![]() A BREAK IN THE ACTION! Well delay our current series while we wait for help to arrive: // link // print // previous // next //
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2005 A BREAK IN THE ACTION: Yes, theres a difference between breaching and overtopping, so Bushs Thursday morning statement to Diane Sawyer wasnt necessarily as dim as it looked. We agree with Matt Yglesias assessment: YGLESIAS: Apparently, the president of the United States doesnt think anyone anticipated the breaching of the levees. That's false, of course, but the tragic reality is that none of the relevant policymakers do seem to have anticipated this. And that's insane.This mornings Times provides some context. And of course, the inevitable failure-to-question: When Bush made his statement to Sawyer, she simply moved ahead to the next question (a pointless question about the ethics of looting). She didnt ask him what he meant when he said that no one anticipated the breaching. Obviously, many people had anticipated such a disaster over the years. But when our potentially clueless president seemed to say something different, our plainly clueless millionaire anchor simply moved on without comment. For ourselves, weve watched endless footage and weve puzzled and marveled at the lack of relief on the ground in New Orleans—and at the lack of questioning from some major news sources. Last night, Keith Olbermann presented an intelligent, carefully-reasoned news hour. And by way of contrast, the hapless Chris Matthews started his hour saying this: MATTHEWS (9/1/05): Good evening. I`m Chris Matthews.Somehow, Chris had the idea that we had seen the full force of a superpower government going to the rescue by Wednesday night! He spent last nighty on feel-good profiles of private people who are providing aid. If you, like us, were wondering why there was still no order in New Orleans streets, you wouldnt seem your curiosity mirrored on this DC-based cable news hour. Weve spent a lot of time watching the coverage—and observing the commentary on the web. No, one photo caption which used the word finding doesnt tell you how news orgs have handled the topic of looting. But it feels very good to make the claim, and as our liberal intelligence continued to be breached, this silly (but pleasing) claim spread all through the provinces. At any rate, as weve watched, weve decided to delay our current series. Weve spent our time trying to figure when order would finally come to New Orleans. We dont want to continue that series without full attention, and so well postpone for a time.
P.S. Plus, we now learn that our tech staff may be out till Tuesday. But if so, we think you'll survive.
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