NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard has focused again on what NPR reporters say on Fox News. Reporter Mara Liasson infuriated the liberal listeners of the taxpayer-funded network when she proclaimed on Tuesday's Special Report that "Cash for Clunkers is like a mini-Katrina here," Liasson said. "It's not good to start a government program and not be able to execute it."
Liasson quickly acknowledged she "crossed a line" in comparing Bush's hurricane response to Obama's eco-friendly initiatives:
"I said something really stupid, which I regret," Liasson told me. "I should have merely said anytime time the government does something less than competent, it makes it harder to get people to trust them with other programs. People died in Katrina because of government incompetence. I should not have used that as an analogy. I was thinking of an example of government incompetence and I picked one that was too big and egregious. I was over the top in my choice of a metaphor. It was a mistake."
NPR's senior vice president for news, Ellen Weiss, said, "If this had been said live on NPR's air, we would have redone the interview, and we would have acknowledged and apologized for what was said in earlier feeds both on the air and online."
This is how Shepard described the internal NPR outrage:
Say what? Nearly 2,000 people died and thousands more were injured or lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Bush administration's inability to help hundreds of thousands of people in New Orleans after Katrina is considered one of the greatest recent examples of government incompetence.
It is inconceivable anyone could compare that disaster to Cash for Clunkers, which simply gives people a voucher worth up to $4,500 to trade in an old car for a newer, more fuel-efficient vehicle.
Emails have been pouring into my office.
"Cash for Clunkers" is an innovative, socially and economically beneficial program that has been slowed only by its unforeseeable degree of success," wrote Tom Gleason of Lawrence, KS. "Hurricane Katrina was an epic tragedy aggravated by government inaction. If Ms. Liasson (on Fox News) finds any basis at all to analogize between the two she needs to go to work for Fox News full time."
It doesn't occur to anyone inside the NPR bubble that it sounds a bit partisan or anti-Bush to proclaim the federal government was unable to help "hundreds of thousands of people" in the aftermath of a hurricane, or allow that perhaps many of the dead and injured were harmed by the storm, not by George W. Bush. It also fails to allow that many thousands were rescued by the government. For someone who's supposed to be nonpartisan, Shepard really failed here to distinguish between hard fact and one of the most fiercely held anti-Bush propaganda points.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
I wonder what
August 9, 2009 - 08:16 ET by 10ksnookerThe trade-in value of a Congressional clinker is? Probably not much market for junk that does nothing but repeat lies.
Oh, I disagree...
August 9, 2009 - 09:33 ET by unkeeafThe media finds great vaule in a scoundrel like that.
Dr. Zachy for President - http://www.youtube.c...
CA$H 4 CLUNKERS = SOCIALIZED MEDICINE...
August 9, 2009 - 14:21 ET by danybhoyI'll make an "over the top" reference. With kudos to Andrew Wilkow on his radio gig "The Wilkow Majority", just think of socialized Obama-care like Cash For Clunkers. The idea is, in the end, we trade in our elderly whose best days are long gone & will burden the system & trade them in for the younger generations who should be contributors long into the future. The bonus is that the gov't gets to keep whatever Social Security benifits owed as well. It's a win-win for the liberal/progressive/socialist/marxist/communist/facist movement in America in order to make a more perfect nation.
"...How blind can you be, don't you see...
...that the gambler lost all he does not have..."
Nightwish
The Daily Show's version
August 9, 2009 - 16:04 ET by mom_roxJon Stewart (Aug. 3 ep.) called it the "Greenbacks for Grannies" program.
~~save your tea, dump congress~~
Re C4C
August 9, 2009 - 16:23 ET by slickwillie2001Several people had the same idea; I've also read articles on 'Cash for Codgers'.
Seriously though, if you look at the writings of John Holdren, the Bamster's Science Czar, and Ezekial Emanuel, the Bamster's health care adviser, these satires may not be far from the truth. Holdren is easily the craziest of the two, in fact he may be insane. This is the guy that thinks babies don't become human beings until they are a couple years old.
Babies Aren't Human Until They've Been Socialized: http://www.moonbattery.com
An Inconvenient Truth About the Death Panel: http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com
When you read what these nutballs write, you just have to wonder what other rot is festering in their mind and why anyone would give them a job in any position of power.
2 Words......
August 9, 2009 - 19:42 ET by SnappySoylent Green.
The Liberals' Code of Conduct:
August 9, 2009 - 08:19 ET by FeynmanFanNever, EVER pass up a chance to slam the Bush administration.
What's the Matter With Kansas Liberals?
August 9, 2009 - 08:46 ET by Tyler Durbin“Unforeseeable success?” Any time a government program is established to give people free money, it will alway be a huge success. Sometimes, an “epic tragedy” can be initiated by lousy government action.
Something tells me Liasson
August 9, 2009 - 08:54 ET by motherbeltSomething tells me Liasson picked Katrina because, unlike Social
Security, Medicare and the Post Office, which have been a mess under
both parties, Katrina could be pinned specifically on President Bush.
I don't know this, I'm just guessing, you know, like liberals do...
The Bush administration's
August 9, 2009 - 08:34 ET by rimskyThe Bush administration's inability to help hundreds of thousands of people in New Orleans after Katrina is considered one of the greatest recent examples of government incompetence.
What ever the Bush administration's failures might have been in terms of responding to Katrina, they pale in comparison to the abject failures of the local leaders at the time, like Mr. Chocolate City himself Ray Nagin.
Hey, I didn't bring up Katrina. They did.
Cash for Clunkers? I agree with Mara. I think it is a disaster. Anytime you burn through $1 billion in one week on ANY federal program, it's a disaster.
I drove home behind a Ford Mach 1 Mustang yesterday.
August 9, 2009 - 08:48 ET by JWFA beautiful automobile that would have had liquid glass poured in the engine had it been turned in.
The cash for clunkers was the most wasteful gorvernment program I have ever seen. It is the broken window economics theory in action.
I bought 9 used cars the first 20 years of my life. None of them over $3500. There are young people out there that have to now move up to more expensive cars they cannot afford because a huge number of used cards have been removed from the road.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
That is absolutely
August 9, 2009 - 09:07 ET by motherbeltThat is absolutely right.....
They never follow through to the end results of their actions..
But hey, the important thing is they tried!! They had good intentions!!
Maybe the saying should be changed to The road to Unintended Consequences is paved with good intentions!
Down the road they will be seeking government relief for those people who can't make their car payments!
Katrina is holy Bush bashing holy holy ground. Thou shall not
August 9, 2009 - 08:35 ET by upcountrywaterever compare the Car Jacking Joker to Bush and Katrina...never ever again so help you my holie NPR
Hail alms from the taxpayers..
>>>ucw
August 9, 2009 - 09:49 ET by BKeyserIsn't it funny how many liberals continue to deny the possible existance of a higher being and deride anyone "foolish" enough to put their faith in such a notion (except Muslims- they don't deride Muslims), yet at the same time, they blindly espouse their beliefs in other unproven or fact-challenged theories and hypothesis?
Yup it drives me nuts,at this stupefyingly rapid rate of decline
August 9, 2009 - 16:10 ET by upcountrywaterin 50 years no one will believe we ever flew in aircraft.
Reagan VS Liberalism
Obviously, Mara forget the
August 9, 2009 - 13:15 ET by celatorObviously, Mara forget the recent oath all NPR "reporters" had to swear to, while placing their right hand on "Rules For Radicals."
Here's a little section I came across--"I pledge my allegiance, and what little is left of my honor, to all things liberal, and will never ever tell the truth or say something truthful about those lousy, no good conservatives, so help me, Lord Obama."
No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.
Yeah, after looking at
August 9, 2009 - 08:39 ET by mister josephYeah, after looking at hundreds of perfectly operational New Orleans public school buses sitting halfway underwater, unused and wasted, I can see the comparison.
No one died in Katrina because of government incompetence
August 9, 2009 - 08:41 ET by JWFEveryone had 5 days to stock up on tap water and food in cans. The water only got waist deep. Disease never had a chance to break out for lack of sanitation. Because the government came in in record numbers in a record amount of time and pulled people out.
Stop the Katrina lies.
If a class 5 hurricane is bearing down on you and you cannot seek shelter in a building that can withstand a class 5 hurricane. Get the hell out of the way.
I spent 17 years in Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines and Japan. Big hurricanes came year after year. There was no evacuation prior to the hurricanes because there was no where to evacuate to.
You build tough in hurricane alleys. If you did not build tough, you move to somewhere designated as a hurricane shelter.
A lot of the places I toughed out a hurricane was in governement barracks and government housing. Built tough. We welcomed hurricanes. It gave us a day off to drink beer. And drink the water and eat the food we stored up.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
I disagree that no one died
August 9, 2009 - 10:13 ET by seabeckerI disagree that no one died in Katrina because of government incompetence. However, no one died in Katrina because of Federal government incompetence.
Cash for Clunkers is a Federal program. Disaster releif is a state and local progam, first and foremost. The response in LA was botched by a Governor and Mayor who thought they had things under control. When things went south, they blamed the Feds.
So, no, the NPR hack should not have made the comparison. C4C is a simple car purchase program that the Feds are not capable or running. Katrina response was a state and local response that the locals were incapable of running, and had too much pride to ask for help when it counted.
Katrina
August 9, 2009 - 08:45 ET by ThatDudeI don't understand how she connected the two in the first place. It is an apples to oranges comparison of government not working right. Still, wasn't it the local officials who kept assistance from arriving in time after Katrina? Even with that, they were not given cause to be prepared for the levees breaking and the resulting fallout.
What I find more disturbing is that they are shilling for this government's propaganda. Why are the taxpayers paying for a station that simply repeats one party's propaganda?
She should quit working for
August 9, 2009 - 08:46 ET by forestShe should quit working for NPR.
Crazy world
August 9, 2009 - 08:47 ET by BuzzguyThe Katrina diaster was the perfect storm of a hurricane, an ineffective levee system, century's of state and local government corruption, inaction by the populace and a city that never should have been built where it was built. To complain about the handling of this massive, unprecedented relief effort is nothing but sick politics by a bunch of people who demonized Bush because they were so embarassed by Clinton being impeached. If Katrina had happened while Obama was President, there would be photos of him on the cover of Time every week, heralding his superhuman success.
I'm disappointed that Mara Liasson is such a hideous coward.
We live in crazy world.
Thanks Buzzguy.
August 9, 2009 - 08:55 ET by JWF...massive, unprecedented relief effort
They never mention that. A record amount of rescuers got to the area in a record amount of time.
There were not rescuers or relief effort in Guam after Typhoon Omar in 1992. The emergency personnel were in the same shelters as the rest of us. We all crawled out together. FEMA got there a few days later and did what FEMA traditionally did - pass out checks.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
Exactly Buzz
August 9, 2009 - 09:58 ET by BourbeauIf anything, the failure of the Bush Administration was to not adequately hold those that were truly responsible for failing to act accountable, and they were the incompetent Governor of LA, and the Mayor of New Orleans, not to mention the people who refused to act on the orders to evacuate. For George Bush to absorb all of the hate filled abuse from the media, for a 100 year storm, to this day, infuriates me. They ignored all of the good works of the Navy and Coast Guard rescue teams, the good works of the National Guard, and the hundreds and hundred of volunteers. They chose to harp on the goverment's ineffectiveness, while failing to report on the incompetence of local goverment. Rather, they chose to report about wide-spread lootings, deaths in the stadium, killings on the bridges, most of which never even happened. This is a dark chapter in our history, and yes, some in G W Bush's administration failed miserably. But there were plenty of others, including the media, that failed more.
delete
August 9, 2009 - 08:54 ET by motherbeltdelete
Cash for Clunkers is a
August 9, 2009 - 09:32 ET by SnappyCash for Clunkers is a collasial waste of Tax dollars, resources and cars. The benefit that was supposed to be gained I assume was the liquidation of thousands of GM and Chrysler pre banckruptcy inventory. Unfortunatly for them the hottest brands in this game are Toyota and Honda. Any green that was supposed to be gained was lost on the outset just in energy and waste in destroying the vehicle. On top of that the most popular models in the program are SUV's!! Then to add further insult to injury, to sign up for the program you end up giving the Feds complete access and proxy ownership of your computer. Then the program uses all its funds....In my simple common man mind, that means that the TEMPORARY program has run its course and is over. Instead we declared some sort of emergency and decide we have to double the funds for this program? Why? is this a permanent subsidy for car buyers? When a program runs out of funding its over? Right?
I continue to be amazed by the juvenile antics of an arrogant self important administration and congress who appearantly have shed all ties with and are no longer beholded to the people they no longer represent.
NPR Commenter Gleason...
August 9, 2009 - 12:42 ET by Wildcatter1980...must have missed this, too!
Good point, Snappy!
--
We already have term limits. They are called elections. We can & should vote out those who do not represent & serve us! - Me
Incompetence at the state level, I agree
August 9, 2009 - 10:01 ET by zachlindIf by government incompetence Mara Liasson was referring the 2005 hurricane Katrina disaster duo of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco then I agree. Both represented the Democrat party, and on this planet there has probably never been such an aggressive demonstration of incompetence in such a short period of time ever. By comparison, check out the performance of the governor next door, Mississippi Governor Haley Babour. And what a fine example of leadership he demonstrated during and after the crisis.
Poor Mara must have forgotten Bush no longer president...
August 9, 2009 - 11:46 ET by wnaegele...probably confused by all Bam's "blame Bush" rhetoric...
Guess He Missed This
August 9, 2009 - 12:37 ET by Wildcatter1980Guess Gleason missed the scenes of good engines dying on the poison of sodium silicate.
Liasson may not have been so "wrong" in her comparison after all. Tens of thousands of good running cars, etc., are, in their own way, deaths, too.
The real "clunker" of the program is the requirement to "kill" the vehicles being traded in. It's just another of the many unintended consequences of ill-considered liberal/socialist programs.
--
We already have term limits. They are called elections. We can & should vote out those who do not represent & serve us! - Me
Ahh Mara, I guess this is
August 9, 2009 - 14:58 ET by DesertCop3031Ahh Mara, I guess this is our tax dollars at work. I don't give her a pass because her liberal hatred for Bush came out. Kinda like when the dear leader said the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly". My God I hope this is the dear leaders only term.
It is far better to be three hours early than one minute late.
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
August 9, 2009 - 15:02 ET by FranksamThis song says it all
Gimme Some Money
------Spinal Tap
Stop wasting my time
You know what I want
You know what I need
Or maybe you don't
Do I have to come right flat out and tell you everything?
Gimme some money, gimme some money
One of the funniest movies ever made, even if it features Meathead Rob Reiner. Nobody is all bad.
Well, it's one louder,
August 9, 2009 - 15:09 ET by BKeyserWell, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes,
you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up,
all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can
you go from there? Where?
What a great flick!
Only a democrat could come up with a plan to take money away...
August 9, 2009 - 15:07 ET by R D Helm...at gun point from the people who actually earned it, and give it to people who have good enough credit to actually qualify for a car loan right now, and could probably afford the car anyway.
-Dave
If it's CommieCare you want, then move to Cuba.
Too bad, so sad Mara
August 9, 2009 - 17:16 ET by bigtimerToo bad, so sad Mara apologized for something that needed no apology for in the first place.
NPR needs to get a grip...oh wait a minute...they live on another planet...like the rest of their brethren...these people are pathetic...really they are.
Obama's a Community Agitator, a walking, talking destroyer. ~ Rush Limbaugh
Everyone had 5 days to
August 9, 2009 - 17:42 ET by ckc1227Everyone had 5 days to stock up on tap water and food in cans. The water only got waist deep."
Not
to pick nits, because the Katrina myth REALLY ticks me off, but, we
shouldn't engage in our own myths either. The water did get higher than
waist deep in a lot places. Didn't you see the people getting pulled
off of rooftops and cut out of attics by the government response that
Bush failed to supply?
I saw pictures of the house
August 9, 2009 - 17:51 ET by RR GOPI saw pictures of the house that belongs to one of my wife's cousins who lived just north of New Orleans. I was amazed at how high the waterline was, and it was waaaay above waist level.
They got the hell out of Dodge though before it hit.
That whole thing was managed badly. I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone when they were gathering all those people into the Dome. He lived through Hurricane Andrew and he kept saying over and over again, "They are so f----ed...I can't believe they're putting those people in there..."
For the local officials (Nagin in particular) not to evacuate everyone they could out of that area was totally irresponsible and was in no way President Bush's fault no matter how they spin it.
I still remember having to evacuate from the beaches where we lived in Brevard County when Hurricane David hit and that was nothing compared to Katrina.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
"I was talking to a friend
August 9, 2009 - 21:45 ET by ckc1227"I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone when they were gathering all those people into the Dome. He lived through Hurricane Andrew and he kept saying over and over again, "They are so f----ed...I can't believe they're putting those people in there..."
They weren't supposed to. It was a shelter of last resort. Having said that, it did protect them from the storm. If only the folks who went there for shelter had followed instructions, it may have been a little more bearable. They were told to bring 3 days food, water and medication with them, yet I guarantee you 90% of them brought nothing. Then somehow it gets spun as Bush's fault that diabetics at the Superdome didn't have insulin, and little babies didn't have formula, lol.
It was at that point I lost what little faith I had left that the media would do its job correctly. Few things make me angrier than the BS of Katrina.
Do I know you? Have we met? The moniker looks familiar.
August 9, 2009 - 19:56 ET by JWFNot to pick nits, but you did sir.
What myths exactly tick you off because you sure swallowed a big ol' dollup of teh It was all Bush's fault mythology with your the government response that Bush failed to supply remark.
Care to explain how Bush failed to supply government response without going into the katrina myths you are fully aware of?
Didn't you see the people getting pulled off of rooftops and cut out of attics... Are you saying people were pulled out alive? Because if they were, doesn't that prove that Bush did supply a government response. Doesn't it? Maybe I am missing something here. Please explain.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
"Didn't you see the people
August 9, 2009 - 21:30 ET by ckc1227"Didn't you see the people getting pulled off of rooftops and cut out of attics... Are you saying people were pulled out alive? Because if they were, doesn't that prove that Bush did supply a government response."
Yes, it does.....that was kind of the point.
Maybe you should re-read my post again. Obviously it went over your head the first time.
Duh.
August 9, 2009 - 22:33 ET by JWFSorry. Sarcasm is hard to pick up in the written word. I got it. Thanks for the hammer.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.