Wolf Blitzer Comments...not good

[TLW]

CNN anchor Jack Cafferty growled about the media coverage of Katrina's victims yesterday on Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room, name-checking me and citing my Wednesday column about the broadcasters' failure to acknowledge the race and economic class of the hardest-hit.

Said Cafferty:

We knew it was coming. And yet, the poorest and the neediest and the most helpless of those in New Orleans, well, they're still there, aren't they? Despite the many angles of this tragedy—and lord knows there've been a lot of them in New Orleans—there is a great big elephant in the living room that the media seems content to ignore.

That would be until now. Slate.com's Jack Shafer wrote today in his column that television coverage has shied away from talking about race and class. Shafer says that we in the media are ignoring the fact that almost all of the victims in New Orleans are black and poor. And he's right. Almost every person we've seen, from the families stranded on their rooftops waiting to be rescued, to the looters, to the people holed up in the Superdome, are black and poor.

Many of them didn't follow the evacuation orders because they didn't have the means to get out of town. They just couldn't do it. A lot of them are sick, a lot of them don't have cars, a lot of them just didn't have the means to leave "The Big Easy." And they're still there.

This gave the Washington-based Blitzer a perfect opening to comment on race and class, but he stumbled and fell into a "Campanis moment." While airing file footage of victims trudging through hip-deep water looking for help, Blitzer, no racist, said:

You simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals, as Jack Cafferty just pointed out, so tragically, so many of these people, almost all of them that we see, are so poor and they are so black, and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are watching this story unfold. [Emphasis added.] [Watch the video.]

[TLW]

Barbara Bush comments latest in series of blunders



Friday, September 9, 2005 at 09:00 JST
WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W Bush is not the only member of his prominent political family to be drawing criticism for public utterances about Hurricane Katrina: His mother has raised eyebrows too.

In widely reported comments after visting evacuees at a Texas sports arena, former first lady Barbara Bush on Monday seemed to suggest a silver lining for the "underprivileged" forced from their flooded homes in New Orleans.


"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality," she said in a radio interview from the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this — this is working very well for them," she said.

"I think that the observation is based on someone 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," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday.

"And all of a sudden, they are now getting great help in the state of Texas from some of the shelters," he said.

Her son, the president, has faced criticism for saying on Sept 1 that no one anticipated that New Orleans' levees would break — even though various federal and state agencies had warned of that scenario.

In his first tour of the devastated region, Bush also praised Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) chief Michael Brown, saying: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Brown has become a lightning rod for criticism over Washington's sluggish response to Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters to hit the United States, and opposition Democrats have stepped up calls for Bush to fire him.

The president has also come under fire for paying tribute to ravaged New Orleans as a place he used to visit years ago "to enjoy myself — occasionally too much," an apparent reference to the days before he quit drinking.

In an effort to raise the spirits of the hundreds of thousands who have lost their homes, Bush promised to rebuild devastated areas better than they were before, but at one point focused on the home of a powerful lawmaker.

"Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house — he's lost his entire house — there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch," he said on a tour of the region Friday, drawing nervous laughter.

Some Republicans winced, including one disbelieving congressional aide who said: "Lott? He's focusing on Lott? Surrounded by poor people, he talks about a sitting senator?"

There have also been echoes of the aftermath of the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when Bush urged Americans to go shopping and live their lives as normally as possible.

In some of her first remarks after the hurricane, First Lady Laura Bush told Gulf Coast evacuees: "It's very important to get your children in school. It gives children a sense of normalcy."

The White House later put together a plan to help students and school districts affected by the hurricane.

Barbara Bush had raised eyebrows two days before U.S. troops invaded Iraq, when she told ABC television that she was not interested in media commentators' concerns about the war's potential human toll.

"Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day it's gonna happen, and how many this or what do you suppose?" she said. "It's not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

Filmmaker Michael Moore used the remark in his fiercely anti-Bush film "Fahrenheit 9/11," leading former president George Bush to call him a "slimeball" and defend his wife as "a decent, wonderful person." (Wire reports)

[TLW]

ohh if you guys are up

put on Conan

too funny

[LexLaw]

Originally Posted by TLW

ohh if you guys are up

put on Conan

too funny

Man, Conan is always on point He needs to replace Leno's dry ass tormorrow. And yeah those previous comments were not surprising to me at all. They seemed very much at place coming out of the mouth of those individuals most notably Barbara Bush. I don't see how anyone could think her son's opinion is that far from his mom's. And by the way, What was Condolezza Rice doing in NYC taking up a Bway play last week??? She doesn't get a pass from me either as I see the whole field like Joe Montana.

[Stage3]

well what Barbara Bush said isnt too far from the truth. There are people that had nothing but now have a chance to start all over because everything was wiped away. There were people that were dirt poor and had nothing to eat, but are now taking advnatage of the system. Im not saying that just because they were poor they dont get any more food than anyone else, but it seems that they have a leg up on those that had something and lost it all. I think shes right... all the cons are going to come out of the woodwork saying "this was mine and this was mine," when they truly had nothing at all.

[bitkahuna]

Originally Posted by TLW

CNN anchor Jack Cafferty growled about the media coverage of Katrina's victims yesterday on Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room, name-checking me and citing my Wednesday column about the broadcasters' failure to acknowledge the race and economic class of the hardest-hit.

Who is the 'me' in this quote!? Might help if I knew where this was snipped from. Some blog?

Said Cafferty:

We knew it was coming. And yet, the poorest and the neediest and the most helpless of those in New Orleans, well, they're still there, aren't they? Despite the many angles of this tragedy—and lord knows there've been a lot of them in New Orleans—there is a great big elephant in the living room that the media seems content to ignore.

That would be until now. Slate.com's Jack Shafer wrote today in his column that television coverage has shied away from talking about race and class. Shafer says that we in the media are ignoring the fact that almost all of the victims in New Orleans are black and poor. And he's right. Almost every person we've seen, from the families stranded on their rooftops waiting to be rescued, to the looters, to the people holed up in the Superdome, are black and poor.

Many of them didn't follow the evacuation orders because they didn't have the means to get out of town. They just couldn't do it. A lot of them are sick, a lot of them don't have cars, a lot of them just didn't have the means to leave "The Big Easy." And they're still there.

No denying any of this I don't think.

This gave the Washington-based Blitzer a perfect opening to comment on race and class, but he stumbled and fell into a "Campanis moment." While airing file footage of victims trudging through hip-deep water looking for help, Blitzer, no racist, said:

You simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals, as Jack Cafferty just pointed out, so tragically, so many of these people, almost all of them that we see, are so poor and they are so black, and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are watching this story unfold. [Emphasis added.] [Watch the video.]

I think the term 'so black' is a poor choice of words, is that what you're saying is not good?

As far as him saying it's going to raise lots of questions, are you objecting to that? If out of this tragedy the country examines more how people end up in these desparately poor situations, isn't that a good thing, regardless of race?

[Matters]

"So black" is a poor choice of words, but is it not apparent that he meant that the victims left in New Orleans were overwhlemingly both poor and black? That's just an accurate assessment. Aren't people allowed to accidentally use the wrong words or poor phrasing anymore? If not, I'm screwed!

[GS wanted]

Sure, both comments were probably not meant to be offensive but they were. Sure, both comments were probably, and likely, accidental slips. But how often do you have to give people the benefit of the doubt? The more often these type of comments are made the less forgiving the offended become.
Looking at where the comments came from you can't shrug them off as naivety, simple ignorance, or lack of saavy. Sometimes Freudian slips are purely accidental; sometimes a revealing insight into the unconscious mind. Your determination depends on which side of the fence you're on.

[DrRick]

there have been tons of things that i have been offended by in this whole fiasco, but blitzer's comments were hilarious. if you have actually heard the soundbite, you would know that it was just a slip of the tongue as he was overcome with the emotion of it all. still, i think it was funny as hell. now barbara bush's comment was just insensitive.........


Doc