by Col. W. Patrick Lang (Ret.)
Interesting stuff on CNN yesterday morning.
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Miles O’Brien had a good time beating up the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin. The diatribe featured lots of hostile accusation of “turf defense,” poor planning, vacillation, etc. Nagin tried to tell O’Brien that the city must be revived and that people want to go home but that he had directed a halt to the return because of the oncoming storm. Rita. This was to no avail. The attack went on.
O’Brien then brought on James Carville and tried the same thing out on him. He must have been surprised to hear Carville say that the people of new Orleans want to see their elected mayor in charge. He then said something probably unintelligible in the corporate offices of CNN. He reminded O’Brien of MG Ben Butler, the Union military governor of New Orleans in the Civil War. How surprising!!
Carol Costello, who once remarked that she had been interested to learn that Costello was sometimes an Irish name, had an even better time working over the Mayor of Gretna, Louisiana. He tried to tell her that his decision to block the bridge to New Orleans was a public safety decision but she insisted that there was more to it than that, Gotcha!! Costello then interviewed Aaron Broussard, the president of Jefferson Parish as to his reaction to what was going on. Broussard stated his support for Mayor Nagin. Then, later in the interview, he said what he believed to be the necessary requirements for life in the area as it is re-occupied.
An hour later CNN replayed his interview and edited out his support for Nagin.
Costello then went on to interview one Clancy Dubose (phonetic) in Baton Rouge. Clancy is a columnist of some kind. She attempted to elicit a denunciation of Mayor Nagin from this man who resisted manfully in spite of her repeated interruptions and attempts to redirect his comments. At last he finally said that “maybe the feds should take over.” With visible relief, Costello said “Well, they are trying to do so but the Mayor insists that it is his city….” Mission Accomplished.
What’s going on here? Could it be that CNN is responding to “thematic” guidance at the corporate level? What would the theme be? Would it be that the incompetence and immorality of local government in Louisiana should cause the American people to demand federal control there?
