E&P on today's Scottie grilling. WH reporters still little feisty...

[DemsUnited]

White House Briefing: Reporters Wonder About President's New 'Focus' on Hurricanes

By E&P Staff

Published: September 21, 2005 5:15 PM ET

NEW YORK The last time a Category 5 hurricane swept across the Gulf, President Bush and his aides were on vacation, and press briefings few. But today, it's all-hands-on-deck for the Rita watch, and Press Secretary Scott McClellan took questions from reporters today at the White House. Several wanted McClellan to admit that what he called the president's "focus" on Rita was missing with Katrina.

Here is the transcript from the opening moments:

***
Q Are you confident that the lessons learned from Katrina will be applied in the case of this hurricane?

MR. McCLELLAN: And I might want to point out, too, before I come to that question, too, that the disaster medical teams are in the region. You have nine -- at least nine search and rescue teams that are in the region so that they can deploy quickly once the storm has passed.

Q So the lessons learned from Katrina will be applied in the case of Rita?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, in terms of Katrina, that was a storm that was unprecedented in size and scope and devastation. It is something that we want to make sure all the lessons possible are learned, and we want to make sure that we know exactly what worked and what didn't work. And that's why we are working closely with Congress as they move forward on their investigation. That's why the President has tasked his Homeland Security Council to make sure that there is a comprehensive review of the preparedness and response relating to Katrina, so we're doing that.

Now, in terms of Rita, I just talked about the steps that we're taking. And we're going to make sure that we are doing everything we can to have the strongest possible coordination with state and local governments as we prepared and respond to Hurricane Rita.

<snip>

Q Which you didn't have before, right?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- as seamless as possible coordination with state and local officials.

Q In other words, better than the last time?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think I just answered that question, Bill.

Q No, not really.

Read the whole exchange at: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001178530

[Turbineguy]

1. Lessons?

You mean as in "we need to learn something"?

They should have Rush Limbaugh stand in for Scotty.

[ken_g]

2. What a worm. (eom)

[mcscajun]

3. "Q No, not really."

:rofl:

You gotta love watching this turnabout. So way past time, too.

[cynatnite]

4. So if he says they have learned lessongs from Katrina...

then that means they screwed up which bush almost said.

:eyes:

[newswolf56]

5. The question none of these reporters are allowed to ask...

(and precisely the question they should be asking) is this:

"Do the comparative political demographics -- Texas as a Republican stronghold, New Orleans as the most Democratic city in the South -- have anything to do with the difference between the Katrina and Rita responses?"

Of course we know what the administration's answer would be, but the question (and the answer) should nevertheless be put on the record. Moreover, this is something any journalist knows, even one fresh out of j-school. Hence the fact the question is NOT being asked is an especially damning indicator of the extent to which corporate media is functioning as the propaganda apparatus for Bush and the oligarchy for which he is the crowning achievement -- the Goebbels factor, again not by accident but as the fruition of a long-range plan.

Given the fact six global corporations now own something like 95 percent of all U.S. print and broadcast media, any hope of a real media "awakening" is like hoping for the arrival of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. It's pie-in-the-sky absurdity, something that will never be allowed happen, and to imagine otherwise is the height of foolhardiness: indeed the "rebellion" of some journalists during Katrina is merely a deliberate illusion to perpetuate the Big Lie that America still has a "free" press.


Edit: addition of last paragraph.