Following up on Becky’s earlier comment about the “so gay” Anderson Cooper (yeah, probably), apparently he isn’t too afraid to rip into a politician or two; Wonkette (that’s something the crowd here probably doesn’t read much, but bear with me) reports:
Mary Landrieu goes on about how great Bill Frist is. Anderson Cooper responds that it’s hard to take politicians thanking each other when rats are gnawing dead bodies in the streets. We were sort of waiting for an anchor to go native, and Cooper does it in the best possible way. He says “people are ashamed.” Maybe more people should be.
Indeed. Given some of the questions about the competence of government following the disaster — and I’d like to note that I do not necessarily agree with such sentiments — I certainly understand Cooper’s frustration.
Video supposedly available here, for those inclined to check it out.
Before people start ranting about the federal govt again, I’d like to gently remind everyone that most disaster prep and hurricane prep is really up to the local government at the city and state level. There’s not much the fed. govt. can do in this situation; it was Nagin’s call not to order the mandatory evac of the city until too late, it was Nagin who repeatedly wouldn’t meet with army engineers to discuss the disaster plans, and it was the LA govt. that shot down the original levee plans that would have protected the city from a level 5 hurricane and decided to only fund the building of level 3 protection.
My husband was in the navy in N.O., and believe me, they knew the dangers- but there’s nothing the military could do…it was all up to LOCAL govt. to set up disaster plans.
P.S. why was food and water never stockpiled in the city in case of disaster?
P.S. why was food and water never stockpiled in the city in case of disaster?
And why wasn’t there more of it in the Superdome? This is something I was thinking about today. EVEN IF Nagin was right not to order people out of the city till Sunday, CLEARLY they should have been getting the Superdome ready on FRIDAY. (It was apparent by Thursday night that there was reason to be nervous; by Friday morning there was even more reason; and it was clear by Friday afternoon that a serious threat existed.) My impression is that they didn’t really start seriously getting the Superdome ready until Sunday morning, which is just absolutely absurd. If I’m wrong about that, someone please tell me.
I saw this segment live; it was quite amusing. Cooper lost all composure and was quite emotional. His questions/statements were valid - basically stating that its ridiculous for politicians to congratulate each other while the situation is so terrible right now. This setiment stemmed from the lady senator’s thanks and praise for Presidents Clinton and Bush Sr. giving words of encouragement and the like.
I watched the video afterwards. Perhaps thanks for support might be ok, but not now, and jeeeez did she go on long. He was perfectly correct to interrupt her hagiography of Various National Figures and basically ask her what the fuck was going on.
Brendan…I am trying to donate to the link off your site like crazy…I’m thinking the site is swamped (which is a good thing I think) so I will keep trying till it takes place…
Husband called, he tends bar at a “hotel” across the street from the state cap here in CA…lawmakers spend a lot of time there…many scratching their head with the initial LA state prep, response and lack of any plan! The consensus among these folks is that the LA city authorities and state were MIA and a totally unready for flood. Also apparently, state requests what they need from feds…since this turned into a flood sit, they obviously miscalculated the needs…but bottom line is the astonishment that no real flood plan was in place (i.e. jails? offsite food and water supplies that could be dropped in all the while?)
monday morning quarterbacking, but still, I live 1/2 mile from sac. and american rivers. AND awfully close to san fran, so in a future bad zone.
How could they not even evacuate the hospitals? That’s standard in Florida. Before Andrew, every hospital east of I-95 and U.S.1 were evacuated. And believe me, that’s a LOT of hospitals.
Then again, if George Tenet’s experience is any indication, this guy is a shoo-in for a Presidential Medal of Honor for his heroic blaming of the victims of his incompetence.
No doubt, I just heard this guy detaiing how he had been on the phone desperately for days asking the governor for just SECURITY at the hospital, not even evacuation help. He was praising the navy, marines and army that seemed to zero in a give good help (presume NG reserves???…he said that what NO needs is leadership, that the leadership deteriotated then the people modeled…as Brendan’s most recent post suggests, waiting until Sunday to demand “well” people to evacuate the city, no prepartions at the superdome (one guy on Fox saying he expected to be searched, ultimately never searched for weapons) no food…what the heck ever!
Paige - I find I’m agreeing with you again today. Federal assistance to almost any disaster is 3 to 5 days before help starts to arrive. The key word being “starts.” Additionally, the larger the scale of the problem, the less clear the major problems are and the more difficult to get resources in make the delay longer. Throw what I’ll call “disaster creep” into the mix - the initial observation that a major metropolitan area was relatively lucky and other areas needed the resources more immediately, while the situation was slowly but steadily declining… and you have a mess of epic proportions.
There’s failure all over the board here. FEMA administrators can’t be very happy right now. But I can’t blame them too much… yet. (We’ll see what the next days bring. But I’m not impressed at the moment.) Where was that plan to get people out of the superdome and to somewhere else in LA at the state and local level? As you asked, where was that stockpile of food and water for the shelters? Where was the leadership until Tuesday night? How could a city like New Orleans be totally unprepared for a flood? How can hospitals still be discussing evac’ing? These are all things you do before the water starts to rise, not after.
If anything resembling the word “good” can come out of this, I hope that state and local emergency management officials across the country look hard at their own yards and address these sorts of failures. All the cool whiz-bang toys homeland security grants bought aren’t going to feed people. Or transport them somewhere safe. Nor will they help agencies coordinate their response effectively if the personalities involved don’t step away from all the petty pissing contests that take place in drill after drill.
(Full disclosure: I am not a full-time emergency management official. I volunteer as a communications specialist and public information officer for my county.)
My guess about what happens from here.. Things will start moving quickly as all the federal resources arrive and recreate order out of the situation. (The order the local police and fire chief’s should have been maintaining for the first few days… at the very least getting the initial response started so that resources could be immediately enagaged upon arriving at the staging area.) FEMA will come in and basically save the day, but the blame for the entire fiasco will be laid squarely at the president’s feet. (CNN is already salivating… ) Local officials will get off with no accountability and pat themselves on the back about what a great job they did in the face of adversity when they were entirely unprepared - and then exhibited absolutely no leadership what-so-ever beyond asking, “Where’s the feds?”
Well, maybe not everyone… Haley Barbour will have a rough time with the media because he’s an old white guy with a southern accent. Nevermind that the response of Mississippi officials should be looked at in an after-action report as how things SHOULD run. (Granted, he doesn’t have the after-the-fact flooding or the size of the population base, the actual initial damage to Mississippi was far more significant than NOLA.)
Ok, this has run on far too long… No more monday morning quarterbacking and fortune telling tonight.
Anderson Cooper is the poser son of Gloria Vanderbilt (really, he is). Four days ago he could give a rat’s ass about the people of Biloxi. Four days from now he will be back to not giving a rat’s ass about the people of Biloxi. Right now he is probably in his air conditioned trailer drinking Evian and having his armed guards keep the rat-eaten people of south Mississippi away from his door.
I’m hearing it’ll be worthwhile to watch Ted Koppel tonight too. I read elsewhere he skewers the FEMA director. Paula Zahn evidently had her shot too - FEMA didn’t know there were people at the convention center. Apparently they’re not watching the news…
It’s time to start asking questions, folks. ITS FRIDAY!!! This response is pathetic and I’m ashamed. This is not USA!! I’m with the reporters on this one…
digipaws - I saw the Paula Zahn interview, and she missed a direct chance to skewer the FEMA Director…specifically when he says “Paula…we only found out about the conventio-…the people at the convention center today…” She hit him after that, just not very hard.
Also, for those who don’t want to bother with the vid-cap on crooks and liars of the Anderson Cooper goin’ 360 on Sen. Landrieu, (although I would advise that y’all do because it was great seeing it live and even greater seeing it again as a 2nd round), ThinkProgress has the transcript here:
September 1st, 2005 at 10:41:36 pm
Before people start ranting about the federal govt again, I’d like to gently remind everyone that most disaster prep and hurricane prep is really up to the local government at the city and state level. There’s not much the fed. govt. can do in this situation; it was Nagin’s call not to order the mandatory evac of the city until too late, it was Nagin who repeatedly wouldn’t meet with army engineers to discuss the disaster plans, and it was the LA govt. that shot down the original levee plans that would have protected the city from a level 5 hurricane and decided to only fund the building of level 3 protection.
My husband was in the navy in N.O., and believe me, they knew the dangers- but there’s nothing the military could do…it was all up to LOCAL govt. to set up disaster plans.
P.S. why was food and water never stockpiled in the city in case of disaster?
September 1st, 2005 at 10:49:09 pm
why was food and water never stockpiled in the city in case of disaster?
That’ll be a good question to ask a government official. However, is this done anywhere, save for a few “special” places like NYC or DC?
September 1st, 2005 at 10:49:25 pm
P.S. why was food and water never stockpiled in the city in case of disaster?
And why wasn’t there more of it in the Superdome? This is something I was thinking about today. EVEN IF Nagin was right not to order people out of the city till Sunday, CLEARLY they should have been getting the Superdome ready on FRIDAY. (It was apparent by Thursday night that there was reason to be nervous; by Friday morning there was even more reason; and it was clear by Friday afternoon that a serious threat existed.) My impression is that they didn’t really start seriously getting the Superdome ready until Sunday morning, which is just absolutely absurd. If I’m wrong about that, someone please tell me.
September 1st, 2005 at 10:51:55 pm
I saw this segment live; it was quite amusing. Cooper lost all composure and was quite emotional. His questions/statements were valid - basically stating that its ridiculous for politicians to congratulate each other while the situation is so terrible right now. This setiment stemmed from the lady senator’s thanks and praise for Presidents Clinton and Bush Sr. giving words of encouragement and the like.
I think the rainbow thong was riding up on him.
September 1st, 2005 at 10:53:58 pm
Not only was it amusing, it was long overdue. That bitch has been self appreciating for too long, and I’m glad he did what he did…
This is a failure on the local, state, and now, federal levels…
September 1st, 2005 at 10:56:07 pm
I watched the video afterwards. Perhaps thanks for support might be ok, but not now, and jeeeez did she go on long. He was perfectly correct to interrupt her hagiography of Various National Figures and basically ask her what the fuck was going on.
September 1st, 2005 at 11:06:49 pm
Dont let the feds off to easy folks…
http://www.slate.com/id/2125494/nav/tap2/
September 1st, 2005 at 11:26:33 pm
Brendan…I am trying to donate to the link off your site like crazy…I’m thinking the site is swamped (which is a good thing I think) so I will keep trying till it takes place…
Husband called, he tends bar at a “hotel” across the street from the state cap here in CA…lawmakers spend a lot of time there…many scratching their head with the initial LA state prep, response and lack of any plan! The consensus among these folks is that the LA city authorities and state were MIA and a totally unready for flood. Also apparently, state requests what they need from feds…since this turned into a flood sit, they obviously miscalculated the needs…but bottom line is the astonishment that no real flood plan was in place (i.e. jails? offsite food and water supplies that could be dropped in all the while?)
monday morning quarterbacking, but still, I live 1/2 mile from sac. and american rivers. AND awfully close to san fran, so in a future bad zone.
September 1st, 2005 at 11:37:38 pm
myway has a good article:
newsview: Politicians Failed Storm Victims
Sep 1, 6:06 PM (ET)
By RON FOURNIER
September 1st, 2005 at 11:45:26 pm
How could they not even evacuate the hospitals? That’s standard in Florida. Before Andrew, every hospital east of I-95 and U.S.1 were evacuated. And believe me, that’s a LOT of hospitals.
September 1st, 2005 at 11:50:19 pm
You’ve probably seen this one, FEMA head Michael Brown suggesting the victims are also to blame:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.fema.brown/index.html
Then again, if George Tenet’s experience is any indication, this guy is a shoo-in for a Presidential Medal of Honor for his heroic blaming of the victims of his incompetence.
September 2nd, 2005 at 12:15:40 am
Lisa
No doubt, I just heard this guy detaiing how he had been on the phone desperately for days asking the governor for just SECURITY at the hospital, not even evacuation help. He was praising the navy, marines and army that seemed to zero in a give good help (presume NG reserves???…he said that what NO needs is leadership, that the leadership deteriotated then the people modeled…as Brendan’s most recent post suggests, waiting until Sunday to demand “well” people to evacuate the city, no prepartions at the superdome (one guy on Fox saying he expected to be searched, ultimately never searched for weapons) no food…what the heck ever!
September 2nd, 2005 at 12:26:26 am
Paige - I find I’m agreeing with you again today. Federal assistance to almost any disaster is 3 to 5 days before help starts to arrive. The key word being “starts.” Additionally, the larger the scale of the problem, the less clear the major problems are and the more difficult to get resources in make the delay longer. Throw what I’ll call “disaster creep” into the mix - the initial observation that a major metropolitan area was relatively lucky and other areas needed the resources more immediately, while the situation was slowly but steadily declining… and you have a mess of epic proportions.
There’s failure all over the board here. FEMA administrators can’t be very happy right now. But I can’t blame them too much… yet. (We’ll see what the next days bring. But I’m not impressed at the moment.) Where was that plan to get people out of the superdome and to somewhere else in LA at the state and local level? As you asked, where was that stockpile of food and water for the shelters? Where was the leadership until Tuesday night? How could a city like New Orleans be totally unprepared for a flood? How can hospitals still be discussing evac’ing? These are all things you do before the water starts to rise, not after.
If anything resembling the word “good” can come out of this, I hope that state and local emergency management officials across the country look hard at their own yards and address these sorts of failures. All the cool whiz-bang toys homeland security grants bought aren’t going to feed people. Or transport them somewhere safe. Nor will they help agencies coordinate their response effectively if the personalities involved don’t step away from all the petty pissing contests that take place in drill after drill.
(Full disclosure: I am not a full-time emergency management official. I volunteer as a communications specialist and public information officer for my county.)
My guess about what happens from here.. Things will start moving quickly as all the federal resources arrive and recreate order out of the situation. (The order the local police and fire chief’s should have been maintaining for the first few days… at the very least getting the initial response started so that resources could be immediately enagaged upon arriving at the staging area.) FEMA will come in and basically save the day, but the blame for the entire fiasco will be laid squarely at the president’s feet. (CNN is already salivating… ) Local officials will get off with no accountability and pat themselves on the back about what a great job they did in the face of adversity when they were entirely unprepared - and then exhibited absolutely no leadership what-so-ever beyond asking, “Where’s the feds?”
Well, maybe not everyone… Haley Barbour will have a rough time with the media because he’s an old white guy with a southern accent. Nevermind that the response of Mississippi officials should be looked at in an after-action report as how things SHOULD run. (Granted, he doesn’t have the after-the-fact flooding or the size of the population base, the actual initial damage to Mississippi was far more significant than NOLA.)
Ok, this has run on far too long… No more monday morning quarterbacking and fortune telling tonight.
September 2nd, 2005 at 12:43:04 am
Anderson Cooper is the poser son of Gloria Vanderbilt (really, he is). Four days ago he could give a rat’s ass about the people of Biloxi. Four days from now he will be back to not giving a rat’s ass about the people of Biloxi. Right now he is probably in his air conditioned trailer drinking Evian and having his armed guards keep the rat-eaten people of south Mississippi away from his door.
September 2nd, 2005 at 2:27:55 am
I’m hearing it’ll be worthwhile to watch Ted Koppel tonight too. I read elsewhere he skewers the FEMA director. Paula Zahn evidently had her shot too - FEMA didn’t know there were people at the convention center. Apparently they’re not watching the news…
It’s time to start asking questions, folks. ITS FRIDAY!!! This response is pathetic and I’m ashamed. This is not USA!! I’m with the reporters on this one…
September 2nd, 2005 at 3:01:42 am
digipaws - I saw the Paula Zahn interview, and she missed a direct chance to skewer the FEMA Director…specifically when he says “Paula…we only found out about the conventio-…the people at the convention center today…” She hit him after that, just not very hard.
Also, for those who don’t want to bother with the vid-cap on crooks and liars of the Anderson Cooper goin’ 360 on Sen. Landrieu, (although I would advise that y’all do because it was great seeing it live and even greater seeing it again as a 2nd round), ThinkProgress has the transcript here:
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/01/cooper-to-landrieu-americans-want-answers/