(Cross-posted here on DailyKos)
I was reading this piece at Talking Points Memo and was getting to write something up about it as well, when I saw AMERICAblog also put up the story.
I’m cross linking to AMERICAblog, but it’s certainly something to pay attention to. The washer is in full-spin mode.
The Lie
Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.
Via AMERICAblog, The Media Are Rove-aholics
Yesterday, Josh Marshall exposed a serious error in both the Washington Post and Newsweek which was obviously put out by the White House. The Post actually ran a correction later in the day, which was documented also at E&P. Clearly, Rove’s smear strategy was accepted by reporters without question. Think about that for a second. The same guy who has lied to them about the Plame affair (even though most of them already knew) is now able to lie about Katrina.
Why am I NOT surprised Rove’s name comes up in this whole mess?
This is a really important piece & I thank you for bringing this to our attention.
We should immediately start writing letters to the Post and Newsweek demanding they learn their lessons and start fact checking this administration.
What was that famous saying W butchered…
Fool Me Once, Shame on you. Fool Me Twice, Shame on me.
~ one suggestion, I had to dig to find out what the info was that the admin planted… perhaps bringing that front and center in your diary would be useful?
I added the “lie” to the diary due to a recommendation by a commentor on the Kos diary. It’s amazing what these people do.
It’s one of two things.
A) A total, outright lie, and a foolish one at that as it’s totally veriifiable as true or not.
B) These people are totally incompetent and can’t have proper communication if thousands of people’s lives depended on it, which they did.
Not disputing that… absolutely accurate and criminally negligent… all they are doing now is trying to spin their way out of it… shameful.
my suggesstion was just about the way your diary reads… I had no idea what it was that they had lied about until I clicked on the links and started reading the comments ~ it wasn’t immediately obvious to me that it was about the timing of the SOE.
cheers,
spider
I’m at work, saw the story developing on other sites, and did a quick redux. I’m updating it as I can with proper information, explanations, and links. The timeline provuided below is great, so I thank the commentor who included it.
I’m going to try to add that into my diary with a tip to you!
One stop shopping paper trail of official documents:
8/26/05 LA Gov: Blanco Declares State of Emergency
8/27/05 White House: Bush acknowledges Declaration of State of Emergency – puts FEMA in charge
8/28/05 White House: President Bush reiterates his acknowledgement that FEMA is in charge
8/28/05 LA Gov: Blanco formally requests that DHS take charge, according to the National Response Plan put into effect December 2004
8/29/05 FEMA: First Responders Urged Not To Respond To Hurricane Impact Areas Unless Dispatched By State, Local Authorities
8/29/05 FEMA: Cash Sought To Help Hurricane Victims, Volunteers Should Not Self-Dispatch
8/29/05 FEMA: President Declares Major Disaster For Louisiana
8/30/05 FEMA: Evacuees Cautioned Not To Re-Enter Damage Areas Prematurely
I’m just going to start dropping it everywhere. There’s no excuse to get it wrong.
BTW, I don’t have an account at dkos for various reasons, but someone may want to post the timeline there.
I added your timeline to my diary with credit for you. Thanks!
My God where are their morals? They truly do not care, the sociopaths have taken control of the Republican party. The press sucks up the lies and spews them like vomit onto the population. Damn them.