On Tuesday’s CBS This Morning, co-host Charlie Rose led off the broadcast by triumphantly announcing: “Protesters demand Michigan's governor resign over a toxic war crisis. He admits it is his Hurricane Katrina.”
Introducing a segment minutes later, Rose repeated: “Michigan's governor admits the response to the Flint water crisis is his Hurricane Katrina. But Rick Snyder this morning is rejecting calls to step down. The dangerous water contamination led to protests Monday outside Snyder's home.”
In the report that followed, correspondent Adriana Diaz explained the “admission” from Snyder: “In an article published Monday, the National Journal asked Snyder if comparing his handling of the Flint water crisis to President Bush's management of Katrina is unfair. He replied, ‘No. It’s a disaster.’”
In the Monday article, senior political columnist Ron Fournier cited liberal opponents of Snyder labeling the water crisis a new “Katrina” and pressed for reaction: “(Critics have) called this your Katrina. Do you think that’s unfair?” Synder replied: “No. It’s a disaster.”
Fournier urged the Governor to expand on the comparison: “What is the leadership parallel between Katrina – where President Bush started, how he handled it, and where he ended up – and you?” Snyder refused: “I didn’t follow all the Katrina steps and all the issues so I couldn’t do that for you.”
While CBS hyped the Katrina headline, the network ignored Fournier pointing out blame for the Obama administration: “In early 2015, months before the lead poisoning was publicly announced, an analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency discovered dangerous levels of lead in Flint’s water. An appointee of President Obama forbade the results from being released to the public.”
In his Tuesday column, Fournier declared: “Anybody angry enough to call for GOP Gov. Rick Snyder’s resignation should also want the scalp of an Obama appointee at the Environmental Protection Agency who sat on lead test results.”
On Monday, CBS This Morning touted how Democratic candidates and left-wing activists were exploiting the crisis to bash Snyder.
After Diaz’s Tuesday report, co-host Gayle King reminded viewers:
The Governor is also brushing off criticism by Hillary Clinton....The Governor says that Clinton is using the disaster to make political points. In an interview last night, Hillary Clinton said, quote, “I don't call that politicizing. I call that getting results.” Rival Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says the Governor should resign.
King added: “None of the Republican candidates has offered any reaction.”
Here is a full transcript of the January 19 report:
7:00 AM ET TEASE:
CHARLIE ROSE: Protesters demand Michigan's governor resign over a toxic war crisis. He admits it is his Hurricane Katrina.
7:03 AM ET SEGMENT:
ROSE: Michigan's governor admits the response to the Flint water crisis is his Hurricane Katrina. But Rick Snyder this morning is rejecting calls to step down. The dangerous water contamination led to protests Monday outside Snyder's home.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Flint Water Firestorm; MI Gov. Acknowledges Comparison to Katrina Crisis]
NORAH O’DONNELL: Flint's water has been poisoned with lead for months. Tests have shown elevated lead levels in dozens of children. The city has stopped tapping river water that triggered the crisis, but Flint’s water is still not safe for drinking. In just hours, Snyder will deliver his state of the state address in Lansing. Adriana Diaz is in Flint as the city’s mayor heads to Washington today looking for help. Adrianna, good morning.
ADRIANA DIAZ: Good morning. We’re at one of five state-run distribution centers, where people can pick up water filters and free water. They handed out more than 1,300 cases of water yesterday at this location alone. But many people are saying this is only a temporary solution to a larger problem, fixing the city's corroded pipes.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Flint Water Firestorm; Gov. Faces Backlash Over Contamination Emergency]
Volunteers and state troopers spent the Martin Luther King holiday in Flint handing out water bottles and filters along a street named for the civil rights icon. Thousands of others, like Patricia Marshall, are making daily trips to distribution centers to pick up water.
PATRICIA MARSHALL: Every day we still have to go out and get water. We have to do that. And we're low income. You know what I'm saying? How do we survive? We can't.
DIAZ: Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder has been sharply criticized for not acting sooner.
MONIQUE MOORE [FLINT RESIDENT]: With us being the lower class, if they were the higher class, I don't feel that they would be placed in the same situation.
DIAZ: In an article published Monday, the National Journal asked Snyder if comparing his handling of the Flint water crisis to President Bush's management of Katrina is unfair. He replied, “No. It’s a disaster.” Snyder also said his chief of staff expressed concern about Flint’s water quality several months before it was declared unsafe. He noted “multiple failures at multiple levels” by the regional EPA and Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality. On Monday, an EPA told reporters the agency “did its job but clearly the outcome was not what anyone would have wanted.”
The Governor says as soon as he found out that the lead was coming from the water, he told people to stop drinking it.
ELENA RICHARDSON: That's bull, that's bull crap.
DIAZ: Elena Richardson says Flint needs more than emergency declarations and bottled water.
RICHARDSON: What happens after the water and filter is gone? We still gonna have the lead, we still gonna have the pipes, we still gonna have the poison, we still gonna have the disease.
DIAZ: The Governor’s expected to layout a more detailed plan during his speech tonight at the state house. There hundreds are planning to protest. Yesterday his office told CBS News that he “is focused on helping the people of Flint, not politics.” Gayle?
GAYLE KING: Adriana, thank you.
The Governor is also brushing off criticism by Hillary Clinton. She spoke at a rally on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day yesterday.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Flint Water Firestorm; Clinton Slams MI Governor’s Response to Crisis]
HILLARY CLINTON: Making sure all Americans have clean air and water isn't just a health issue. It's a civil rights issue.
KING: The Governor says that Clinton is using the disaster to make political points. In an interview last night, Hillary Clinton said, quote, “I don't call that politicizing. I call that getting results.” Rival Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says the Governor should resign. None of the Republican candidates has offered any reaction.
