Katrina, You Bitch
I am dumbfounded by the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. It's scary stuff. When police are barricading themselves in their stations, when National Guard troops are saying they wish they were back in Iraq, you know it's bad.
It's finally driven me to watch CNN, which I haven't done way back since the capture of Saddam.
A lot of the coverage is actually quite good, but the performance of the reporters is mixed.
On the one hand, they are asking tough questions and not backing down when politicians or officials softpedal their answers.
Yet they are being aggressive to the point of impudence, and they are definitely fishing hard for the "who to blame" angle.
An anchor just now who was grilling a FEMA official asked (from memory): "When you see the footage of what is going on in New Orleans right now, do you feel proud of how FEMA has responded?"
Another reporter who interviewed Sen. Mary Landrieu listened to her thank a list of officials from Bush on down, note that Congress was convening an emergency session to pass a $10 billion assistance bill, and then he launched into what can only be described as a tirade.
Again, from memory, he said, "I'm here in Mississippi, senator, and I'm seeing bodies on the streets and people who are angry and want some answers, and frankly we don't want to hear politicians congratulate each other." He interrupted several times to tell the senator from Louisiana what he was seeing -- in Mississippi.
CNN is extending this aggressive questioning to pretty much everyone they come in contact with. They are interviewing some foreign guy now -- sounds German -- and the reporter just asked irately why foreigners haven't responded with offers of aid like the U.S. did with the tsunami and other disasters.
One interesting segment was when they spoke with a guy via cellphone from the Superdome. The reporter asked about reports of crime like rape and murder, and was stunned into silence when the guy said sharply, "We don't have any of that. We don't have any of that going on."
The fellow said some guys had started brandishing guns and going a bit wild, but he added, "We got rid of 'em".
Clearly astonished, the reporter asked incredulously, "How did you get rid of them?"
The answer: "We just banded together, rose up and made clear that they weren't welcome and we weren't going to stand for that. If they were going to be like that, they could go somewhere else."
It's finally driven me to watch CNN, which I haven't done way back since the capture of Saddam.
A lot of the coverage is actually quite good, but the performance of the reporters is mixed.
On the one hand, they are asking tough questions and not backing down when politicians or officials softpedal their answers.
Yet they are being aggressive to the point of impudence, and they are definitely fishing hard for the "who to blame" angle.
An anchor just now who was grilling a FEMA official asked (from memory): "When you see the footage of what is going on in New Orleans right now, do you feel proud of how FEMA has responded?"
Another reporter who interviewed Sen. Mary Landrieu listened to her thank a list of officials from Bush on down, note that Congress was convening an emergency session to pass a $10 billion assistance bill, and then he launched into what can only be described as a tirade.
Again, from memory, he said, "I'm here in Mississippi, senator, and I'm seeing bodies on the streets and people who are angry and want some answers, and frankly we don't want to hear politicians congratulate each other." He interrupted several times to tell the senator from Louisiana what he was seeing -- in Mississippi.
CNN is extending this aggressive questioning to pretty much everyone they come in contact with. They are interviewing some foreign guy now -- sounds German -- and the reporter just asked irately why foreigners haven't responded with offers of aid like the U.S. did with the tsunami and other disasters.
One interesting segment was when they spoke with a guy via cellphone from the Superdome. The reporter asked about reports of crime like rape and murder, and was stunned into silence when the guy said sharply, "We don't have any of that. We don't have any of that going on."
The fellow said some guys had started brandishing guns and going a bit wild, but he added, "We got rid of 'em".
Clearly astonished, the reporter asked incredulously, "How did you get rid of them?"
The answer: "We just banded together, rose up and made clear that they weren't welcome and we weren't going to stand for that. If they were going to be like that, they could go somewhere else."
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