Chavez, Murdock advanced dubious claim that Bush convinced Blanco to evacuate New Orleans
Conservative syndicated columnists Linda Chavez and Deroy Murdock advanced the dubious claim that it took a telephone call from President Bush to prompt Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to order the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. As Media Matters for America has previously documented, there is little evidence to support this contention.
An August 28 statement by Blanco made clear that President Bush called her just before the August 28 press conference at which the evacuation was announced, casting doubt on the claim that Bush's phone call was a decisive factor in the decision to evacuate. This timeline was later confirmed by White House press secretary Scott McClellan during the September 7 White House press briefing, when he reported that Bush had spoken to Blanco "around 9:00 a.m.," just minutes before the governor's 9:30 a.m. CT August 28 press conference began. The press conference opened with New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin -- not Blanco, as Chavez and Murdock stated -- declaring the mandatory evacuation.
Additionally, Chavez conflated the governor's decision to declare a state of emergency in Louisiana with the decision to call for a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. As a ThinkProgress.org timeline makes clear, these were completely separate events: Blanco declared a state of emergency on August 26, two days before Bush's August 28 phone call and Nagin's August 28 call for mandatory evacuations. Moreover, it was Blanco who asked Bush on August 27 to declare a federal state of emergency in Louisiana, not the other way around, as Chavez suggested. The president declared a federal state of emergency in Louisiana later that day.
On the September 7 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Murdock stated:
MURDOCK: I think there's a huge difference between saying, "Look, maybe the president is not giving enough money to education, even though the education budget has gone up by about 50 percent under this president," saying that on the one side, and saying on the other he doesn't care about blacks and therefore he's willing to let them sit out in the sun and dehydrate. I was very frustrated, wondering why they couldn't manage at least to get water to these people until Friday. They should have air dropped water in.
But the president ordered -- pushed on Governor Blanco to have a mandatory evacuation. That was on Sunday. I think on Saturday he declared a state of emergency, came back from his vacation -- probably a day or two later than he should have, but did come back, asked Congress to come in. They approved $10.5 billion, which he signed. So if he really didn't care about black people, I don't think you would have seen -- you wouldn't have seen him pushing for this evacuation.
Similarly, in her September 7 column, Chavez wrote:
Gov. Blanco delayed taking crucial actions -- in fact, it was the president who called her to plead that she declare an emergency. "Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding," the Associated Press reported Aug. 28.
Chavez's column is distributed by Creators Syndicate. Murdock's column is distributed by Scripps Howard News Service. He is a contributing editor at National Review Online.
The more they spin, the more we win.
How can it be that Mayor Nagin and Gov. Blanco could have hashed out in detail a mandatory evacuation plan in a few minutes after President Bush called Gov. Blanco? The decision of mandatory evacuation was clearly made long before Bush's call. It was the central point of the whole August 28 press conference.
"Just before we walked into this room, President Bush called and told me to share with all of you that he is very concerned about the citizens. He is concerned about the impact that this hurricane would have on our people. And he asked me to please ensure that there would be a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans." - Gov. Blanco
I don't see anywhere here that sounds like the mandatory evacuation was Bush's idea. There is absolutely NO REASON to believe that. As a matter of fact Bush talked about Hurricane Katrina abouta couple of hours after that conference and mentioned nothing about a mandatory evacuation.
[link to www.whitehouse.gov]
Three paragraphs about a "killer" hurricane and twelve on Iraq!
The conservatives are in full spin mode to deflect criticism of the president. If they were absolutely confident in the president's conduct, then why all this deflection of criticism to less powerful elected officials? Because they saw the horrific images on television and know that something very awful happened and the relief effort was botched severely.
These people cannot afford to let the facts come out because they would be damning to their cause, so they spin, spin, and spin some more.
The transcript of Murdock's comments shows he clearly is just reciting talking points he received from one of many conservative media outlets.
Correction to your story
The President did not issue a "disaster" declaration for the state of Louisiana on Saturday. What he did do on the 27th was to declare that "emergency conditions in certain areas of the State of Louisiana...warrant an emergency declaration" for the state. This is not semantics, a disaster and an emergency are two distinct situations.
More important than an argument about semantics is what is found in the fine print of the emergency declaration of the 27th and an amendment made to the declaration on August 29th, New Orleans and the parishes most affected were not part of the original emergency declaration.
Is this important? YES. The fine print of the Bush declaration gave FEMA the authority to "provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act to save lives, protect public health and safety, and property or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the designated areas."
The fine print of the FEMA Notice of August 27th reads "FEMA intends to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the designated areas. Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency."
What were the designated areas? NOT THOSE MOST AFFECTED. Ascension, Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, and Washington parishes were not added to the FEMA directive until an amendment on August 29th, after Katrina hit.
Is this important? YES. This is where politics comes in. I suppose the administration and Republican thinking is: those parishes were the most at risk, so they should have been the most prepared and it is, therefore, their responsiblity to provide for their residents. If someone can provide a better explanation, I'd like to hear it.
Is politics important? YES. This disaster highlights a core difference between Republican/Democrat and conservative/progressive, namely the principle of shared responsibility. The people most affected are not just residents of those parishes, they are citizens of the United States. It is the duty of all of us, through our government, to provide for and protect those who are unable to do so for themselves. The governor of Louisiana asked the President for help on the 27th, before Katrina hit, for the most affected parishes. The city of New Orleans was under mandatory evacuation on the 28th (according to the state plan to allow for surrounding, lowlying, and coastal areas to evacuate first). According to the official record, help for the most affected was not authorized until the 29th. FEMA did not order officials to the area until 11:30 am on Monday, the 29th, after Katrina hit.
Lies, timing, politics...and death.
hat tip to [link to www.bobharris.com] via a comment from TexMex in another posting.
other sources
[link to www.fema.gov]
[link to www.fema.gov]
[link to www.fema.gov]
[link to www.gov.state.la.us]
[link to news.yahoo.com]
[in anticipation of the "New Orleans was already under a state of emergency because of Cindy" excuse...wrong, see [link to www.fema.gov]
Murdock said "But the president ordered -- pushed on Governor Blanco to have a mandatory evacuation. That was on Sunday. I think on Saturday he declared a state of emergency, came back from his vacation -- probably a day or two later than he should have, but did come back, asked Congress to come in. They approved $10.5 billion, which he signed."
This guy has his timeline all screwed up. The vacation didn't end before the hurricane.
Exactly. Cons count on the fact that most ordinary newswatchers don't fact check what contributers say.
Bush didn't end his vacation until after the levees broke on the 30th.
[link to www.washingtonpost.com]
What you won't read in the RWM columns is that, as Kos puts it, "by the time lawlessness really started breaking out, the White House wanted to run the whole show or basically not get involved." Remember those National Guard troops from other states who couldn't come because their paperwork was held up in Washington? That help was withheld from New Orleans pending Blanco's capitulation. Because Blanco called Bush's bluff, the Right has targeted her for a few dozen rounds of "pin the Blame on the Democrat."
When you're a war president, every problem looks like a war.
Correction, I meant Josh instead of Kos. The TPM post is here: [link to www.talkingpointsmemo.com]
On the NBC Today Show, both Andra Mitchell (Mrs. Alan Greenspan) and Joe Scarboroough both stated that Gov. Blanco kept the Louisiana Nat'l Guard from helping the New Orleans PD. Where did they get this information? So far I've been able to track this spin back to a Jon Christian Ryter. [link to www.jonchristianryter.com]
And it was picked by another right wing blogger who posted on 09/07/05:"In a bit of information that I could not verify, but was linked by Chris Regan at JunkYardBlog, this Behind the News article by former reporter Jon Christian Ryter indicates that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco abandoned the NOPD." [link to wizbangblog.com]
The next day, 09/08/05, the same right wing blogger posted:"Yesterday we reported that one source is reporting that Governor Kathleen Blanco kept the Louisiana National Guard from assisting the New Orleans police department," [link to wizbangblog.com]
Somehow, over night, an unsubstantiated rumor by a right wing religious hack became Gospel, spreading throughout the right wing media noise machine. The question is what is the dubiously named "Jon Christan Ryter's" source?
The mendacity of these people to twist and spin facts, in the face of objectively observable events, is staggering.
You should definitely email that in to the MMFA tips address.
Let's examine the claim for this post. I won't address all issues--I just want to demonstrate the presumption. Okay? I am not saying that the Right is right or the Left is wrong. I just want to look at the words and see:
Conservative syndicated columnists Linda Chavez and Deroy Murdock advanced the dubious [WHY IS THIS CLAIM DUBIOUS? IS I BECAUSE A BLACK MAN AND LATINA (WHO ARE REPUBLICAN SAID SO?] claim that it took a telephone call from President Bush to prompt Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to order the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. As Media Matters for America has previously documented, there is little evidence to support this contention.
An August 28 statement by Blanco made clear that President Bush called her just before the August 28 press conference at which the evacuation was announced [BUSH SENT GOVERNOR BLANCO A LETTER ON AUGUST 26TH, TWO DAYS BEFORE YOUR PRESS CONFERENCE ASKING TO FEDERALIZE THE SITUATION. WE HAVE TO ASK, WITH A CAT 5 COMING TOWARDS YOUR CITY--WITH THE KNOWLEDGET THAT NOTHING YOU OR YOUR STATE HAS DONE IN 40 YEARS IN EXPECTING THIS STORM--WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?
UM, WE HAVE ONE BUT DIDN'T FOLLOW IT BECAUSE (EVEN THOUGH OUR PLAN WARNED US) WE DIDN'T EXPECT SO MANY PEOPLE RUNNING FOR SHELTER (BUT WE SUSPECT IT HAD TO DO WITH OUR LIBERAL MAYOR SENDING OUR CITIZENS INTO "SLAVE SHIPS" WITH "HOLOCOUST" CONDITIONS AT THE SUPERDOME.
So here are the "disputed" facts that Chavez wrote:
Gov. Blanco delayed taking crucial actions -- in fact, it was the president who called her to plead that she declare an emergency. "Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding," the Associated Press reported Aug. 28, 2005.