Juicy Bits from Wednesday Press Briefing (Babs, Factual Tick-Tock, etc)

[NightOwwl]

Reporters were kicking ass! :applause:

****

Q Scott, can I follow up on what Terry was saying? One of the things that Harry Reid did say today was, why didn't President Bush immediately return to Washington from his vacation, and why didn't he recall key officials and staff members back from their vacations? And then he asks, would the President -- would the presence of key officials in Washington have improved the response?

MR. McCLELLAN: First of all, we are focused on getting things done and solving problems on the ground. And again, I go back to what I was just talking about, the President on Saturday, Saturday night issued -- this was Saturday night before the hurricane hit, which I believe was early Monday morning -- the President issued an emergency disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana. Then the next morning, he issued declarations for Mississippi and Alabama. So we were focused on the preparations that were being made prior to Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast region.

Q So your answer to the Senator would be that the presence of officials in Washington would not have improved the response?

:rofl:

***

Q Does the President agree with his mother that the homeless taken from New Orleans to Houston are much better off now because they were underprivileged in New Orleans?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think she was making a personal observation on some of the comments that people were making that she was running into. I'm not sure that that's exactly what she said, but --

Q I have it right here if you need it.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- what we're focused on -- what we're focused on is helping these people who are in need.

Q Does he agree with his mother?

MR. McCLELLAN: And I think that the observation is based on someone who -- or some people that were talking to her, that were in need of a lot of assistance, people that have gone through a lot of trauma and been through a very difficult and trying time. And all of a sudden, they are now getting great help in the state of Texas from some of the shelters.

Q "It's scary that they're all coming to Texas."

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I think you can look at her comments.

Q That is what she said, though.

:rofl:

***

Q When did the President know that Katrina was the kind of hurricane that could overtop the levees?

MR. McCLELLAN: A lot of the media reports that were coming out Monday, Monday night, Tuesday morning were expressing that it had missed the massive flooding that some had projected in a worst-case scenario.

Q The President of the United States was getting his information about this major disaster from the media?

:rofl:

Q When was the President informed, warned by the National Hurricane Center or other agencies, that Katrina was a hurricane that could overtop the levees in New Orleans?

MR. McCLELLAN: Terry, I appreciate you wanting to get into some of the factual tick-tock :wtf: questions and things of that nature. I think we were keeping you updated throughout that time period, and if you remember, there were a number of people that, Monday, felt that the initial storm, which was the hurricane hitting the coast and then hitting the New Orleans area and Mississippi and Alabama and parts of Florida, that at that point, that New Orleans may be -- well, the flooding had not come at that point. And many people were talking about how --

Q You're the federal government -- if you want to get into tick-tock, the Army Corps of Engineers knew Monday morning that the 17th Street flood wall along that canal had given way.

:rofl:

More hilarity ensues (including a great exchange between Scotty and David Gregory) at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050907-2.html#d

[applegrove]

1. These people are not funny. They are sick.

[NightOwwl]

4. I know....

but it did me good to see the press respond to Scotty like the little rat that he is.

[applegrove]

6. The Bush White House is "putting on a play". Called "DROWN - A - LOT"!

One act - the plot being that nobody did anything wrong and there are no problems in the army being stood down, the cycle of lawlessness being allow to cycle, an incompetent hired to diminish an governance organization and make the case for corporations replacing it, bureaucracy not being cut through when issues arose but being used as an excuse for Bush to create a vacuum, etc. etc.

The Bush response was "absolutely perfect".

[SpiralHawk]

2. While we are on the subject of tick tock, would somebody please ask

about Bush's habitual and peculiar facial ticks. Ask about the tocks, too if you want, but get us the straight poop on those ticks.

Something weird is going on with Bush's face.

[NightOwwl]

5. Uncontrolled jaw clenching is one of the side efects of meth use. n/t

[ClusterFreak]

3. All this stuff is great....

...then the reporters like Gregory and Moran go back and cut their stories together for the nightly news....and they round off all the edges. I think this is very telling. It says they are unwilling participants in the corporate media coddling of the administration, but can't risk their own positions by quite simply telling it like it is. Hopefully, though, Katrina will become a watermark for change when it comes to how W.H. correspondents and others maintain a continuity in their approach to gathering the news, and then presenting it to the people. Actually, hopefully Katrina will be the tipping point....right on the heels of Cindy, DSM, Gannon, Diebold...and so on down the line.


On edit: I think I wrote down some fairly obvious comments here, not surprising anyone, but nonetheless.

[Spangle]

7. About TIME.. I wish the media was asking quesitons like this in 2001

But noooo......