A tale of two Louisiana disasters and media bias

[lostinblue 1,989]

A tale of two Louisiana disasters and media bias

If ever there was a contrast to make around "then-and-now" media coverage of a Republican and Democratic president put in similar situations and their respective reactions to it, this one definitely makes the Top 5.

2005: President George W. Bush's presidency is basically declared over after he waits two days to cut a vacation short to return to the White House to directly engage in relief strategy around hurricane-ravaged Katrina. On Day 3, he would visit the Gulf Coast to survey the damage.

The headlines at the time and since have included, A compassionate Bush was absent right after Katrina, The 7 worst moments of George W. Bush’s presidency, Kanye West Rips Bush at Telethon, What If They Were White?, Jesse Jackson lashes out at Bush over Katrina response, Katrina thrusts race and poverty onto national stage: Bush and Congress under pressure to act
and An Imperfect Storm - How race shaped Bush's response to Katrina.

So it's clear how the narrative went from "Bush waited three days to visit the Gulf Coast" to "Bush is a racist who would have acted faster if white people were victims of Katrina."

Fast forward to August 2016 — several storms hit Louisiana, not just a hurricane — the floodwaters have created the biggest natural disaster to hit the United States since Hurricane Katrina.

At least 13 people are dead, more than 85,000 people have applied for federal disaster aid, 30,000 people needed to be rescued and 40,000 displaced. State officials report it is easily the biggest housing crunch since Sandy.

In Livingston Parish, officials report as many as 75 percent of the 52,000 homes there had been damaged by floodwaters. In Ascension Parish, water had seeped into one of every three homes.

“We’ve been through Hurricane Gustav, Katrina, Isaac and Rita, but this without a doubt is the roughest we’ve ever had in this parish,” said Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard.

A very simple question, if George W. Bush was president right now and playing golf with celebrities in one of the richest zip codes in the country, would the headlines again be everywhere that portray him as insensitive, out-of-touch, even a racist president be the same now as they were 2005? Of course they would.

Instead, President Obama continues his vacation that includes fundraising events for Democratic nominee E and the relative silence is deafening

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/media/291995-bush-condemned-for-katrina-but-media-apathetic-on-obamas

Edited August 21, 2016 by lostinblue

[floridadave 195]

A tale of two Louisiana disasters and media bias

If ever there was a contrast to make around "then-and-now" media coverage of a Republican and Democratic president put in similar situations and their respective reactions to it, this one definitely makes the Top 5.

2005: President George W. Bush's presidency is basically declared over after he waits two days to cut a vacation short to return to the White House to directly engage in relief strategy around hurricane-ravaged Katrina. On Day 3, he would visit the Gulf Coast to survey the damage.

The headlines at the time and since have included, A compassionate Bush was absent right after Katrina, The 7 worst moments of George W. Bush’s presidency, Kanye West Rips Bush at Telethon, What If They Were White?, Jesse Jackson lashes out at Bush over Katrina response, Katrina thrusts race and poverty onto national stage: Bush and Congress under pressure to act

and An Imperfect Storm - How race shaped Bush's response to Katrina.

So it's clear how the narrative went from "Bush waited three days to visit the Gulf Coast" to "Bush is a racist who would have acted faster if white people were victims of Katrina."

Fast forward to August 2016 — several storms hit Louisiana, not just a hurricane — the floodwaters have created the biggest natural disaster to hit the United States since Hurricane Katrina.

At least 13 people are dead, more than 85,000 people have applied for federal disaster aid, 30,000 people needed to be rescued and 40,000 displaced. State officials report it is easily the biggest housing crunch since Sandy.

In Livingston Parish, officials report as many as 75 percent of the 52,000 homes there had been damaged by floodwaters. In Ascension Parish, water had seeped into one of every three homes.

“We’ve been through Hurricane Gustav, Katrina, Isaac and Rita, but this without a doubt is the roughest we’ve ever had in this parish,” said Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard.

A very simple question, if George W. Bush was president right now and playing golf with celebrities in one of the richest zip codes in the country, would the headlines again be everywhere that portray him as insensitive, out-of-touch, even a racist president be the same now as they were 2005? Of course they would.

Instead, President Obama continues his vacation that includes fundraising events for Democratic nominee E and the relative silence is deafening

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/media/291995-bush-condemned-for-katrina-but-media-apathetic-on-obamas

The "real" reason behind the story:

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards asks president to stay home...

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is defending the Obama administration's response to the severe flooding in his state.

President Barack Obama has received criticism for staying on vacation rather than traveling to Louisiana to see the damage first-hand.

But Edwards said Thursday that he's spoken with the White House daily and has received quick responses for each request he's made to the administration. He noted that FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate visited the state Tuesday and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was in-state Thursday.

Edwards said he is "not complaining in any way about our federal partnership."

He added that while the President can visit whenever he'd like, he'd prefer him to wait "a week or two" because such visits require local police and first responders to help block roads and provide security.

Both Obama and Edwards are Democrats.

Link: http://abcnews.go.co...munity-41478191

[Dakine10 5,452]

Hopefully, Michael Brown will take a break from his drivel driven talk show to see what an effective FEMA response actually looks like.

Flood waters in Louisiana may look like Katrina, but the FEMA response does not

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/8/19/1561774/-Flood-waters-in-Louisiana-may-look-like-Katrina-but-the-FEMA-response-does-not

Edited August 21, 2016 by Dakine10

[ready4ONE 5,400]

The FEMA response to Katrina was ultimately at the root of all the complaints regarding Bush. The biggest complainers regarding this crisis and how Obama is handling it have spent eight years complaining falsely that Obama is a Muslim, a Foreigner, not really Black but obviously offended that a Black man is President and a Black family lives in the White House.

There is no cure for these people and they will get even worse when another Clinton is in the White House.