However, you can be right and still be wrong. The Feds should have stepped in at that point and taken charge. Legalisms and bureaucratic turf wars don't play well in Peoria. When someone is drowning, you throw them a life preserver even if the lifeguard says you can't.<<<
You are right. If I was running FEMA I would have sent in 300 helicopters to help rescue those in danger of drowning. Wait a minute . . . that is what FEMA did.
Sometimes there just aren't enough helicopters.
Very lucky to catch it? How do you come to that conclusion? The logic escapes me. I recall hearing it on CNN repeatedly Aug 31 to September 1. I have been following events fairly closely and those reports got my attention. It was the first time I had heard that people were going to the convention center in addition to the Superdome.
I have been involved in some evacuations overseas. It was not unusual to have the people back in Washington tell us what was going on from watching CNN before we reported it back to them.
FYI: We now know that the Red Cross attempted to position supplies in both places prior to the Hurricane and immediately afterwards. The LA Office of Homeland Security prevented it because they didn't want them to become "magnets" to attract people. Obviously, the Red Cross was aware of the convention center as a place of refuge.
Don't let me stand in the way of your FEMA bashing. If you have more 'mainstream' reports from August 31, 2005, then by all mean post them.
You missed my point, but why should I be surprised. First, I never mentioned FEMA or bashed them. I blame it on the Feds, including the WH. Once conditions at the Convention Center and the Superdome were known, they should have gone in regardless of what the Governor and the Mayor wanted. You save lives and then fight the bureaucratic battle. Having life saving supplies held up at the very doorstep of the city because of a bureaucratic turf battle is unacceptable.
You are right. If I was running FEMA I would have sent in 300 helicopters to help rescue those in danger of drowning. Wait a minute . . . that is what FEMA did. Sometimes there just aren't enough helicopters.
They didn't have to send in helicopters, they had vehicles that could reach both places, the same way the MSM went in there. When you have tens of thousands of people congregated in a couple of locations, it is far easier to meet their needs than plucking them off of roofs one at a time. We had the resources to do both.
Overall, the federal response has been magnificent. No other country in the world could have done what we did. The biggest mistake we made was not recognizing the significance, humanitarian and PR wise, of what was happening at the Superdome and Convention Center. The MSM blew it up out of proportion and the feds made it worse by letting it fester.
I blame it on Chertoff and Brown, two lawyers who were neither leaders or managers. They had the President negotiating with Blanco using some legal agreement and asking her to sign it. They failed to understand the need to take action immediately and had a tin ear when it came to understanding the political aspect of it.
The President understood immediately and expressed his dissatisfaction with the slowness of the response. He immediately visited the area two times in a several day span and is going back again shortly. Cabinet members soon followed. Gen Honore filled the leadership vacuum with his 8 mile long convoy and finally, we had the image of someone taking charge.