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Right-wing talkers adjust to prexy's falling numbers. President Bush's approval ratings are near record lows, as are Vice President Dick Cheney's following a hunting accident that not only renewed charges of White House secrecy but also made him a ripe target for latenight comics. So what are conservative talk and cable hosts to do? Hey, how 'bout them Oscars? Talk hosts always tackle a wide variety of subjects, but with the Bush team increasingly looking like the gang that couldn't shoot straight -- literally, in Cheney's case -- there's a certain value for right-leaning talent in changing the subject. Recent...

Journal Editorial Report (Paul Gigot) - FNC show page Meme: Iran is the real problem and we can't win in Iraq because we haven't "taken care" of themBush made a very important foreign policy trip - did anyone notice? Topics: Is Iran outsmarting the U.S. in the fight for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people? (per FNC web page)Is Iran waging war against Americans in Iraq? (per Opinion Journal web page)President Bush makes history abroad, but is dogged by controversy at home (per FNC web page)A debate over President Bush's South Asia trip and his nuclear deal with...

The videotape of Governor Kathleen Blanco telling White House staffers the New Orleans levee had not breached was the talk of the Capitol on Friday. The videotaped, obtained by the Associated Press, was taken hours after the White House received confirmation from the National Weather Service that the levees had breached. At noon on August 29th, Blanco's voice is heard on the tape telling staffers, "I think we've heard that we have not breached the levees. We have not breached the levees at this point in time." That was the same time Hurricane Katrina was flooding New Orleans East and...

Clarification: Katrina-Video story ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) _ In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials. The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking. The day before the storm hit, Bush was...

WASHINGTON -- As Hurricane Katrina loomed over the Gulf Coast, federal and state officials agonized over the threat to levees and lives. Hours after the catastrophic storm hit, Louisiana's governor believed New Orleans' crucial floodwalls were still intact. "We keep getting reports in some places that maybe water is coming over the levees," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said shortly after noon on Aug. 29 - the day the storm hit the Gulf coast. "We heard a report unconfirmed, I think, we have not breached the levee," she said on a video of the day's disaster briefing that was obtained Thursday night...

In the aftermath of the public revelation of the presidential "teleconference" and mounting criticism of the performance of Michael Chertoff, Administration sources told HUMAN EVENTS today that the secretary of Homeland Security has "only a few days left" in the Bush Cabinet. As one source acquainted with the former federal prosecutor and U.S. Appellate Judge said under promise of anonymity, "They will give [Chertoff] a little time so it won't hurt his reputation too much, but he's probably got only a few days left." For weeks, Chertoff has been under fire from Capitol Hill and in the media for his...

March 02, 2006 The AP Katrina Briefing Story - Rathergate Connection Yesterday, in looking at the AP piece on the Bush Katrina briefings (Rewriting Katrina History - AP Style), I had this to stay about the AP's work: ...[I]t has all the hallmarks of the Bush Air National Guard story on 60 Minutes II by Dan Rather and Mary Mapes. The AP has dressed up mundane video to try and prove that President Bush (and everyone else) knew that the levees in New Orleans were going to breech. The problem is the evidence they present in their story to make...

Video Shows Leaders' Dissonance By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer Ron Fournier , 9:52 AM ET WASHINGTON - President Bush vowed, "We are fully prepared." Mike Brown barked orders. Weather experts warned of a killer storm. The behind-the-scenes drama, captured on videotape as Hurricane Katrina roared ashore, confirmed Americans' suspicions of government leaders: They can run a good meeting, but little else. ADVERTISEMENT Yes No Yes No Yes No It is hard to review the transcripts and footage obtained by The Associated Press without reaching three conclusions. _Federal, state and local officials knew what was about to occur. _They knew...

This week's Associated Press reporting on the leaked Katrina briefing tapes contains a seemingly minor but actually quite significant factual error and subsequent hit job on President Bush. The reporting buried among sturdier assertions the claim that Mr. Bush was warned about possible breaches of the levees on Aug. 28-29, right before and during Hurricane Katrina's onslaught on the Gulf Coast. In reality, he was warned about many potential problems on these tapes -- but levee breaches weren't among them. The AP reported this as though it were fact, and then uncritically quoted Democratic partisans who were only too happy...

Friday, March 3, 2006 11:54 a.m. EST Bush Didn’t Lie About Levee Breaching News sources have reported that President Bush lied when he said he wasn’t warned that the levees in New Orleans could be breached during Hurricane Katrina. But a videotape of a key meeting between Bush and hurricane officials supports the president’s contention that the breaching of the levees was unanticipated. On September 1, four days after Katrina struck, Bush said: "I don’t think anybody anticipated a breach of the levees.” The Associated Press on Wednesday claimed that "federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security...

The media at all levels on Wednesday pounced on video released by the AP of government conference calls held as Hurricane Katrina hit last August, with most stories portraying them as containing a smoking gun about how President Bush was warned about potential levee failure. But as FNC's Brit Hume noted on his show Thursday night, the video, which MSNBC's Hardball hyped Wednesday as “breaking news,” was hardly any such thing, or “confidential video” as the AP hyped, since the video was made public at the time and the sessions were open to the press. During Hume's panel segment, Bill...

"Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings. For there is none worthy of the name but God, whom heaven, earth and sea obey." Thus spake the humble early English King Canute, who once mocked flattering courtiers by demonstrating his impotence in the face of an incoming tide. "Stop," he said, attempting to command the waves, which of course kept coming. ...Thus we have this week's new low in anti-Bush hysteria, in which Democrats and assorted media are alleging some kind of scandal in a piece of videotape showing President Bush was warned that Hurricane...

MSNBC versus NBC News. MSNBC's David Shuster, at the top of Thursday's Hardball, and NBC's Lisa Myers at the start of the NBC Nightly News, played the identical soundbites from Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center warning, on Sunday August 28, about his “grave concern” the levees in New Orleans could be “topped,” and a clip of President Bush four days later maintaining that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." But they used the soundbites to prove opposite assessments. Shuster contended that Mayfield's video “seems to contradict what President Bush said about Katrina” since Mayfield's...

In the hectic, confused hours after Hurricane Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast, Louisiana's governor hesitantly but mistakenly assured the Bush administration that New Orleans' protective levees were intact, according to new video obtained by The Associated Press showing briefings that day with federal officials. "We keep getting reports in some places that maybe water is coming over the levees," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said shortly after noon on Aug. 29, according to the video. "We heard a report unconfirmed, I think, we have not breached the levee. I think we have not breached the levee at this time."

In case you missed it, Brit Hume and his panel incinerated the Dinosaur Pres tonight on "Fox Evening News" regarding the "new secret tapes that prove Bush wanted to kill black people in New Orleans." The Left's Lies In order: 1. The "confidential tapes" breathlessly released yesterday by Al Prazeera are nothing of the sort. They were released to the entire press last August. AP has simply lied, again. 2. The NOAA weatherman on film said that there was a "20% chance the levees might be topped." Not, desroyed, topped. No one expected the levees would be breached. 3. Gov....

[ Please wait for the video to load....slow for dial-ups] A new video released by the Associated Press of the briefing President Bush received days before Hurricane Katrina struck, contradicts statements the President later made in defense of his Administration's failed response. As Katrina hurled towards the Gulf Coast on a path that would eventually kill 1,300 Americans and leave hundreds of thousands stranded and their homes destroyed, federal officials met via video conference offering the President dire warnings about what was to come. During the briefing, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield told the President that the integrity of...

Just hours after the Associated Press (AP) ‘shocked‘ New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin yesterday by showing him video of a FEMA briefing during Hurricane Katrina in which government officials speculate about the impact of the expected Category 5 storm, the AP has shown the mayor a second “alarming and disgusting” video. The first video shows President George Bush, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff and then-FEMA Director Michael Brown, among others, dealing with how to respond to the developing disaster, and what to make of inconsistent reports from New Orleans about the condition of the Lake Pontchatrain levees. The second video,...

The Associated Press is running a piece of video on which they're claiming exclusivity, of some of the FEMA preparation meetings prior to the landfall of Hurrican Katrina. They've also got video of the President speaking to FEMA, and then, later, speaking to ABC in the aftermath. They've chosen to portray the President as oblivious to what happened in New Orleans. President Bush (speaking to ABC news): I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. Voiceover: A seemingly direct contradiction to what is said at the briefing. Max Mayfield (director, National Hurricane Center): I don't think anyone can...

Q Did they misinform you when you said that no one anticipated the breach of the levees? THE PRESIDENT: No, what I was referring to is this. When that storm came by, a lot of people said we dodged a bullet. When that storm came through at first, people said, whew. There was a sense of relaxation, and that's what I was referring to. And I, myself, thought we had dodged a bullet. You know why? Because I was listening to people, probably over the airways, say, the bullet has been dodged. And that was what I was referring to....

video of Nagin responding to questions about latest AP report "Bush knew levees could fail"