Truth spoken to power

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Last updated on July 24th, 2017 at 12:46 pm

Dan Rather wishes he could have joined the post-Katrina Bush assault:

Rather praised the coverage of Hurricane Katrina by the new generation of TV journalists and acknowledged that he would have liked to have reported from the Gulf Coast. “Covering hurricanes is something I know something about,” he said.

“It’s been one of television news’ finest moments,” Rather said of the Katrina coverage. He likened it to the coverage of President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.

“They were willing to speak truth to power,” Rather said of the coverage.

That phrase has never sounded emptier than when spoken by Dupeweasel Dan. Actually, US ABC News network recently had truth spoken to it:

Reporter Dean Reynolds found a dozen people—all African-Americans—who’d been evacuated from the flooded streets of New Orleans, sat with them outside the Houston Astrodome and interviewed them as soon as the president’s speech ended.

Reynolds’ first question was to a woman named Connie London: “You heard the president say you are not alone . . . Do you believe him?”

“Yes,” she said, “because here in Texas they’ve been truly good to us.”

“Did you harbor any anger toward the president because of the slow federal response?”

“No, none whatsoever,” London replied, “because I feel our city and state government should have been there before the federal government was called in. They should have been on their jobs.”

“And they weren’t?” Reynolds asked.

“No, no, no, no, Lord, they weren’t,” she stated. “They had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses that were just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people.”

Reynolds asked a woman named Mary if she gleaned hope from the president’s words.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I really believe what he said.”

He turned to Brenda Marshall and asked, “What did you think of what the president said tonight?”

“I think the speech was wonderful.”

“Was there anything you found hard to believe? You know, that’s nice rhetoric but the proof is in the pudding?”

“No, I didn’t,” she answered, with an apologetic shrug.

“Well … good,” Reynolds fumbled. “Very little skepticism here.”

More on that broadcast here.

Posted by Tim B. on 09/20/2005 at 04:18 AM
    1. What do they say, it’s not safe to work with children and animals….

      Guess it’s just not safe to work with anyone, except your stooge that is.

      Posted by Looneyc on 09/20 at 04:50 AM • permalink

 

    1. No, wait, is that Rove I see in the background?

      Posted by Looneyc on 09/20 at 04:52 AM • permalink

 

    1. The looney left never had it so good. 

      Nonsense about global warming gives those who believe that everything is political can blame the weather on their opponents.

      Posted by Inurbanus on 09/20 at 05:13 AM • permalink

 

    1. She said it all.
      It just was the all they didn’t want.

      Posted by gubbaboy on 09/20 at 05:23 AM • permalink

 

    1. “Nothing to see here, folks”
      It is very pleasing that this made it to air.

      Posted by blogstrop on 09/20 at 05:34 AM • permalink

 

    1. speak truth to power

      The most pompous phrase in the English language.  How fitting that Rather said it.

      Posted by jic on 09/20 at 06:45 AM • permalink

 

    1. Those guys aren’t nearly angry enough with Bush.  They should take a leaf out of the book of their media masters.

      Posted by rexie on 09/20 at 07:10 AM • permalink

 

    1. Rather is in Stage III BDS.

      Posted by Some0Seppo on 09/20 at 07:56 AM • permalink

 

    1. Dan Rather’s approach to power has always been wildly uneven. He has alternated from practically knitting booties for power (Exhibits A and B: his interviews with Bill Clinton and Sadam Hussein), to popping himself in the face from shooting misfired spitballs at power (Exhibits C and D: his disastrous interview with Bush Senior, and the whole memogate imbroglio). The liberal (leftist) bias has always been clear; however, although there are very intelligent leftists in the U.S., Rather is quite obviously not one of them. In fact, in terms of sheer intellectual firepower, I would venture to say that Rather is one of the lowest calibres ever seen in the history of TV journalism. There are talking heads more obnoxiously left-wing, more dishonest, and more duplicitous; I challenge anyone to name one more stupid.

      Posted by paco on 09/20 at 08:30 AM • permalink

 

    1. Rather wasm’t just praising the media for the heavy coverage of Katrina in New Orleans. He was also thanking them for taking some of the heat off of him for his dim witted attempt to smear a good president. I can read between the lines. Could you not see. “thank you, thank you, thank you, for being as stupid as I was”. He may not have said it but I bet he was thinking it. ABC is owned by Disney and the people of ABC hate it when Disney makes them broadcast Beuna Vista productions. I know this which is why there is a good blend of shows that are and are not politicaly correct. Compare them to the politically correct WB and you will see what I mean. Disney is not in it for the power they are in it for the money and that means they will turn coat on other stations reporting stories like that just to catch the ratings points. That is why I like Disney. They are one of the biggest capitolistic companies in America despite their high percentage of queers and liberals in the work force. You should listen to the employees complain when Disney rolls in a big ass profit for the quarter. They use their sorry assed unions to try and re-distribute the wealth within the company. Where have we heard that term used? I used to work for Disney and I used to have Babara Walters on my e-mail address book. I also had John Stosel on it. Now there is a liberal turn coat who went against the grain in the name of truth and fairness. He has a great piece about price gougers that will surprise you on Townhall.com dated Sept7, 2005. Kudos to John Stosel and his liberal dragon slaying reporting.

      Posted by wingsndagger on 09/20 at 08:49 AM • permalink

 

    1. Dupeweasel Dan!

      Crap at least I can laugh at that.

      Cindy Sheehan-….  Essentially George Galloway to Hitchens called her son a participant in massacres.  George Galloway called Casey Sheehan a mass murderer.

      Do you think she would DEFEND her DEAD son, who can no longer defend himself against such a SLIMEBALL attack?

      Hell no! She’d rather get in front of the kleig lights and hurl obsenities about the National Guard in New Orleans.

      And she’d do it with George Galloway-no problemo.

      Posted by madawaskan on 09/20 at 09:26 AM • permalink

 

    1. What’s the frequency, Dan? The report blaming Bush for the hurricane is fake, but true.

      Posted by bc on 09/20 at 10:05 AM • permalink

 

    1. unions call strike at Canadian Broadcasting Corp says radio national’s Kelly this a.m.
      They are getting help from the B.B.C.They are being bombarded with American t.v. programmes.English language radio has a ferociously loyal audience of ten percent.
      Fran “ah o.k.”
      A national survey found that only ten percent of the prospective audience described it as an inconvenience.Twenty seven percent a minor inconvenience.A lot (of Canadians) watch American t.v.
      Fran “well how did your coverage of Katrina go?”
      Not managing very well, an accountant is reading the news.The newsreader is OUT in his BLUE jeans.
      Michael Moore is protesting.
      Guest- Prof Paul Thomas.

      Posted by crash on 09/20 at 10:11 AM • permalink

 

    1. Whenever I’ve seen or read a story in the news that was about something that I had knowledge of, it was always wrong. I don’t mean interpretations or conclusions, I mean huge factual errors. I do not trust the MSM to get anything right.

      The hurricane victims and the reporters were in the same place. They apparently saw two different things. I’ll go with the victims.

      Posted by Dave S. on 09/20 at 11:03 AM • permalink

 

    1. I agree with you Dave S. The problem is the media is so arrogant they do not believe even the victims are able to describe for themselves what happened. The liberal media believes if it wasn’t for them we would all be stupid. The problem is they are right. Thanks to them there are alot fo stupid people out there but we are able to see through it. They are left in disbelief when victims are able to think for themselves like on the ABC report.

      Posted by wingsndagger on 09/20 at 11:35 AM • permalink

 

    1. “It’s been one of television news’ finest moments,” Rather said of the Katrina coverage. He likened it to the coverage of President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.

      When I read this, all I can think is that Rather and the rest of the MSM believe television news’ finest moments consist of breathless vaporing over the prospect of thousands dead, billions in damage, and a politician they hate in the line of fire.  If that is the main measure of quality in news reporting, then they are slime indeed.

      Posted by RebeccaH on 09/20 at 11:44 AM • permalink

 

    1. “It’s been one of television news’ finest moments,” Rather said of the Katrina coverage.

      I always thought Dan’s finest moment was giving the news in the midst of Hurricane Hugo while strapped to a palm tree.  His hair blowing, his body swaying, his voice screaming about the Dow Jones average, it made for great fun.

      I kept on saying to myself “more wind, more wind”.

      Posted by wronwright on 09/20 at 04:38 PM • permalink

 

    1. “Was there anything you found hard to believe? You know, that’s nice rhetoric but the proof is in the pudding?”

      That’s THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING IS IN THE EATING. God, why is that even the people who are supposedly the ones in charge of the safekeeping of the English language—the ones who are paid to speak it to millions on a daily basis, whose sole point of hireability is an ability to enunciate—can’t even speak it properly?

      Posted by Brian Tiemann on 09/20 at 04:39 PM • permalink

 

    1. Reporters: “Don’t get stuck on stupid.”

      Posted by richard mcenroe on 09/20 at 07:11 PM • permalink

 

    1. I happened to be watching ABC’s Dean Reynolds’ post speech reaction interviews.

      Precious!

      His consternation was obvious. Someone must have forgotten to pre-screen for the “live, man-on-the-street” video!

      Bet some nasty memos went around the ABC News department the next day.

      Posted by rinardman on 09/20 at 07:49 PM • permalink

 

    1. #18 Amen, Brian, these people are like the ‘Biff’ character in Back to the Future who keeps scrambling idiomatic expressions (“Make like a tree and blow”, etc.) Often they’re scrambling two different idioms – I suspect the pudding people are thinking of ‘the devil is in the details’, another one they like to screw up.

      Posted by cuckoo on 09/20 at 07:53 PM • permalink

 

    1. That’s “Make like a tree, and get out of here.”

      Best line in the movie.

      Posted by Dave S. on 09/20 at 09:40 PM • permalink

 

    1. Here’s an email I sent to 60 Minutes on the 12/09/05, after their Katrina story and their little chat with New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin.

      President Bush declared an “impending disaster for New Orleans” on the Friday before Katrina struck. New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin, waited just 20 hours before the storm to issue an evacuation order. As Mayor, evacuation is HIS responsibility!
      Mayor Nagin had 550 municipal buses and hundreds of school buses at his disposal, as well as an offer from Amtrak to assist in evacuating people with no means of transport.
      Providing food, water and security at the Superdome was also the Mayor’s responsibility.
      When hurricane Andrew struck in 1992, it was 4 days before Federal authorities showed up and until then local and state officials did what they were supposed to do.
      With the government official who had the MOST to answer for, right there in front of you, instead of playing judge and jury Mr. Carleton (by placing ALL blame on Bush), why didn’t you try a little JOURNALISM to get some REAL answers?
      The reason most of the victims of hurricane Katrina were black is because at least two thirds of New Orleans is black. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just common sense!

      Thanks.

      ps…Mayor Nagin’s incompetence strikes again with his now retracted ‘return’ proclamation!

      Posted by Brian on 09/20 at 10:04 PM • permalink

 

    1. Local Detroit TV proudly trotted out a new reporter (looked like he’d just graduated Communications B.A.) who was ‘embedded’ in NO with police, so he said.  He managed to be both incredibly serious and incredibly breathless at the same time.

      They managed to use film of drivers of some sort (cops? what cops?) who repeated the goriest rumors on video, and it was freaking YESTEDAY!!  How can they not know that they were rumors?  Where’s the sourcing?  They had the raped, throat-cut 7 year old and the castrated, beaten to death rapist *twice*!!

      And they expect us to pay attention to them?

      Posted by JorgXMcKie on 09/20 at 10:19 PM • permalink

 

    1. #19 A “stuck on stupid” award for members of the media? Wow! That’s gonna be one tight competition. There’s a quality field out there:
      Phat Phil the phoney (the grand old man of stupidity – possessed of a natural ineptitude honed over a life time);
      Alan Ramsey (the professor of stupidity – entirely self-taught)
      David Marred (prodigious stupidity – overcame all the disadvantages of privilege and education to achieve it),
      Margo Kingston (stupefying stupidity – can best any man on her day, provided jooos don’t nobble her).

      Posted by larrikin on 09/20 at 10:24 PM • permalink

 

    1. The liberal MSM?  Aren’t there any conservative outlets you poor deprived Yanks can read or watch?

      Here in the lucky country, thanks to dark lords Count Rupert and Darth Packer running the show, most of our MSM lean to the right (although never far enough for some).

      Posted by slammer on 09/20 at 11:31 PM • permalink

 

    1. Fark.com ran the Rather story with this headline:

      Dan Rather fights back tears as he denounces “new journalism order.” Says he longs for halcyon days when journalists relied on forged documents for their stories

      Beautiful.

      Posted by ArtVandelay on 09/21 at 12:39 AM • permalink

 

    1. #26 does our right-leaning msm include the ABC, SBS, Faifax, Canberra press gallery and assorted fuckwits in other organisations?

      Posted by larrikin on 09/21 at 12:45 AM • permalink

 

    1. # 26 does the fact that the Evil Count Rupert and Darth Packer are capitalists seeking to maximise their profit hold any significance to you. Their media properties lean in the direction where they maximise their readership/viewing audience. If they could make more money out of pandering to left wing loonies than right wing death beasts they’d do so.

      Don’t forget that early in his career Murdoch was known as “red rupert”. Rupert’s business plan has always included a fair degree of swimming against the tide.

      Posted by jpaulg on 09/21 at 12:58 AM • permalink

 

    1. #26- Thanks for the lesson, my point was that there’s a pretty good left/right balance here, whereas I get the impression that the great majority of American MSM is left-leaning.

      Posted by slammer on 09/21 at 01:49 AM • permalink

 

    1. Oops, meant to say #29-

      Posted by slammer on 09/21 at 01:50 AM • permalink

 

    1. B.S. slammer, even the Australian letters page is full of bleeding hearts,Howard haters,labor lickers and stupid stupid left views.

      Posted by crash on 09/21 at 09:22 AM • permalink

 

    1. #32 Full of them?  Sure you’re not confusing the Australian with the Age? You’re sounding like a ‘glass half-empty’ kinda person crash. Don’t go getting a victim complex now, we saw what it did to Latham.

      Posted by slammer on 09/21 at 08:38 PM • permalink

 

    1. My formerly (US-style) liberal father saw the Dean Reynolds report and told me about it with glee, though he couldn’t remember who the reporter was. Glad to find it all here!

      Posted by ForNow on 09/22 at 01:33 AM • permalink

 

    1. “Journalism’s finest hour”?  I was in “Scotland and had to watch the first week of Katrina coverage courtesy of the BBC.  I have never seen such a shocking display of America/Bush bashing.  The BBC reporters worked themselves into an orgiastic frenzy as they assured us that they were reporting the final downfall of America and the evil idiot.  The only possible comparison to their unrestrained glee would be the street dancing Palestinians firing Kalashnikovs into the air after 9/11. 

      When I got back, I found that, as suspected, the Mayor and Governor had screwed the pooch big time and the Feds were slow on the uptake when the locals were a no show.  But it did make the BBC reporters so happy to “let it all hang out.” (Another hoary phrase, redolent of hippy patchouli oil)

      Posted by billy hank on 09/22 at 04:44 AM • permalink

 

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