RUSH: Henry in Indianapolis, hi. Welcome to the program, sir.
CALLER: Hey, Rush, Little League football coach dittos.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I am calling because I thought I was beyond being surprised by the liberal left media, and this morning on CNN Miles O’Brien just would not stop browbeating Haley Barbour. First, it’s Haley’s fault that it’s the hurricane, I understand, but then he says, “How come the government, the federal government is not doing enough?” and Barbour said, “But FEMA is here.” He said, “Yeah, but the military and the National Guard.” Barbour said, “They’re all here.”
RUSH: I have the audio sound bites to this, and I’m glad you called. I don’t have much time here so let’s really get to them. Miles O’Brien talking to the Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, and the basic question in the first bite, “Governor, do you have the sense that the federal government’s dropped the ball here?”
BARBOUR: I really don’t, and I think it’s very unfair for the federal government — for you to say we knew this was a great, powerful storm. This is a category one hurricane when it hit Florida. Now, that’s the truth.
O’BRIEN: Governor! Governor! Governor, it was a category five storm —
BARBOUR: The federal government —
O’BRIEN: A category five storm when it was —
BARBOUR: No, it was a category 1 storm. It was a category 1 storm when it hit Florida. It was a category 5 storm a few hours before it came ashore.
O’BRIEN: Governor Barbour…
BARBOUR: The federal government has been tremendous partners to us.
RUSH: You see what’s going on here, Miles O’Brien is trying to get Haley to indict Bush, indict the federal government. The federal government didn’t do enough! Bush didn’t do enough! That’s the whole point of the mainstream media today, and he continues, “Governor Barbour, surely there was enough knowledge in advance of this, matter of days, not hours before it ever struck landfall?”
O’BRIEN: Governor Barbour, surely there was enough knowledge in advance that this was a huge killer storm a matter of days, not hours, before it ever struck landfall. And it seems to me the military —
BARBOUR: Now, Miles, if this is an interview or an argument, I don’t care. But if you want to let me tell you what I think, I will.
O’BRIEN: OK, go ahead.
RUSH: Stop the tape! stop the tape. I’m going to tell you what he said here since that’s muddy. Barbour said, “Now, Miles, is this an interview or an argument? I don’t care, but if you want me to tell you what I think, I will, and what I think.”
And O’Brien says, “Go ahead.”
And Barbour says, “This is a storm that strengthened in the Gulf. We begged people to leave. Thousands of people left. Thousands of people left New Orleans. The federal government came in here from the first minute in fact in advance. They’ve been tremendously helpful whereas the Coast Guard, the Corps of Engineers, FEMA. Now, I don’t think it’s all fair –”
O’Brien, “But –”
[Barbour] “And I’m not going to agree to that because I don’t believe it’s true, this indictment.”
And it’s all over the place now, “Why didn’t Bush do more?” Scott McClellan just got in the White House press briefing, “Why is Bush letting these people die? Why isn’t Bush rescuing these people down there in New Orleans?” It’s getting ugly. I told you it was going to be.
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