Katrina victims don't blame Bush

Glenn Reynolds links to The Political Teen (Ian Schwartz) and others who were disgusted by a somewhat obvious attempt of ABC's Dean Reynolds [no relation] to present biased news. ABC's Reynolds tried to lead a hurricane victim with his questions, implying that she should be upset at President Bush over what happened and the slow federal response. She rejected this notion out of hand, and instead blamed the local and state governments and her own disbelief that the hurricane would truly be so terrible. She also said quite plainly that the President's speech brought her hope; that she believed what he said; and that he meant what he said. Here's a full transcript, and here's a partial video clip.
To give a general idea of some of the interview, here's some highlights:

Reynolds elicited reaction from the group sitting in chairs: “I'd like to get the reaction of Connie London who spent several horrible hours at the Superdome. You heard the President say retpeaedly that you are not alone, that the country stands beside you. Do you believe him?”

Connie London: “Yeah, I believe him, because here in Texas, they have truly been good to us. I mean-”

Reynolds: “Did you get a sense of hope that you could return to your home one day in New Orleans?”

London: “Yes, I did. I did.”

Reynolds: “Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response?”

Just as a point: He is taking as a given that the response was slow, and trying to emphasize as much to Ms. London. She did not take the bait.

London: “No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in. They should have been on their jobs.”

Reynolds: “And they weren't?”

London: “No, no, no, no. Lord, they wasn't. I mean, they had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people.”

Reynolds: “Now, Mary, you were rescued from your house which was basically submerged in your neighborhood. Did you hear something in the President's words that you could glean some hope from?”

Mary: “Yes. He said we're coming back, and I believe we're coming back. He's going to build the city up. I believe that.”

Even though she just said - a couple of times - that she believes she will return to her home, Reynolds is almost incredulous - presumably because she is trusting of the President.

Reynolds: “You believe you'll be able to return to your home?”

Mary: “Yes, I do.”

Reynolds: “Why?”

Mary: “Because I really believe what he said.

Contrary to what the media might want you to believe, most people do.

Technorati tags: Dean Reynolds, ABC, Connie London, media bias.