In a word?

No.

This is as laughable as it is scary. If nobody calls them out on this steaming turd then...well, I guess things just get worse.

Bonkers @ 3:

This is as laughable as it is scary. If nobody calls them out on this steaming turd then...well, I guess things just get worse.

MSNBC ran a story about this a few minutes ago and "supposedly" they claim the WH is pissed....

Sure...

Networks should refuse to broadcast live footage from the rest of the Bush Administration press conferences unless their network has at least one reporter at the press conference.

Otherwise, it could be another phony.

Rush to War @ 8:

Are these people even human, The constitution is but a myth.

I love your name. I wish we could send Rush to war.

The most amazing part of this is their belief that no one would notice or protest.
15 minutes notice to the media so no one has time to arrange to be there.
Then, have your own people ask questions for which you've already prepared answers.
Act as if you can get away with it -- this is real chutzpah!

They should have been going out of their way to answer real questions.

Good grief: I worked at a rural weekly newspaper and we had much higher standards of journalism. Then again, we lived there. That's the difference I think. I can barely stand to watch the MSM in small doses anymore, simply because I know how much Hell I would have caught for the sloppiness and bias that these self-important @$$hats get away with on a daily basis. And I made all of seven buck an hour back then...

Andy @ 5:

Bonkers @ 3:

This is as laughable as it is scary. If nobody calls them out on this steaming turd then...well, I guess things just get worse.

MSNBC ran a story about this a few minutes ago and "supposedly" they claim the WH is pissed....

Sure...

They are pissed that FEMA would pull a stunt like that?

More likely they are only pissed because the press found out about it...

I commented at MSNBC also

that I hate this staged stuff, and sense every action by this adim can only be corrupt, but ....

given the nature of news conferences in recent history, one can expect the reporters of the mainstream media to ask inane, knee-jerk, emotional questions for the purpose of creating hype, outrage and reaction, and worse the distraction from real questions and answers.

I thought that the questions posed by the FEMA folks were mostly honest in nature in that they were administrative-type questions being asked of a purely administrative organization, and realistically, they were things they had answers to. If it were reporters, they would be spinning and making stuff up, or suspiciously avoiding questions.

If I were A FEMA worker, I would rather be doing the actionable elements of my job than spending time with reporters, who ... let's face it, are mostly in the entertainment business.

I found the dialogue refreshingly unemotional and hissy fitted.

They do the same thing at my job (a very large corporation). A few days before the "town meeting", they pick some bootlickers and tell them what questions or comments to make.

BEAUTIFUL. This will help Waxman boot several FEMA regulars, so their actions today has helped the restoration of what was once a fine agency.

Let's recall for a second the three promises made by President Carter when he formed FEMA:

• FEMA will always help all Americans the same, regardless of race, creed, color, or political affiliation.

• FEMA will always be a cabinet-level post.

• FEMA will always be run by an experienced first-responder.

Bushco rushed to break all those promises, because Bushco profits from the destruction of government, as well as from the disasters that result from defunding, instead of defending.

Somebody should be fired for this but it won't happen. If it does, it will be somebody who shouldn't have been fired.

The White House would only be angry about this because they got caught.

We can expect Henry Waxman to drill a few new assholes over this. I am.

If the administration is going to be this transparent and shameless, they might as well bring back Jeff Gannon. At least entertain us while lying to us.....

It's the typical game plan and tactics that we've all come to expect and despise from this fucked up administration. One would be delusional to expect anything different from these self serving, soulless scumbags.

This will totally repair the agency's battered reputation.

I know this may be off-topic, but I wanted to alert everyone at Crooks and Liars, (staff and readers alike) about this very important news story and event that may escape the mainstream media. Thanks so much.

According to a report on SemocracyNow! From Friday, October 26, 2007, Donald Rumsfeld was hit with lawsuit for ordering and authorizing Torture on a personal visit to France. Check out the details yourselves after this excerpt and you can listen to the story at: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/26/1452236

Here is the excerpt folks:

Friday, October 26th, 2007
On Visit to France, Donald Rumsfeld Hit with Lawsuit for Ordering, Authorizing Torture

The complaint was filed with the Paris prosecutor’s office as Rumsfeld arrived in France for a visit. This is the fifth time Rumsfeld has been charged with direct involvement in torture since 9/11. We speak with two attorneys with the plaintiffs -- Center for Constitutional Rights president Michael Ratner and Jeanne Sulzer of the International Federation of Human Rights. [includes rush transcript]

U.S. and European human rights groups filed a lawsuit in France today charging former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with ordering and authorizing torture. The plaintiffs include the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights. They say Rumsfeld authorized interrogation techniques that led to abuses at US-run prisons in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.

The complaint was filed with the Paris prosecutor’s office as Rumsfeld arrived in France for a visit. This is the fifth time Rumsfeld has been charged with direct involvement in torture since 9/11. Michael Ratner is the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. He joins me in the firehouse studio. Jeanne Sulzer is a French attorney with the International Federation of Human Rights. She joins me on the line from Paris.

For more stories please go to: http://www.democracynow.org/

Thank you all! Have a nice day! All The Best.

Sincerely,

Mr. XXXX

The unanswered question is why the hell did they do it? From what we were hearing from people in the fire area, FEMA appeared to be doing a pretty good job. It appeared they had learned from some past mistakes and were improving. Why the hell would they want to pull a stunt like this? Just when it looked like they might have their shit together, why shoot themselves in the foot?

I'm not sure which article you mean, but from his blog, this may be what you're referring to:

"If the Democrats stand for anything, it’s a fair allocation of the responsibility for paying the costs of maintaining this nation. So far, neither the Dem candidates for president nor the Senate Dems have shown a willingness to uphold this fundamental principle. It seems the rich have bought them out."

Did you read carefully? Now go back and underline the part which says "Senate Dems."

Frankly, if Reich is shocked to find out that the rich control the Senate, he has wasted his education.

Paul I was referring to interviews that were held with evacuees from the fire who were housed at the stadium. The people were telling their own experiences not the media critters.

pissed off patricia @ 39:

Paul I was referring to interviews that were held with evacuees from the fire who were housed at the stadium. The people were telling their own experiences not the media critters.

Maybe the "evacuees" were played by FEMA personnel. :)

Soo, what did they fuck up this time?

The only reason to do this is to take the heat off, so what did they do that was so wrong this time that they felt the need to try a stupid stunt like this?

Hi Paul in LA,

Back for some more damage control I see.

No surprise there... nope! What a bunch of lunkheads these people are... Doesn't anyone stand up for ethics or integrity anymore?

Cant expect any better from FEMA. We thought "heck of a job" Brownie was bad but now "duct tape and plastic wrap" man is just as clueless. Seems to be a pattern with anyone Bush assigns to a key position.

I say....NO MORE Bush appointes. Better the seat be empty then to have these incompetent fools warming those seats and collecting a fat paycheck. :( :(

Symes @ 46:

Although Paul, at least in this thread you have made some good points tossed in amongst your Dem worship.

What you call 'dem worship' in the proximal case was alerting commenters to facts that they did not know, somehow. That the Speaker of the House is chosen in order to enforce the rules of debate, and that it is her DUTY to treat both sides the same in such rulings. Many other commenters, perhaps not knowing this, were slandering her in the most vigorous of profanity.

You, however, busily clarified the difference in court between libel and slander. That was just as moot to the current discussion there as here.

Everyone in this administration is a pathetic joke--only the stakes are so serious, it's not funny.

Paul in LA @ 51:

Symes @ 46:

Although Paul, at least in this thread you have made some good points tossed in amongst your Dem worship.

What you call 'dem worship' in the proximal case was alerting commenters to facts that they did not know, somehow. That the Speaker of the House is chosen in order to enforce the rules of debate, and that it is her DUTY to treat both sides the same in such rulings. Many other commenters, perhaps not knowing this, were slandering her in the most vigorous of profanity.

You, however, busily clarified the difference in court between libel and slander. That was just as moot to the current discussion there as here.

Oh no, it was germain to the discussion as you spent most of your time accusing others of slander.

And in that discussion you said that the actual law was irrelevant, yet Congressional procedure was all important.

Just thought I'd remind you of that.

You know, blaming an entity called "FEMA" is much too easy.

Does FEMA have a face? Who were the staffers acting in this charade?

It's time to start outing the fricken people who are participating in the destruction of our culture, our country. Without them, acts such as this cannot happen.

HECK OF A JOB, FEMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is not FEMA a part of Homeland Suckurity. NO TRUTH;NO HONOR

Alice @ 4:

I bet Jeff Gannon is devastated that he wasn't invited to the fake presser.

I was late to the party Alice by my thoughts exactly.

Can someone tell me what California could do with the 5 mil. Fema promissed. 5 mil won't replace 1 house. Florida was given Billions even before the last hurricane was to hit.
BTW, can anyone name even 1 Emergency that was Managed by this Agency well?

Fictional Emergency Management Agency, GWB, position filler in charge.

Symes Says:
I am packing my family off to Europe and when my contract ends I will be following them. Getting on government watch lists and survailance videos is not smart, nor is it likely to keep you out of the camps.

I am with you.
Is Europe the best place to go.
I agree, it's time to leave this george jewbya bush communist melting pot.
There are some things about to take place that I will not hang around to see.
I will be leaving.

I guess Jeff Gannon and Armstrong Williams weren't available.

Symes @ 54 "Oh no Paul, I've noticed you alright. I have just decided poke at you a little, given how self rightious you are."

'Self righteous,' in the sense that I'm right about the falsehoods I have corrected. You, however, with your namecalling, not so righteous. C&L moderators have had problems with me too -- maybe they will help your education as well.

"As for doing something, I sure am. I am packing my family off to Europe and when my contract ends"

I see. Please TURN IN YOUR AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. My family did not raise cowards, and we don't run from fights.

"And if you hadn't notice Paul, protests only work when they are broadcast."

You are wrong about that, as about many things, it seems. Protests are POWERFUL public events, with or without television or radio. It's a free speech thing -- you don't seem so keen on such.

I also seem to recall "fake news reports" that were paid by the Bush Administration, i seem to recall a fake reporter named Jeff Gannon who also happened to be a male prostitute who would visit the White House on days with NO press conferences but he also worked for a FAKE News Agency called Talon News who just happened to get coveted seats at White House press conferences in order to lob softball questions.

Old habits die hard. But

" fool me once... shame on...
you....

Fool you?

we...
..We won't get fooled again!"

Paul in LA @ 71:

Symes @ 54 "Oh no Paul, I've noticed you alright. I have just decided poke at you a little, given how self rightious you are."

'Self righteous,' in the sense that I'm right about the falsehoods I have corrected. You, however, with your namecalling, not so righteous. C&L moderators have had problems with me too -- maybe they will help your education as well.

"As for doing something, I sure am. I am packing my family off to Europe and when my contract ends"

I see. Please TURN IN YOUR AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. My family did not raise cowards, and we don't run from fights.

"And if you hadn't notice Paul, protests only work when they are broadcast."

You are wrong about that, as about many things, it seems. Protests are POWERFUL public events, with or without television or radio. It's a free speech thing -- you don't seem so keen on such.

No, I guess they didn't.

They raised fanatics instead. Fanatics like you who use Republican tactics to quell dissent and discussion.
It is people like you on both side of the aisle that are why I am leaving.

Unthinking, nasty, prevaricating, the ends justify the means types.
Authoritarians. And make no mistake, you ARE an authoritarian, right up there with Rush and GW (you even use Rush's language a tactic).

This country has gone to hell, and all that's left will be little fascists like you pretty soon.
My families safety is far more important to me than some misplaced sense of honor and duty.

And since I already did my time in hell (have you?) my debt to this collapsing country has been paid.

Give up my citizenship? By all means. Who in their right mind want to be part of the Fourth Reich?
And your rhetoric and self righteous indignation is no better in ANY way than that of the rights.

Your momma raised a fanatic. And it's people like you that are what's wrong with this country there Paul.

As for free speech, I'm all for it and probably understand it more than your authoritarian little butt does.
But you are an idiot if you think shouting into the wind at a government who dismisses you (your own party even!) as crackpots will change on damn thing. Delusional is a word that comes to mind.
I was under the impression that we are the party of realists, I see that does not apply in your case.

"Dana Perino said it was not appropriate that the questions were posed by agency staffers instead of reporters. FEMA was responsible for the “error in judgment,” she said, adding that the White House did not know about it beforehand and did not condone it"
HA. They expect us to believe that??????

surprised??? hardly, nothing these low lifes who inhabit the white house do surprises me. they know they can do and say anything they like because they just have to tinge it with it's done in defense of the country, or we're fighting terrorism here or just about anything they like and they then throw it out as chum to the heartland and they eat all the crap the bush admin can muster. flames fanned by the media. the media is directly responsible.

I guess they didn't learn their lesson from Katrina, and I guess they haven't improved much. Why didn't they just set things up correctly and do their job? They must STILL be riddled with IMCOMPETENCE.

Give the repukelickers a little vomit for breakfast lunch and dinner and they will do just as jewbya told them to do.

berrett @ 84:

the press would have us all dead to get a good story, they need to be reeled in. the press have no more ethics than our corrupt politician's, there not entitled to the truth, they would only distort it anyway. so do I think F.E.M.A. was wrong to do what they did, not in this day and age

Problem is that it's government sponsored propaganda the way they did it.
That is illegal to do for US consumption.

Problem is that it's government sponsored propaganda the way they did it.
That is illegal to do for US consumption.

I agree 100 %

What do you expect from a Nazi like george jewbya bush?
X Q X
..322..

Here is a little info for all of you (No Nothing) repukelickers.
Lick it up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80dgc63LMOY

For all Outstanding Democrats.
Watch this and tell all of your friends about this X Nazi X that stole his way into the white House. Everyone needs to know who this Trash is and what he is really about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80dgc63LMOY

Barbara Bush Aleister Crowley
It's old news. Do a search and read about her.

Bush is the grandson of the self-confessed anti-christ!
Need proof???
Here is a picture of Barbara Bush overlayed on Aleister Crowley.
You be the judge.

type Http:// in your address bar
then paste img158.imageshack.us/img158/4927/808379766mvl5.gif

Symes @ 75, you'll make a much better Lithuanian, or Lilliputian, than you have apparently made an American.

My parents raised a boy who stood and fought for what he loves.

It's funny that you consider that 'self-righteous,' because where I come from that's just called 'righteous.'

Surrendering the country to the Gulf War Boys is not in my playbook. Fighting and prosecuting them within and beyond an inch of their lives is. Not to worry -- you can become an expat and have no political responsibilities at all.

WHY you comment here is another question.

Paul in LA @ 89:

Symes @ 75, you'll make a much better Lithuanian, or Lilliputian, than you have apparently made an American.

My parents raised a boy who stood and fought for what he loves.

It's funny that you consider that 'self-righteous,' because where I come from that's just called 'righteous.'

Surrendering the country to the Gulf War Boys is not in my playbook. Fighting and prosecuting them within and beyond an inch of their lives is. Not to worry -- you can become an expat and have no political responsibilities at all.

WHY you comment here is another question.

Because I am still here. That is why.

You go ahead and keep fighting, but attacking posters here for pointing out the vast shortcomings of BOTH parties isn't going to help.

Neither party is on track any more, and at this point all politicians who place a D or R next to their names are asking to questioned and not believed at this point.
You want me outta your face?
Start debating and being civil about it. Using Republican tactics against those you disagree with makes you as much a problem as the Repug trolls that plague us. Understand?

I did my time in the USMC, and if it looked like there was a hope in hell of removing all of these clowns I'd work towards it.
But it doesn't look that way, it looks like a bunch of people who know what's up but won't or can't organize to do anything about it.

It has nothing to do with ignoring politics or not wanting to participate, and you insinuating that is the case is just more disingenuous crap on your part. I am tired of paying for bombs every week. I am tired of fighting a losing battle. And more importantly, since I know my US history, I am not feeling like sticking around so my kid can do the same in another 10 years. Better to head for a country that actually PRACTICES democracy and uses the tax's for the common good instead of attacking some random country every 10 years for resources or ideology.

As for keeping the gang of morons from taking the country?
The Gulf War guys have ALREADY taken our country. No surrender is necessary any more.

You want it back, you are going to have to TAKE it back. And like I said, the citizens of this nation are unwilling or unable to even attempt that.

Keep it civil and stop attacking those here who ARE taking the time to care Paul.
And don't be such a hypocrite already, if procedure has force then the actual law has even more.
Dismissing that fact because it is inconvenient is disingenuous at best.

Best of luck, try not to get video taped or recorded in any other way. I think the camps will be opening soon.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtains.

rmdteach Says:

Sadly, FEMA’s juvenile and unethical behavior directly reflects the behaviors of our government’s current Administration.

I agree with you rmdteach .

These IDIOTS are acting like this FEMA shit happened by itself.
Wooops, that was sure something wasn't it.
Let's say we are concerned, give the sheep a couple of days
and we will FUCK them all over again, with something new
and even more FUCKed up than this.

Fuckely submited:
george NAZI bush

Symes @ 91 I did my time in the USMC, and if it looked like there was a hope in hell of removing all of these clowns I'd work towards it."

Wow, looks like that oath expired, eh?

Old Media Ablaze Over Staged FEMA Presser

Liberal activists and the Old Media are aghast and outraged over a press conference conducted last Tuesday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Reporters were only able to listen to a department spokesman respond to questions about relief efforts for the California wildfires posed by other members of the FEMA staff. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff appropriately chastised the sham press conference and promised an investigation and disciplinary action and the White House expressed its displeasure with the incident.

Surely no one at FEMA believed that the staged event would not immediately be discovered and criticized. What could the motivation have been for such a stunt? Perhaps FEMA wanted an opportunity to present its version of events before the Old Media created its own reality about the fires and the actions of the agency. News consumers had already listened to reporters making comparisons to the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and attempting to find fault with the handling of relief efforts. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had to take ABC’s Claire Shipman by the hand to convince her that everything possible was being done and that she should stop trying to invent mistakes and shortcomings. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and other environuts demagogued the tragedy as evidence of the effect of global warming, while California Democrats like Sen. Barbara Boxer and Lt. Governor John Garamendi incorrectly claimed that relief efforts were impeded by having troops and equipment in Iraq.

One of the lessons learned in the wake of Katrina is how the unaccountable Old Media are able to create a false impression that their ideological soul mates in the Democratic Party use for political advantage. In my book, “The Great Media War: A Battlefield Report”, I detail the flawed coverage of one of the greatest natural disasters in American history – a record that has yet to be corrected.

When I learned of the fake news conference, I expected that the characterization of Jeff Gannon as a “phony reporter” would be revived. Liberal media activist Keith Olbermann noted it on his nightly train wreck of a talk show and the lefties of the blogosphere dutifully repeated it ad nauseum. This is a classic case of how a lie becomes reality, since the record proves otherwise. I was as real as a reporter gets, writing over 500 articles as a White House correspondent, a job that Secret Service records indicate I actually showed up for more than 200 times over the course of two years. The veracity of my work as a reporter has never been successfully challenged.

Further, in 2006 – a year after my supposed exposure as a “phony reporter” - my peers accepted me into the National Press Club, the most prestigious association of professional journalists in the world. My book about the media will be featured at the National Press Club’s 30th annual book fair on November 1. Not bad for a “fake, fraud and phony.”