Media Lies About "Initial" Bush Tsunami Aid Package
Reported by Melanie - December 31, 2004
The amount of money the Bush administration initially pledged to the relief effort in Southeast Asia seems to change by the day on Fox News as well as on other "news" outlets. By changing the amount, the press is not only lying to the public, but giving the Bush administration a very, very BIG break as has been so frighteningly common over the last few years.
Today (December 31, 2004) on Your World w/Neil Cavuto, substitute host Stuart Varney opened a segment this way:
"As we told you earlier, the United States has upped its tsunami relief aid to $350 million. That is ten times the initial amount, but is it enough to shut those stingy comments up?"
(By the way, there was a picture of George Bush in the upper lefthand corner of the screen with the words "Stop the Bush Bashing" underneath it as Varney spoke.)
COMMENT: On the Monday, December 27, 2004 edition of this program:
Fox reporter Megyn Kendall delivered a report today (December 27, 2004) during Your World w/Neil Cavuto on the horrible tsunami in Asia. Kendall reported that the United States gave $400,000 in immediate aid today and expects to give an additional $4 million in the near future. In the end, Kendall reported, we would likely give a total of $15 million.
Here is my post from that day.
COMMENT: So to be accurate, the initial amount was a pitiful, paltry, sickening $400,000. The $400,000 increased to $15 million and then to $35 million yesterday. However, the press, Fox included, seems to have wiped the history of this story from the books. The "initial" amount is now being reported as $35 million while the true "initial" amount was $400,000. Inaccurate reporting like this shields the administration from the shame of not only its sinful original offer of $400,000, but the pitiful offer of $15 million as well, and it doesn't paint an accurate picture of what this administration has done. Is it any wonder people in this country have no idea what Bush is about?
