Crocodile tears .
Posted on 09/19/2005 3:03:21 PM PDT by blogblogginaway
WASHINGTON - The Jefferson Parish president's emotional retelling of a mother's desperate calls from a New Orleans nursing home included details that conflict with the timeline of the tragedy.
The story, of a colleague's mother begging her son for rescue as flood waters rose after Hurricane Katrina, came to prominence on Sunday, Sept. 4, when Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, was interviewed by Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)
New details and interviews with the son whose mother died in the flood show that the tragedy unfolded from Saturday through Monday, Aug. 29 — not Monday through Friday, Sept. 2 as recounted by Broussard. The owners of the nursing home were indicted Tuesday for the deaths of more than 30 residents, which officials say occurred on Aug. 29.
In the course of the interview, in which Broussard was expressing frustration with the slow-footed response by the federal government to the hurricane, he related the personal story of a man whose mother had died in the flooding caused by Katrina. Broussard, who did not identify the man by name at the time, broke down in tears as he related the story. As the Meet the Press transcript shows, Russert paused the interview to allow Broussard to compose himself.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
"re-thinks" or discovers lie?
When I first heard that guy I didn't believe anything he was saying.
Good Theatre, and I thought Russert was in the news business.
I wonder if he was told before the interview with Russert to 'get angry' or something to the like of which CNN got caught telling their reporters and interviewees?
Some more from storie ...........
BROUSSARD: ... The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.
RUSSERT: Mr. President...
BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.
RUSSERT: Just take a pause, Mr. President. While you gather yourself in your very emotional times, I understand, let me go to Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.
Since the broadcast of the interview, which elevated Broussard to national prominence, a number of bloggers have questioned the validity of Broussard’s story.
Subsequent reporting identified the man whom Broussard was referring to in the Meet the Press interview as Thomas Rodrigue, the Jefferson Parish emergency services director. Contacted on Friday by MSNBC.com, Rodrigue acknowledged that his 92-year-old mother and more than 30 other people died in the St. Rita nursing home. They had not been evacuated and the flood waters overtook the residence.
The chronology of the phone calls described by Broussard came under particular scrutiny by bloggers.
Rodrigue said he didn’t see or hear Broussard’s comments on Meet the Press. When told of the sequence of phone calls that Broussard described on Meet the Press, Rodrigue said “No, no, that’s not true.”
Broussard is a scoundrel and a phony. Being investigated by authorities before Katrina hit (but then most of Louisiana politicians are/were in the same boat).
Did this big lie story make news this passed Sunday on Russerts show???
The article states, "Since the broadcast of the interview, which elevated Broussard to national prominence, a number of bloggers have questioned the validity of Broussard’s story."
Gee, heaven forbid that Tim Russert, himself, could have verified the facts before he gave this guy air time. Once again, the bloggers had to point out what should have been researched before it was ever aired as "fact." I'm starting to think these talking heads are nothing more than daytime talk show hosts - they certainly can't count themselves as serious journalists.
Ping...
"fake, but accurate."
The MSM's motto.
Crocodile tears .
Just like always with the MSM, they so desperately wanted to believe the story they didn't bother to check it out or question it.
This is basically the same logic Rather used with the TANG memos...ignore the red flags popping up in the story, the important thing is that it COULD have happened!
Old Media hasn't learned a thing since last September.
CBS actually debunked this story on 9/7. The fact that MSNBC, NBC and CNN have continued this sham of a story is disgraceful at best.
I agree, I saw him first time on a NON US news program.
He looked like a fake. a drama queen.
(algore invented the internet style)
I just saw the last two seconds of Chrissy Matthews interviewing the guy today! I didn't hear a word Broussard said, but Chrissy was falling all over him, saying what a great guy he was, what a great job he was doing in Louisiana, etc. I wish I would have seen the entire segment, especially after reading this "update".
The right thing to do would be for Russert to correct this story on his show, and make Broussard recant what he said and apologize for lying.
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