Media, Obama exploit Irene for campaign

Following up on my initial post with a view from across the pond. You'll never hear the truth from our Propaganda Press, which is intent on one thing and one thing only: keeping Obama in office.

Check the UK Telegraph for a more realistic perspective:

Perfect Storm of Hype: Politicians, the media and the Hurricane Irene apocalypse that never was

By Toby Harnden
World
Last updated: August 28th, 2011

A
Cape Cod store owner took precautions but seemed to anticipate that
Irene might be more benign than billed. Photo: Toby Harnden

For the television reporter, clad in his red cagoule emblazoned with
the CNN logo, it was a dramatic on-air moment, broadcasting live from
Long Island, New York during a hurricane that also threatened Manhattan.

"We are in, right, now...the right eye wall, no doubt about that...there
you see the surf," he said breathlessly. "That tells a story right
there."

Stumbling and apparently buffeted by ferocious gusts, he took shelter
next to a building. "This is our protection from the wind," he
explained. "It's been truly remarkable to watch the power of the ocean
here."

The surf may have told a story but so too did the sight behind the
reporter of people chatting and ambling along the sea front and just
goofing around. There was a man in a t-shirt, a woman waving her arms
and then walking backwards. Then someone on a bicycle glided past.

Across the screen, the "Breaking News: Irene Batters Long Island"
caption was replaced by stern advice from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA): "Stay inside, stay safe."

The images summed up Hurricane Irene - the media and the United
States federal government trying to live up to their own doom-laden
warnings and predictions while a sizeable number of ordinary Americans
just carried on as normal and even made gentle fun of all the fuss.

There was almost palpable disappointment among the TV big guns rolled
out for the occasion when Irene was downgraded to a mere 'tropical
storm". In New York city, CNN's silver-haired Anderson Cooper, more
usually seen in a tight t-shirt in a famine or war zone, was clad in
what one wag dubbed "disaster casual".

He looked crestfallen and fell briefly silent when a weatherwoman
told him that the rain was not going to get any worse. "Wow, because
this isn't so bad," he said. "It's an annoying rain but it isn't even a
sideways rain."

Read more at UK Telegraph