The dam breaks

[knight_of_the_star]

It's sad that it took a whole city for this to happen, but:

The Rebellion of the Talking Heads
Newscasters, sick of official lies and stonewalling, finally start snarling.
By Jack Shafer
Posted Friday, Sept. 2, 2005, at 2:36 PM PT

A former deputy chief of FEMA told Knight Ridder Newspapers yesterday (Sept. 1) that there "are two kinds of levees—the ones that breached and the ones that will be breached." A similar aphorism applies to broadcasters: They come in two varieties, the ones that have gone stark, raving mad on air and the ones who will.

In the last couple of days, many of the broadcasters reporting from the bowl-shaped toxic waste dump that was once the city of New Orleans have stopped playing the role of wind-swept wet men facing down a big storm to become public advocates for the poor, the displaced, the starving, the dying, and the dead.

More... http://slate.msn.com/id/2125581/?nav=ais

It's sad that it took a whole city drowning to wake them up, but I think this is the tipping point.

[Lifelong Protester]

1. Make sure you listen to the interview on this link

as Siegal does NOT let Chertoff off the hook.
I'm all for this rebellion of the talking heads. Sorry, but 'bout damn time. They've been giving this admin. a free pass for waaaaaaaaaaay too long.

oh, and Anderson Cooper is now my favorite pin-up guy for showing moral outrage.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Shepard Smith has also won a lot of admiration

He, too, went stark raving sane.

He even back-sassed O'Reilly ... and Hannity!

--p!

[POLEIS]

3. That was a real sight to see! n/t

[Lindsay]

4. About damned time..

But when the Sunday gasbags turn on ya - yer toast.

[OneTwentyoNine]

5. So what the HELL is up with Sen. Landrieu?--aww Cooper lets not get mad...

I couldn't FUCKING believe her. Of course I should because this is the exact TYPE of Democrat leadership we have right now. Looks like shes fresh and perky,probably had lots of food,water and SHOWERS. She should be SCREAMING about the dismal response to this disaster by the Bush administration.

Jesus....

[Dogmudgeon]

6. You probably saw her early on

Perky and fresh she was not. She acted like a robot. I suspect lack of sleep and the emotional impact of the catastrophe as it was unfolding. Both she and Kathleen Blanco were in a similar state.

She's made several extremely damaging statements (to Bush) since then -- in writing, no less. In brief, she accused him of presenting a dog-and-pony show instead of bringing real relief to those people he used in his photo-ops. Blanco and her people have documented an attempted take-over of Louisiana's part of the operation as a cover for their own dereliction and as a way to blame Louisiana.

I know it would satisfy most of us to see one of these politicians ranting and raving like a lunatic, but they play the game differently. She -- and Nagin and Blanco -- are obviously aiming to bring Bush down, even if they go down with him. Nagin has already done the cathartic ranting. He's the "whoop-ass guy". Team Bush is counting on them to play passive patsies, and I think they're going to let him have it with both barrels -- calmly, coolly, and fatally.

Bush & Co. will get their talking points in for a week or two. Then the true cost in dollars and lives will come out. At that point, the White House will have its own Cat-5 storm and tidal surge to deal with.

The expected cost may be $100 billion or more, and the death toll is expected to be between 10,000 and 25,000. Those figures are going to be un-spinnable.

--p!