Cooper SMASH!!!

Johno Johno

Video: Anderson Cooper of CNN loses his shit on Sen. Mary Landrieu. And he's right to do so. Man's been in New Orleans since Tuesday; he's seen some things, and to have a Senator go on his show and pat her colleagues on the back for all the stern attention they are surely paying to the situation seems a little... crass. Thanks to Crooks & Liars for the video hookup.

Posted by Johno Johno on   |   § 7

§ 7 Comments

1

Geeklethal - good job speaking for me while I enjoyed my Labor Day.

My guess is that a couple of days were wasted with turf battles and bureaucracy. I don’t know where the Louisiana state police were. The National Guard is a state asset unless and until they are federalized by the President – probably a source of argument. Other troops, including Army and Marine Reservists are federal only troops and there are all kinds of bureaucratic restrictions on their domestic use. It also now looks like there was large-scale desertion by the N.O. city police.

Future disaster recovery planners will have to find a way to cut through all this BS if they want to avoid a repeat of this situation.

Sad to say, but step 1 of future recovery plans in big cities will be to put a heavily armed military and police presence on every corner to protect rescue workers from the local idiots. Step 2 is to actually try to help victims of the disaster.

As for being shot by the National Guard, I seriously doubt anyone was shot for looting water. The legality of that has been discussed in other posts.

Bram Bram

2

I guess maybe the should have exhibited some rugged individualism and waded to one of the many ruined grocery stores to get themselves some food and water, so they could risk being shot by National Guard troops. Is that it?

Or is it that, when your President says on Monday that help is on the way, and by Thursday you've seen nary a drop of it, you should just shut your goddamned gob, you big crybaby?

Phil Phil

3

Phil,
I don't presume to speak for Bram, but I think a more succinct summation of part of his thought might be this:

If you depend solely on the government for your health and safety, you will be disappointed. Or dead.

As for the media-hating part, I have to wonder how every media outlet in the nation that wanted a team at the Superdome could put one there, but the Governor couldn't get cops or Guardsmen there until Friday?

There's definitely something very very wrong when Geraldo Rivera can wring TV tears on cue, live from the center of suffering, but people who can actually help are MIA.

GeekLethal GeekLethal

4

I'm sick of his bitching. Does he realize he was talking to a legislator, not an executive? His little temper tantrum may have a more appropriate with the Governor of Louisiana. I was wondering why the state police weren't a presence in the Superdome.

I might respect him a little as a journalist if he began every interview with the "victims" in N.O. with this question:

“Why didn't you leave before the storm when you were warned? What the hell were you thinking? Okay, now tell us how you're really fucked and it's someone else's job to fix it.”

Bram Bram

5

Yes, Bram, I also want Mr. Cooper to ask these people why they didn't leave. I guess they just don't have the same smarts as you.

Subject: My Hurricane Story -- ELDERLY/MENTALLY DISABLED TRAPPED IN APT
ON CARROLLTON AVE

Story: THERE ARE ABOUT 40 ELDERLY & MENTALLY DISABLED CITIZENS TRAPPED IN AN APT COMPLEX AT 1226 S. CARROLLTON AVE . 90+ YEAR OLD FATHER OF A FRIEND HERE IN LAFAYETTE..NAME IS DELERY LANDRY HE IS IN APT 315..NO FOOD OR WATER & THEIR CAREGIVES LEFT THEM PRIOR TO STORM...THEY MAY NOT HAVE ENOUGH INSIGHT TO MAKE THEMSELVES NOTICEABLE TO RESCUERS...MATER DESOTO APTS NEXT TO CHURCH ON 1226 S CARROLLTON AVE. 10 RESIDENTS PER FLOOR..4 STORY BUILDING..PLEASE HELP THEM QUICKLY...DAUGHTERS NAME IS SUSAN LANDRY CHIQUELIN FROM LAFAYETTE SHE HAS LOST CONTACT WITH HIM A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO....ELDERLY & MENTALLY DISABLED RESIDENTS....

There's dozens more in the same situations, not that you, apparently, give a damn. Always, always, always easier to blame the victim.

These people paid taxes all their lives, and the city and state couldn't even provide the poorest, sickest, oldest, and most infirm with the courtesy of a goddamned school bus or twenty to get them the hell out of Dodge? OK. Whatever you say.

Phil Phil

6

I was criticizing Cooper for being a self-righteous pompous ass. I don't see him helping anyone, just exploiting their grief for ratings. He is a typical shit-head journalist who snipes from the side at people doing real work. Watching him get all worked up gives me an irresistible urge to punch him in the face.

I guess what has really pissed me off is the entitlement attitude of everyone who makes it on camera. I'm tired of people complaining that nobody has fed or watered them lately - like they were a pampered dog or a guest at the Four Seasons. I wish Teddy Roosevelt was here to give them a lecture on rugged individualism and personal responsibility. Have most Americans turned into such aimless sheep?

I do have sympathy for those who are truly in need of help. If people who are healthy and had the means to leave had left, evacuating the truly needy would be a much easier task for the authorities. I am in the National Guard and have a license to drive a military bus – I would welcome the chance to help in the relief effort if my unit is activated.

The relief efforts have been poorly coordinated. Today, finally, it looks like there is one General in charge of all the various military units moving into the city. An inherit flaw in the National Guard is the split chain of command between the state Governor and the Army. In a situation like this, there needs to be a way to quickly designate a single chain of command for all branches of the military involved.

Bram Bram

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