Decision ‘08

I Think Someone Switched Newspapers

On the heels of the reasonable, very Washington Post-like editorial on Hamas in today’s New York Times, we find a ridiculous, partisan, very New York Times-like editorial in the Washington Post. Is it possible that an intricate hacking operation has scrambled the two websites?

Says the Post today, regarding the Katrina non-story:

Without a doubt, the tape provides evidence that the White House received ample warning of the catastrophe. Yet within days of that videoconference, Mr. Bush would excuse the federal government’s extraordinarily poor performance by telling an interviewer that “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” Moreover, at the time of the conference the White House had no idea whether federal emergency services were truly prepared.

The second assertion would get a failing grade on a high-school essay - the Post has no way of knowing what kind of ‘idea’ the White House had about pre-Katrina preparations. The proof offered, such that it is, is that Bush asked no questions on the tape in question, but the entire country now knows Bush had a separate, also videotaped call the next day with the Louisiana governor in which he is described as very engaged, and asks many probing, direct questions.

More importantly, however, the AP, which ‘broke’ this dud of a story that has been in the wide open since November, has corrected its inital coverage that Bush was mistaken about the ‘breach’ of levies:

In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials.

The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.

The day before the storm hit, Bush was told there were grave concerns that the levees could be overrun. It wasn’t until the next morning, as the storm was hitting, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had inquired about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing.

Drudge knew this last night - why didn’t the Washington Post? Is their AP feed on the fritz?…