The media has been persistent in passing on the lies of the Bush administration concerning the timeline of events during the Katrina disaster. Most notably, unnamed "administration officials" tell us that the Louisiana Governor did not declare a state of emergency, a false claim repeated by the Washington Post requiring a very visible correction. Then they want us to believe that the President declared a state of emergency on Saturday, before the hurricane. Well the facts, as supported by a clear federal paper trail, show that:

The President and FEMA did not authorize federal assistence for New Orleans and the most affected parishes until Monday, after the hurricane hit.

From a White House Press Briefing Q Scott, can I follow up on what Terry was saying? One of the things that Harry Reid did say today was, why didn't President Bush immediately return to Washington from his vacation, and why didn't he recall key officials and staff members back from their vacations? And then he asks, would the President -- would the presence of key officials in Washington have improved the response?

MR. McCLELLAN: First of all, we are focused on getting things done and solving problems on the ground. And again, I go back to what I was just talking about, the President on Saturday, Saturday night issued -- this was Saturday night before the hurricane hit, which I believe was early Monday morning -- the President issued an emergency disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana. Then the next morning, he issued declarations for Mississippi and Alabama. So we were focused on the preparations that were being made prior to Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast region.

The President did not issue an "emergency disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana" on Saturday. What he did do on the 27th was to declare that "emergency conditions in certain areas of the State of Louisiana...warrant an emergency declaration" for the state. This is not semantics, a disaster and an emergency are two distinct situations.

More important than an argument about semantics is what is found in the fine print of the emergency declaration of the 27th and an amendment made to the declaration on August 29th, New Orleans and the parishes most affected were not part of the original emergency declaration.

To the Editor [Washington Post]:
I was dismayed to read your editorial "Mr. Rove's Leak" on July 15th. I did not find fault in the premise that it is premature to demand Rove's dismissal. I did, however, find it quite discouraging to read seven erroneous GOP talking points in your attempt to remember "some from the previous episodes of this strange story -- including a few that have been mangled or forgotten." Much of this episode has been deliberately "mangled" by the Rebulican National Committe and its chair, Ken Mehlman. I am happy that the Post did not repeat some of the more personal and spurrious claims of the GOP, but to repeat these seven Republican talking points without having dismissed them as false claims is a disservice to your readers, especially those interested in the unbiased truth.

There is no documentation proving that Wilson's wife suggested his mission, nor confirmation by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Wilson never claimed that he was sent to Niger at Vice President Cheney's behest. Wilson did not say that he debunked the Niger claim. Wilson did not state as fact that the Vice President, nor other high officials, had been briefed on his report. The Butler Report simply confirms that Bush made a "well founded" mistake, as that the White House admitted on July 7th. And, although it is correct that Wilson's report did not change any minds at CIA or DIA, that is because, according to the SSCI, those minds were already made up.

Thank you for your consideration,
MassachusettsLiberalinDC

The extended entry is an analysis comparing the Post claim to the GOP talking point with refutation based on unbiased facts: