Did Newsweek get spun too?
One way or another, let’s get this straightened out once and for all.
As we’ve discussed over the course of the day, the Washington Post ran an article today in which they reported, on the say-so of an unidentified “senior Bush official”, that as late as yesterday Louisiana Gov. Blanco still hadn’t gotten around to declaring a state of emergency. This, allegedly, had prevented a more rapid federal response.
Only this claim seemed to be belied by a copious public record, not least of which was the actual declaration of a state of emergency dated August 26th, 2005, available on the state of Louisiana website.
The falsity of what the “senior Bush official” told the Post apparently turned out to be so patently obvious that before the day was out the Post issued a correction, noting Blanco’s declaration on the 26th.
Yet the new issue of Newsweek says this of Blanco, as of September 1st, almost a week later …
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco seemed uncertain and sluggish, hesitant to declare martial law or a state of emergency, which would have opened the door to more Pentagon help.
Now, all the rights and wrongs of this tragic debacle will turn on weightier facts than the day on which Blanco issued this declaration. But this claim, which appeared in two major national publications, seems to be patently false. In both the Post and Newsweek the anecdote appears as an illustration of Blanco’s dawdling which prevented a more rapid federal response.
The Post got played by a senior administration official. Pretty odd that Newsweek would come up with the same false anecdote on their own, right?
Who’s Newsweek’s source?
