[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

I do believe those of us who said the rumors of rape, murder, and mayhem were greatly exaggerated have been vindicated.

No you haven't. This is a strawman argument - who, precisely, was claiming there were "hundreds" dead? I remember reading stories of eyewitnesses, and they only mentioned a handful of rapes and murders; this was confirmed weeks ago by interviewed National Guardsmen who reported about six dead bodies in the Superdome. This story merely confirms again what we had been hearing all along; if you were hearing "hundreds dead" in Superdome, you must have been reading different media than I was reading.

[vbmoneyspender]

One police officer told Reuters there were 100 people in a makeshift morgue at the Superdome, mostly people who died of heat exhaustion,

Reuters Hysteria

[familyop]

"I remember reading stories of eyewitnesses, and they only mentioned a handful of rapes and murders..."

From the article:
"I think 99 percent of it is bulls---," said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Lachney, who played a key role in security and humanitarian work inside the Dome. "Don't get me wrong, bad things happened, but I didn't see any killing and raping..."

[coconutt2000]

Not a strawman argument... It is called stating the obvious. (again)

There were quite a few people on Free Republic who believed and reacted to the mainstream media's reports. There were even a few who knew somebody who knew somebody down there who confirmed the worst of the reports.

There were a lot of unconfirmed stories told by survivors of Katrina that were reported as hearsay, but were given the air time and press coverage of "factual" stories.

If the priority of the media's message is to attack a Republican, the stories and coverage are skewed to make situations look more desperate than they really are.

If the priority is to defend a Democrat, the coverage is skewed to downplay the severity of the situation.

[Rebelbase]

I don't recall hearing "hundreds dead" in the Superdome, but I do recall hearing FoxNews and msnbc reporters on the tube saying they had reports of 40 dead stacked in the freezer at the convention center.

[monday]

"This is a strawman argument - who, precisely, was claiming there were "hundreds" dead?"

You I guess. Are you still trying to inflate the numbers of dead? coconutt2000 certainly didn't make any such claim. Where the hell did you get the "hundreds" dead number? This is what the media actually reported. from the article;

"One widely circulated tale, told to The Times-Picayune by a slew of evacuees and two Arkansas National Guardsmen, held that "30 or 40 bodies" were stored in a Convention Center freezer."

The actual death toll at the convention center was four, three from natural causes, possibly one from violence. More news reports later proved to be false include;

"....no one found the body of a girl - whose age was estimated at anywhere from 7 to 13 - who, according to multiple reports, was raped and killed with a knife to the throat at the Convention Center.

Many evacuees at the Convention Center the morning of Sept. 3 treated the story as gospel, and ticked off further atrocities: a baby trampled to death, multiple child rapes..."

Did you even bother to read the whole article?