Why I despise the AP and MSM

Bush Takes Responsibility for Blunders

No, he did not. And AP's article clearly demonstrates that he did not. Here is what Bush said, taken directly from the AP article.

"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.

Does that sound like he's taking responsibility for issuing an evacuation order 24 hours later that it should have been issued (Nagin & Blanco)?

Does that sound like he's taking responsibility for allowing 300 city buses to sit idle before the storm hit while 100,000 people could not evacuate (Nagin)?

Does that sound like he's taking responsibility for refusing the offer from Amtrack to load up their last train out of New Orleans with evacuees (Nagin)?

Does that sound like he's taking responsibility for allowing those same 300 buses to drown in the floodwaters after the storm passed (Nagin)?

Does that sound like he's taking responsibility for directing storm escapees to the Super Dome and Convention Center with no food, water or security (Nagin)?

Does that sound like he's taking responsibility for refusing to allow the Red Cross to enter the city with food, water, ice, medicine, doctors, blankets, pillows, clothing etc. to help those stranded, starving and under siege in the Super Dome and the Convention Center (Blanco)?

Does that sound like he's taking responsibility for the state of Louisiana needing 24 hours of study (read: estimate political damage) before finally say, "No" to his offer to share jurisdiction over the federal troops and state National Guard (Blanco)?

Does that sound like he's taking responsibility for blockading the only dry route out of the city and firing over the heads of desperate refugees to stop them from leaving and keeping them trapped in the city without food, water, sanitation or security (Gretna, La., Police Chief Arthur Lawson)?

Does that sound like he's taking responsibility for the city and state's failure to implement their own disaster response plan (Nagin, Blanco)?

The AP article compounds its distortion, or lie, if you like, with this:

President Bush said Tuesday that "I take responsibility" for failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and said the disaster raised broader questions about the government's ability to respond to natural disasters as well as terror attacks.

Notice that it only quotes "I take responsibility" and removes that quoted passage completely from the context of what Bush actually said.

As for blunders in the federal response, "I'm not going to defend the process going in," Bush said. "I am going to defend the people saving lives."

I have yet to see a single documented incident of "blunders in the federal response". Not one. And documented, not alleged by some squealing partisan hack or politician.

But this one may be the most egregious of all:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff introduced Paulison as the Bush administration tried to deflect criticism for the sluggish initial federal response to the hurricane and its disastrous aftermath.

The AP cannot even find a quote to take out of context to support the "deflect criticism" charge. Read the entire article and see if you can find any federal official quoted as saying anything that would be an attempt to deflect criticism. It's not there.

Man, I hate those guys.

TAGS: Hurricane Katrina, MSM, distortions, lies