Liasson apologizes for Cash for Clunkers-Katrina link: ‘I said something really stupid.’

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/06/liasson-apologizes-for-cash-for-clunkers-katrina-link-i-said-something-really-stupid/

Liasson apologizes for Cash for Clunkers-Katrina link: ‘I said something really stupid.’


ThinkProgress reported yesterday that earlier this week on Fox News, NPR’s Mara Liasson compared the widely successful “Cash for Clunkers” program to the Bush administration’s incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina. “Cash for Clunkers is like a mini-Katrina here,” Liasson said. “It’s not good to start a government program and not be able to execute it.” NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard responded today taking Liasson to task for her remarks. “Say what?” Shepard asked astonishingly. “It is inconceivable anyone could compare that disaster to Cash for Clunkers, which simply gives people a voucher worth up to $4,500 to trade in an old car for a newer, more fuel-efficient vehicle,” she said. In her response, Shepard quotes Liasson apologizing for the ridiculous analogy:

“I said something really stupid, which I regret,” Liasson told me. “I should have merely said anytime time the government does something less than competent, it makes it harder to get people to trust them with other programs. People died in Katrina because of government incompetence. I should not have used that as an analogy. I was thinking of an example of government incompetence and I picked one that was too big and egregious. I was over the top in my choice of a metaphor. It was a mistake.”

An NPR executive said “{i}f this had been said live on NPR’s air, we would have redone the interview.” “Whether Liasson likes it or not, making a gaffe on Fox reflects poorly on NPR — as many listeners have let me know,” Shepard said.

Related video:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=348527

[Xipe Totec]

1. anytime Liasson says something less than competent,

it makes it harder to get people to trust her other statements.

[Beaverhausen]

2. Great, but how about apologizing for calling the program "incompetent?"

[Turbineguy]

3. Saying something really stupid

can get you a job with Fox News. Of course they would expect you to say something really stupid every day. That how it works.

[Winterblues]

4. Also the cash for clunker program was/is a HUGE success and not another government failure.

She was just talking out her ass as usual..

[mediaman007]

5. Perhaps my letter had something to do with it:

Mara Liasson:

I have just finished reading your comments on "Cash for Clunkers." To compare "Cash for Clunkers" with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina is irresponsible. If you want hyperbole, how about FOX News Channel would hire Joseph Goebbels, but he wasn't available, so they went to NPR instead.

Perhaps you should count to 10 before you speak.

XXXX
XXXXXX, XX

[Buzz Clik]

8. No doubt. Invoking the name of a dead Nazi is a big winner in intellectual circles.

[DefenseLawyer]

6. But she still gets to repeat the original lie in her apology

What a bargain!

[Eric J in MN]

7. Mara Liasson's premise that it's terrible that "Cash for Clunkers" needs more funding...

...is a dubious premise.

Congress adds money to programs all the time.

[Buzz Clik]

9. It needs an infusion of $$$ because of its success. Mara still is out to lunch on this one.

[Cha]

10. I posted a contact number and email for npr, yesterday,

on the political videos thread with Mara Liasson making her gaffes. They still need to know that it's not a failure at all much less a deadly one like Katrina..dumbshit:silly:

NPR Listener Services [phone], Hours: 10am to 5 pm ET, Monday through Friday

http://help.npr.org/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=5670&task=ticket

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x348527

[slampoet]

11. NPR doesn't have a single person working there who knows BEANS about average people.

If JUST ONE of their reporters were as down to earth as Garrison Keilor then NPR would be worth listening to. As it is i have stopped listening to them after 25+ years. I am sick of them.

[damntexdem]

12. Oh yeah, underestimating the success of a policy is such a lapse in competence.

And I also wish to condemn all football-upset head coaches who only thought that they could give the favored team a good game but not beat them.

Next, let's take a look at lottery grand-prize winners ...

[Lex]

13. So the policy was so SUCCESSFUL that it's just like the response to Katrina.

Great comparison!

I understand the Clunkers program ran out of money because so many people utilized it so quickly.

[KamaAina]

14. Why is that right-wing shill still on NPR??

:eyes: