Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “AP Doubles Down on Katrina Falsehood”

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March 3, 2006

AP Doubles Down on Katrina Falsehood

Hatched by Dafydd

As Big Lizards, Power Line, and others documented yesterday, the Associated Press continues to bear false witness against George W. Bush, saying he lied:

In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage....

Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility — and Bush was worried too.

Of course, the videos and transcripts showed no such thing: they showed Max Mayfield warning of the danger that the levees could be "topped"... not of the levees breaching. It's the difference between overfilling your bathtub and smashing a huge hole in the side.

Some suggest that perhaps it was just an "honest mistake." But consider: the writers of that story, Margaret Ebrahim and John Solomon, had hours of video and hundreds of pages of documents before them; they had literally months to do the story (that "confidential video footage" was in fact in the possession of all of the networks and had been for months, according to media critic Howard Kurtz -- who doesn't think much of the story). "Topped" and "breached are obviously two different words. Either they knew they were not synonyms (in which case they flatly lied), or else they acted in reckless disregard for the truth... which is as bad as lying, or perhaps worse for a journalist.

But with today's story, I think we can eliminate the second possibility. There has been enough reaction by now, including Fox News Channel coverage all day yesterday that pointed out the difference, as well as blogosphere reaction, that AP can no longer take refuge in supposed ignorance... particularly since the new story is also written by Margaret Ebrahim, this time ganging up with Lara Jakes Jordan. Towards the end of a story about Louisiana Gov. Kathleen "Blankout" Blanco, they tuck in this repetition:

The new video [of Blanco] came to light a day after the AP obtained footage of an Aug. 28 briefing - the day before Katrina hit - that showed officials warning the storm might breach levees, put lives at risk in the Superdome and overwhelm rescuers.

Nuff said? No? Well, perhaps this will turn a couple of heads: Margaret Ebrahim is (or was) a producer on CBS 60 Minutes II (scroll to the bottom)... the same show that aired the "fake but accurate" hit piece on Bush's Air National Guard service, though that was produced by Mary Mapes, not Margaret Ebrahim.

I think I detect a continuing pattern of low regard for the truth, when it gets in the way of a juicy story.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, March 3, 2006, at the time of 6:23 PM

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» Gallup Poll Indicates that Majority of New Orleans Residents are Idiots from Webloggin
Gallup Poll Indicates that Majority of New Orleans Residents are Idiots. This is more proof that facts never deter idiots from believing what they want to believe. Before you bring up that smoking gun video let’s be very clear about what was said to ... [Read More]

Tracked on March 3, 2006 6:47 PM

» AP Says “Nevermind” from Flopping Aces
Either way you look at this thing any half competent editor would have realized after watching the tape that this story was a hit piece. But they still decided to run with it. I sure don’t smell coincidence here anymore, this was obviously done a... [Read More]

Tracked on March 3, 2006 8:13 PM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: hunter

Katrina was a fork in the road for this nation. Katrina, in light of the historicaly large and rapid effort to relieve the people of NO after their abandonment by their local and state leaders should have been a call for unity and resolute rebuilding. Instead it was highjacked by race baiters opportunists and - as we see time and time again - by MSM 'journailists' who simply lie. They lied the week of the storm and flood, and they lie today. I and my family did a fair amount to help NO people after the storm. I will not lift a finger for them now. I will help in Mississippi and elsewhere, but Louisiana and NO can stick it. The refugees from NO are wrecking Houston, robbing and killing like crazy. They are not returning home in signficant numbers to help. They are doing the same things here they did there: doping etc. The dems did succeed in totally messing up the relief. The Admin panicked and is now just throwing money at the racist mayor and empty headed slimeball guv. So the dems should be proud. The effort is now a classic democrap style program: All money and no performance.

The above hissed in response by: hunter at March 4, 2006 8:26 AM