The Blame Game

Just when you think Celine is the nuttiest nut who ever did nut, True Enough for You interns KC and CK send me information that other people are saying crazy things regarding the aftermath of the Katrina disaster. Examples?

KC reports: Wolf Blitzer reportedly said "These people are so poor and so, so black." Those who saw this episode of the Situation Room said it was done unscripted (obviously) and it sounded like Wolf was trying to fill time as they were showing footage of the damage.

Did you hear what Bush said about Trent Lott's house? He said that his good friend Trent Lott lost his house in the storm but is going to rebuild "bigger and better" and Bush will enjoy sitting on the porch. Well, thank god for that. Now we can all go on.

Where did GWB get his ability to always say the right thing at the right time? Maybe from his mother.

CK reports: Here's Barbara Bush's quote about the people in the stadium, Howard Stern just played it: "Many of these people are underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them." Right, I'm sure they're thrilled. Howard was like "is anyone making a big deal about this?!"

CK and KC, don’t be so silly. These people, who are so, SO black are obviously fortunate to be able to take advantage of this situation. I mean, this hurricane has given them the opportunity to lose half their family (they were taking up way too much room in the tenements, anyhow) and do something besides sit around and collect welfare. Maybe they deserved it. You don’t see hurricanes hitting Kennebunk Port, do you? And now these people are surrounded by death, despair, dehydration and reporters who aren’t even allowed to do their job.

Brian Williams, NBC anchor, reports on his blog:

"While we were attempting to take pictures of the National Guard (a unit from Oklahoma) taking up positions outside a Brooks Brothers on the edge of the Quarter, the sergeant ordered us to the other side of the boulevard. The short version is: there won't be any pictures of this particular group of guard soldiers on our newscast tonight. Rules (or I suspect in this case an order on a whim) like those do not HELP the palpable feeling that this area is somehow separate from the United States...

...Someone else points out on television as I post this: the fact that the National Guard now bars entry (by journalists) to the very places where people last week were barred from LEAVING (The Convention Center and Superdome) is a kind of perverse and perfectly backward postscript to this awful chapter in American history."

Andy at Towleroad does an amazing job making sense of who’s who in the blame game. The levels of incompetence are astounding and heartbreaking.

Talking points memo says: Take a moment to note what's happening here: these are the marks of repressive government, which mixes inefficiency with authoritarianism. The crew that couldn't get key aid on the scene in time last week is coming in force now. And one of the key missions appears to be cutting off public information about what's happening in the city.

This is a domestic, natural disaster. Absent specific cases where members of the press would interfere or get in the way of some particular clean up operation, or perhaps demolition work, there is simply no reason why credentialed members of the press should not be able to cover everything that is happening in that city.

Think about it.

One small glimmer of hope in all this chaos is all the stories of people rising above the government’s ineptitude and whatever other obstacles are in the way to give all they can to help. Anything you can do to help out is a good idea. For example, I will be attending a party this week to watch the Katrina telethon, at which there will be a cover charge to get in. All proceeds will be donated to the telethon. Every little bit helps. I am unemployed and poor, but I am still donating. Please do the same.

Hey, TEFY’s newest intern, MN, sent me an email telling me to type “failure” into the google search engine and see what comes up. For real. Ha.