Where Left Is Right / The Old Site

MediaMatters has taken on the case of the mysterious Bob Williams. He's the one who's been popping up on TV and in the newspapers, feigning objectivity as he "points out" how derelict in their duty were New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Lousiana Governeor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco in preparing everyone -- especially The Weasel -- for Hurricane Katrina.

Who, MM asks, is this voice of authority?

As you can see from the still photo at right, he's the president of something called the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. (Photo originally posted at the Evergreen site.) Which, as Media Matters points out, has nothing to do with an evergreen environment. (It also has nothing at all to do with the Electronic Freedom Foundation. Or, for that matter, precious little to do with freedom for anyone but the "2,500 individuals, businesses, associations, private foundations, and trusts [who] help make EFF's work possible" -- 2,500 contributors who no doubt represent a [IRONY ALERT ON] broad [IRONY ALERT OFF] cross-section of the United States population.) If anything at all might be considered evergreen about it, it would be perhaps the credit side of Evergreen's balance sheet:

None of these media outlets [providing time and/or space to Williams's views] noted that the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, which purports to "advance individual liberty, free enterprise and limited, accountable government," is a conservative group that receives funding from conservative grant-making organizations such as the Scaife Foundations and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

As for Williams himself, he evidently has only marginally greater qualifications than FEMA Director Michael D. Brown when it comes to understanding and dealing with large-scale disasters:

Nor did [the media outlets in question] make clear exactly how Williams is qualified to comment on hurricane disaster relief. According to the Evergreen Freedom Foundation website: "Our primary research areas are budget and taxes, education, health care, welfare, and citizenship and governance." Williams's biography on the site states that he "is known as a budget and tax expert in the state and is frequently consulted for advice on fiscal and tax policies."

ABC News correspondent Dan Harris noted that Williams "dealt with emergency response issues after the eruption of Mount St. Helens," while Fox News identified Williams as a "Frmr. State Legislator in Mt. St. Helens Area." But the Mount St. Helens eruption (which occurred 25 years ago) and Hurricane Katrina are notably dissimilar -- specifically in their respective impacts and the amount of warning and preparation time preceding them. The eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, killed 57 people and was foreshadowed by two months of unusual seismic activity and an emergency declaration on March 31. According to census figures, Skamania County, where the volcano is located, had a population of 7,919 in 1980.* By contrast, Blanco declared a state of emergency on August 26, noting that "Hurricane Katrina poses an imminent threat to the state of Louisiana." That same day, the National Weather Service predicted that there was a 17 percent chance Katrina would strike New Orleans by August 29. According to the most recent census figures, New Orleans' population in July 2004 was 462,269.

Naturally, calling into question someone's formal qualifications to criticize someone else's behavior doesn't address at all whether the criticisms might actually be true. Alas for Williams's credibility as a commentator, nothing he's said about Nagin or Blanco passes the smell test. For details, see the Media Matters piece already linked to -- as well as the four other stories linked to in its sidebar:

• Where is media outrage over purported government attempts to restrict Katrina coverage?
• Media ignored, mischaracterized Pelosi's account of Bush query on federal response to Katrina: "What didn't go right?"
• Just days after Bush aide lied about Blanco in Wash. Post article, the Post noted Democrats' "harsh rhetoric," which "could create a backlash"
• Chavez, Murdock advanced dubious claim that Bush convinced Blanco to evacuate New Orleans
  

At the risk of beating an already well-beaten drum even further, this is typical behavior for The Weasel's gang: When you've got no excuse for your crimes from the heart or from the head, trot out as a "neutral" observer someone who has no qualifications and, in any case, has zip to no idea what he's talking about.

(Tip of the hat for the Media Matters link to Scoobie Davis.)