HA! thank you! I was just beginning to wonder why this thread was reading more and more like one of those Hate Shep threads I keep coming across and could not figure out why the annimosity towards him? And lo and behold, you answered my question......
"I'm sure Anderson Cooper, Shep Smith and Joe Sacrborough will be in Beirut any day now weeping for all the poor American backpackers the administration has so cruely left behind."
Personally, I though Shep did an excellent job covering Katrina and will do so here as well. Of course, that will mean telling it like it is, even if the 'Administration' does end up looking bad. I know, I know, gawd forbid that GWB should be criticized, even when he does a piss poor job.
I have no problem criticizing Bush for those things the administration truly mucks up, like overspending and lack of border control. What I have a problem with is a media culture that has become drenched in the need to attack Bush on everything. Can you remember the last time you saw a positive story on anything domestically or abroad the administration had supposedly done well?? I sure don't. Surely the economy is on strong footing and the nation not been attacked for 5 years on its soil out of more than just pure happenstance. Yet during Clinton's presidency, all we heard how the state of the economy was all thanks to him and everything good in the world was because of his Midas touch. I honestly have no seen anything aired or printed giving Bush credit for anything or citing any positive contribution of his presidency in years other than in conservative publications.
No, I have no problem with constructive criticism. What I have a problem with are pretty boy TV talking heads who take themselves way too seriously and use emotion rather than intellect to drive opinion-based journalism. I have no use for vapid schmos who just want to jump on some populist bandwagon of "We all feel so bad about Katrina. We need to blame someone! LET'S BLAME BUSH!!!" just to be popular and make themselves look good. Why not educate the public as to the difficulty associated of moving men, material and transportation equipment into an area about to be hit by a hurricane or an airstrike rather than adopting the Democratic talking points of "It's all because Bush is incompetent?" Is it really too much to ask that they leave their emotions, and opinions, out of things and maybe go 2 inches below the surface of a story to get at the facts?
Anyway, I guess you're part of the "Bush doesn't control the border so he sucks in every other way and I've lost all ability at fairness and objectivity in every other issue" crowd here on Free Republic. Have at it. We've all been bored by you types before. We'll suffer you yet again.
I don't expect the FEDERAL government to do what LOCAL and STATE governments are responsible for doing.
The only people who thought Shep Smith did a good job in New Orleans are those who didn't (and still don't) know what happened during the hurricane. He spouted almost as many lies per minute (LPM) than Dan Rather talking about President Bush's ANG history. Let's start with "Well, it looks like New Orleans has dodged the bullet" (over and over, many times during the "news" cast, even as the levees began to spill the waters into New Orleans). I could go on about "babies being raped in the Super Dome"--or was that Geraldo? The two are of a kind.