Think Progress

CNN on Brown Emails: “Humor Is A Stress Relief, So We Understand”

This morning, Rep. Charlie Melancon published emails on his website from former FEMA director (and current paid FEMA consultant) Michael Brown.

Among Brown’s messages during Katrina: “Can I quit now?” and “I’m trapped now, please rescue me.” He also found time to chat about fashion (”In this crisis and on TV you just need to look more hard-working … ROLL UP THE SLEEVES”) and arrange for a dog sitter.

Soledad O’Brien and Miles O’Brien of CNN were on the case this morning to help you make sense of the news. The duo offered the following insights:

“Humor is a stress relief, so we understand”

“Who knows if he’s being sarcastic?”

“There was a point when nobody knew how bad it [Katrina] was”

“How many times have you misinterpreted an email?”

See for yourself:

(QuickTime streaming)



41 Responses to “CNN on Brown Emails: “Humor Is A Stress Relief, So We Understand””

  1. Darth Filibustrous says:

    The braindead O’Briens make even Katie Couric & Matt Lauer look like Amy Goodman & Juan Gonzalez…


  2. Average TV Viewer says:

    Brown’s comments are not those of someone entrenched in disaster.


  3. Gary Kleppe says:

    Shorter Brown: “Forget about all those dying people. It’s all about ME!!!”


  4. Seefleur says:

    All of this stupidity from the faces-without-brains media is making me wonder how our education system can get much worse. If ID is put into the classroom as the “new” science, we might as well just hope for that comet to take us all out now. Whatever happened to journalists and anchor people who had actual synapses going on between their ears???


  5. Wayne A. Schneider says:

    #4 Whatever happened to journalists and anchor people who had actual synapses going on between their ears???

    They got old and retired long ago.


  6. turk fowler says:

    Humor is often used as a stress relief which is the reason I like this blog. The humorless name-calling left writhing in anger at every turn is serious fun! Ladies and Gentlemen………


  7. Dumb Fox says:

    “There was a point when nobody knew how bad it [Katrina] was”

    And so it is that CNN’s crack team of investigative journalists figure exactly why Brownie was fired.


  8. Jesus Christ God of WAR says:

    What’s really sad is that CNN in Europe is actually not 1/2 bad. Not as good as BBC, mind you. But still not 1/2 bad.

    I returned from France and Italy earlier this week and remembered why I can’t stomach the US version of CNN.


  9. Quisp says:

    Yer still doin’ a heck of a job Brownie. Uh, what is it you do again? Something with horse genitalia?


  10. adios says:

    There was a point when nobody new how bad it [CNN] was…

    Solidly O’Paque


  11. Zookeeper says:

    Humor IS a stress reliever. However, humor at the expense of other’s lives is horrifying. And if you’re stupid enough to put your self-centered bullsh*t in writing, then you must be prepared to take the flack.

    Drownie, you’re doing a heckuva job. F*cktard.


  12. Charles Howarth says:

    I dislike Mike Brown more than most people do but I’d hardly give hima hard time for looking for a dog sitter.


  13. Marie says:

    As well as sreading those Emails on my TV, I saw those two nitwits discussing them and Michael Brown. They epitomize what is wrong with journalism today. OK, one of them may have been interpreted as humor (”Can I go home now?”) But we must keep in mind that these occurred when people were stranded and begging for help, and Brown and his staff were more concerned with whether his sleeves were rolled up, where he purchased his suit (Nordstrom’s) how tacky are the FEMA shirts; oh and the after several days after the storm passed, there was the Email where someone with a tractor trailer of supplies asking where he could deliver them was ignored for 4 days. Brown is still on the payroll.
    Numbskulls are still sympathetic to this administration. Bush and Co. is still in office.
    I agree with Seefleur in #4.
    I’d rather go quickly, not this slow death by a thousand cuts of Bush’s failures.


  14. David B says:

    Joke is on us though, we’re still paying this asshat’s salary, 9 weeks after the fact. That is not funny.


  15. Mary Poppin says:

    Why is this man Mike Brown still on the payroll?


  16. David B says:

    He is a FEMA consultant during the Katrina investigation which is on-going.


  17. Pete Bogs says:

    there is some truth to this… humor is good stress relief… feeling stressed? why not check out this conversation between Brown and one of his employees:

    http://blogdebogs.blogspot.com/2005/10/conversation-with-compassionate.html

    and an early draft of Bush’s flu plan:

    http://blogdebogs.blogspot.com/2005/11/bushs-flu-prevention-plan.html

    and about Fitzy dropping his investigation:

    http://blogdebogs.blogspot.com/2005/10/breaking-news-fitzy-sees-error-of-his.html

    enjoy!


  18. Spudge_Boy says:

    “There was a point when nobody new how bad it [Katrina] was”

    That’s funny coming from the TV channel that was running Katrina coverage 24/7 starting from the minute Katrina hit. Don’t they remember there own stations coverage?

    Just as when this was actually happening, I do not find anything about Katrina to be funny or have any base of humor at all.


  19. ThomNYC says:

    America is already forgetting Bush’s victims down south. Sad.

    Let’s read some of the emails from homeless, jobless, mothers carted hundreds of miles from their home towns searching for their children.

    Let’s read some emails from young reservists forced into exptended tours while their families drowned on camera in an American city.

    Let’s try to read some emails written by children left behind in our educational system.

    Let’s read emails from the families who will not be able to afford gas for their cars or heating oil this winter…. while the fat cats in oil get a lot richer.

    Let’s read emails from traumatized physicians who watched their terrified patients die from dehydration during a flood.

    If we are truly stuck with paying for Bush’s friends to screw us all, then let’s just ignore them and take care of each other.


  20. Joe Sixpack says:

    I must have had one too many today. No matter how the networks spin it, I don’t get it. I can’t find the humor in Brown’s emails, but evidently his appologists think he is just a barrel of laughs.

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but did I miss a punch line in my foggy haze? What the hell is so funny about saying “Can I quit now?” or “I’m trapped now, please rescue me.” I mean, does anyone think those sorry-assed emails are funny or even amusing when babies are drowning and old people are dieing in rest homes?

    Maybe I need NED and aphrodite to explain the conservative humor here so I can get a laugh.


  21. Sharon Cox says:

    I agree with you all, here today. I will never forget, my T.V. was on 24/7 for nearly 3 weeks. The faces of our people and their struggles with life and death are printed in my memory forever and my screams to my governor and senators through my phone call’s and email’.s begging them to d0 something now. The day’s of waiting for dumb ass (4) and the putrid photo opps. Now we are forced to pay this assH**** pay with our tax dollars. And what’s happening to the 350,000 displased. This and all the other crap our administration continues to pull off is stagering. Where are the good old moderate Repubs.? Are there any left.? There use to be, I can’t think of any right now but know there has to be some that will join up with the left and do what is right for our country. No, I can find no humor in human suffering and that’s what’s happening to our country…Blessings


  22. Robert says:

    I recall a certain Democratic President getting a little “stress relief” back in 1997 and he got impeached for lying about it….


  23. Kelly says:

    I thought I was the only one who thought Soledad O’Brien was an idiot….I’m all for saving jobs for women who take maternity leave, but every single one of the substitutes that replaced her when she had her twins was more competent than she is…


  24. Andrew G. says:

    #24

    It is painfully apparent that many of the faces we see on the news are just that.


  25. That's why they call me Brownie says:

    Latest E-Mail uncovered:
    My diaper is full,change me!


  26. ? says:

    I hear Brownies inside nickname in the Bush administration is “Feces”


  27. treerat says:

    Soleded Obrien is a total airhead. That piece on Brownie was embarassing to watch…whatever happened to journalism?


  28. cyncial ex-hippie says:

    Bush appreciates that kind of humor, and so do his supporters. Like that executed woman said, “Please don’t kill me!” Okay, she didn’t say that, but Bush mocked her just the same. Ha ha ha.


  29. Marie says:

    I will never forget Bush’s cold-hearted reply to the woman he had executed in prison. Compassionate, yeah right.


  30. Erik Weinberger says:

    You wonder why blogs are becomming so popular? Take a look at cnn.


  31. Zookeeper says:

    Keith is shredding Drownie on Countdown right now. Too cool. Pictures and the corresponding emails for each day. Keith is such a gentleman, but he barely covers his disgust. I love him.


  32. Marie says:

  33. Marie says:

    I try not to miss Olbermann — news with a twist. Wit. Humor. He has it all.


  34. JIMBO says:

    I met Soledad O’Brien back in 1999 at Hartford, CT during a two-day writer’s conference. I was a big fan of her’s when she first did The Site on MSNBC. She was very friendly when I spoke to her after the lecture she gave. And she seemed very knowledgable about technology in the world.

    But somehow, shortly after she left NBC News for CNN,
    she soon became one of those Talking Heads and I don’t mean the esteemed rock group. Now Soledad is, sadly, sucking up to the establishment. I still think she’s cute, and,maybe still smart, but now it’s very sad that she’s not doing enough to ask the tough questions
    at the exact time. There is never the right time or wrong time to ask tough questions.

    I haven’t watched her for over a year so, I’ve moved on to Keith Olbermann, who could be a better replacement for Dan Rather and a pain in the ass to the chickenshits up at CBS. The world use a few more pain in the asses.


  35. JIMBO says:

    I met Soledad O’Brien back in 1999 at Hartford, CT during a two-day writer’s conference. I was a big fan of her’s when she first did The Site on MSNBC. She was very friendly when I spoke to her after the lecture she gave. And she seemed very knowledgable about technology in the world.

    But somehow, shortly after she left NBC News for CNN,
    she soon became one of those Talking Heads and I don’t mean the esteemed rock group. Now Soledad is, sadly, sucking up to the establishment. I still think she’s cute, and,maybe still smart, but now it’s very sad that she’s not doing enough to ask the tough questions
    at the exact time. There is never the right time or wrong time to ask tough questions.

    I haven’t watched her for over a year so, I’ve moved on to Keith Olbermann, who could be a better replacement for Dan Rather and a pain in the ass to the chickenshits up at CBS. The world could use a few more pain in the asses.


  36. gocatgo says:

    The thing is all these pink, white, frat boys are laughing at all of us. They think this whole thing is a joke. Nordstrums indeed. I personally would kick the shit out of this one. I cannot even believe we give any of these rich boys any air time, any consideration. I want lawsuits dogging these assholes until my dying day. Give me 10 Fitzgeralds, with a lawsuit a day. No deals and big sentences. In fact, I understand we have more room at Gitmo and Abu just for them. I cannot believe that we have entered a new century with these second generation fatasses turning our country into a living hell.


  37. John says:

    From Liberty News TV website:

    “WHAT IS LIBERTY NEWS TV? We are a progressive television and Internet news program that presents stories and viewpoints that are ignored or under-reported by corporate-owned media outlets such as FOX and CNN.”

    “AREN’T WE JUST “THE LIBERAL VERSION OF FOX NEWS”?
    We think that’s an inaccurate description of Liberty News TV, because unlike FOX, we do not DISTORT the truth to serve our political agenda. We merely present facts that are being willfully ignored or casually overlooked by the corporate media. If that comes off as liberal, so be it, but our intention is not to forward a certain political point of view. It is, rather, to expose Americans to a more accurate picture of American politics, so that they can put a halt to what we see as a national crisis facing our environment, our civil rights, and our future.”

    I’d like to see this thing grow.


  38. spcoon says:

    the title of this post is wrong


  39. The Fool says:

    No one hates Bushco more than The Fool, but making a big deal out of these e-mails is bullshit.

    There’s plenty of real critique to be amde, let’s skip the bullshit.


  40. St says:

    When were journalists ever suppose to offer their speculative interpretation? Aren’t they meant only for means of exposing?

    Where’s the unbais eye and the tongue of restraint?


  41. Jessie says:

    Jessie

    Your site is one of my favorites seen around blog explosion. Keep up the good work.I enjoy reading your blog. It is great to find someone who can find the fun things in life!



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