'Liberal Media' Slams Bush For Lying About Katrina

"We are fully prepared."
-Bush speaking to federal disaster officials on August 28, 2005 after he was warned that Katrina could breach levees

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."
-Bush lying on September 1, 2005

"This makes it perfectly clear once again that this disaster was not out of the blue or unforeseeable. It was not only predictable, it was actually predicted. That's what makes the failures in response - at the local, state and federal level - all the more outrageous."
-Senator David Vitter, Republican from Louisiana

From Media Matters:

Homeland Security

ABC's Katrina amnesia continues
For the second night in a row, in reporting on newly released video showing President Bush receiving warnings that Hurricane Katrina could cause New Orleans levees to fail, ABC's World News Tonight did not mention Bush's comment, made days after the storm, that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." Read more

NBC, Fox uncritically reported new White House explanation for Bush levee claim, ignore evidence indicating awareness of breach threat
NBC's Nightly News and Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume uncritically reported the new White House explanation for President Bush's claim that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." The administration now claims that Bush was warned only of the levees "overtopping," not breaching. However, some key facts undermine this White House explanation. Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

O'Reilly: Documentary Outfoxed "was a dishonest piece of trash"
Bill O'Reilly called Robert Greenwald's 2004 documentary, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, "a dishonest piece of trash."

Horowitz: "There are 50,000 professors ... [who] identify with the terrorists"
On MSNBC's Scarborough Country, right-wing activist David Horowitz claimed that "[t]here are 50,000 professors" who are "anti-American" and "identify with the terrorists." There are just over 400,000 tenured and tenure-track full-time university professors in the United States. If Horowitz's numbers are accurate, that means approximately one out of every eight tenured or tenure-track college and university professors is a terrorist sympathizer.

O'Reilly to Barry Lynn: "You know I love you as a guest. You're one of the best. You're a paranoid crazy."
Bill O'Reilly called guest Rev. Barry Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, "a paranoid crazy."

Natural Disasters

NY Times, LA Times, WSJ failed to run second-day follow-up stories on Katrina tapes
On the second day after the release of videos showing President Bush was warned of possible catastrophic flooding in New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal published no news articles following up on the controversy.

O'Reilly threatened radio show caller with "a little visit" from "Fox security" for mentioning Olbermann's name on the air
On his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly threatened to turn over the personal information of a caller to "Fox security" because the caller mentioned MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. As Media Matters has noted, in recent weeks, Olbermann has repeatedly awarded O'Reilly the "Worst Person in the World" designation during his show, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.