Ironically, the biggest witness against the exaggerated claims of Brian Williams' Hurricane Katrina fabulism turns out to be Brian Williams himself. His diary entries in the NBC News Daily Nightly online journal from the time of Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans to the aftermath several days later shows no mention of his many disputed claims.
A detailed analysis of Brian Williams' Daily Nightly journal entries from August 29, 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans until our puppy-rescuing hero was safely out of harm's way shows no references to a floating body in the French quarter, drinking floodwater, catching dysentery, a five-star hotel hotel overrun by gangs, nor of a dramatic rescue in a stairwell by a young police officer with whom Brian is "friends to this day." However, Brian's Daily Nightly journal is chock full of Bush bashing as you can see in his Sept. 2 entry:
A local radio station this morning refused to air the President's remarks apparently because they didn't think they would learn anything applicable to their immediate crisis. People were still dying in downtown New Orleans today... the living are urinating and moving their bowels where they stand or sit. A New Orleans cop called into the radio show to say he resented President Bush for the shower he took this morning at the White House.
Interesting that Williams makes sure to include material in his journal slamming President Bush but somehow forgets to mention a body floating down the French Quarter. The latter would be miraculous since only a few inches of water were on the ground in that section of New Orleans. However, a bonus discovery! The origins of Brian Williams' puppy rescue story might have been found in the Sept. 7 Daily Nightly journal entry by NBC News Coordinating Producer, Heather Allan:
It was Sunday night, Aug. 28, and the storm was due to hit on Monday morning. We were at the Superdome in this absolutely pouring down, squalling rain. The winds had already started to pick up. Most of the thousands of people who were trying to get into the Superdome had already managed to get in. They were just about to close the doors and lock down for the night.
That’s when I saw a man walking down and talking to cop cars and National Guard people all along the way in the pouring rain. He had a puppy in his arms. They said to him, "you can go in, but you can’t take your dog with you."
He kept saying, "Look man, it’s a puppy. If I left him at home, he would just die."
So I looked at Tom Baer, our satellite truck operator, and I said, "Tom, we gotta do it." He nodded. So I went out into the rain and I said, "We’ll look after your dog for you."
In the pouring rain, he gave me his name, Joe Torres, and I gave him our numbers, and he went into the Superdome and we took the puppy.
Exit question: Did this rescued Superdome puppy story become the genesis for volunteer firefighter Brian Williams' tale of rescuing a puppy (or was it two puppies?) from a house fire?
