james g. keegan jr. wrote:

"Fox Facts": Timeline omitted Dem governor's state of emergency
declaration, early levee breaks

The September 12 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes included a
deceptive on-screen Hurricane Katrina timeline that purported to
cover developments in the storm and emergency response from August
24-30. Echoing a Bush administration official who falsely told The
Washington Post that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D)
failed to declare a state of emergency, Fox's timeline omitted
Blanco's August 26 declaration of a state of emergency while
including similar declarations by the Republican governors of
Mississippi and Alabama. Similarly, the timeline echoed Bush
administration claims that the levee breaks were unexpected: The
timeline indicated that, on August 30, three New Orleans levees broke
and "water poured into [the] city" but did not mention that two
levees that broke on the morning of August 29, triggering
catastrophic flooding.

Under the header "Fox Facts," each of the 22 events identified in the
timeline was displayed briefly at the bottom of the screen during an
interview with Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) about government
failures in responding to the disaster. Two of the entries read:
"8/27: MISSISSIPPI GOVERNOR DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY"; and
"8/28: ALABAMA GOVERNOR DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY." But the
timeline made no mention of the state of emergency that Blanco
declared for Louisiana on August 26. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour
and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley are both Republicans.

During the segment in which the deceptive "Fox Facts" timeline ran,
co- host Alan Colmes responded to Romney's criticisms of Blanco and
the Louisiana state government by correctly pointing out that "the
governor actually put out an emergency resolution on the 26th."

Fox's omission closely follows the Bush administration's reported
strategy of shifting blame to Louisiana state officials.

The "Fox Facts" timeline also deceptively stated that on August 30,
"3 NEW ORLEANS LEVEES BROKE & WATER POUR POURED INTO CITY" without
noting that two levees -- including the critical 17th Street Canal
levee -- actually broke on the morning of August 29, resulting in
massive flooding. As The Wall Street Journal reported (subscription
required) on September 12, "The 17th Street Canal levee ... was
breached early Monday [August 29], the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
now believes, resulting in a slower-rising flood over a larger area."
In addition, the Journal reported that "[t]he New Orleans office of
the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning at 8:14
a.m. Monday, saying "a levee breach occurred along the industrial
canal at Tennessee Street. 3 to 8 feet of water is expected due to
the breach."

Once again, Fox's inaccurate version of events closely echoes Bush
administration spin. As Media Matters noted, after touring the
devastation caused to New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina on September
12, President Bush met with reporters and repeated the specious claim
that his discredited statement -- "I don't think anyone anticipated
the breach of the levees" -- was based on news reports from the
morning after the storm indicating that New Orleans had "dodged a
bullet." In fact, as Media Matters has noted, media outlets were
already reporting levee breaches on Monday, August 29.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509140001

This is the typical repugnican spin, we did everything possible, but
where we didn't do everything, it's the democrats fault. The
consertvative faction in this country has it's fingers in it's ears,
and is saying "LALALALALALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU
LALALALALALALALALALA!"
They make me sick.