Personal Testimony

Maureen Ryan, a staff reporter, posted this earlier this evening at the Chicago Tribune.

It was a personal testimony by NBC photojournalist Tony Zambado, which aired just after 6 p.m. Thursday, in the extended NBC Nightly News broadcast.

(snip)

Here is the text of the piece, in its entirety.

Brian Williams' introduction: "Those scenes that emerged today at the convention center in downtown New Orleans. NBC News photojournalist Tony Zambado made it inside, and here is his description of what he found there in his own words."

Zambado: "I gotta tell you, I thought I'd seen it all, I've never seen anything in my life like this."

Angry Man: "No food, no water, I mean, the bare necessities."

Zambado: "And you will never, never imagine what you saw in the convention center in New Orleans. I just don't know how to tell you just how bad it is and how they need help yesterday."

Man with baby: "You got a three-week old infant out here, how is a three-week old infant going to be able to survive out here with no milk, no water?"

Zambado: "These are the families who listened to authorities, who followed direction, who believed in the government. They were told to go to the convention center, they did. These are law-abiding citizens who've been left behind. They did everything they are told. They are just left behind.

"There's nothing offered to them, no water, no ice, no C-rations. Nothing, for the last four days. It's getting very, very crazy in there, and very dangerous. I don't want to sound negative against anybody or any official, but according to them, they're there on their own. There's no police, there's no authority.

"They've been behaving, they have not started any melees, any riots, nothing. They just want food and support. There's no hostility there, so they don't need to be bringing any guns or anything like that. They need support."

Young girl: "Tell them that we need to get out of here!"

Woman: "People are dying. They're dying. Babies are dying."

Zambado: "There's no support here. There's no foundation. There's no Plan B, Plan A. These people are very desperate. I saw two gentlemen die in front of me because of dehydration. The sanitation was unbelievable. The stench in there, it was unbelievable. Dead people around the walls of the convention center, laying in the middle of the street, in their dying chairs, where they died, right there in their lawn chair.

"They were just covered up. In their wheelchair, covered up. Laying there for dead. Babies, two babies. Dehydrated and died.

I just tell you, I couldn't take it."

It has been a very, very long time since anything has made me want to cry. But this does...


But it also makes me mad. I keep thinking of the National Reviews Jonah Goldberg (he used the be the online editor, but he stepped back a bit) who first posted this at the "Corner" at the NRO:

I think it's time to face facts. That place is going to be a Mad Max/thunderdome Waterworld/Lord of the Flies horror show within the next few hours. My advice is to prepare yourself now. Hoard weapons, grow gills and learn to communicate with serpents. While you're working on that, find the biggest guy you can and when he's not expecting it beat him senseless. Gather young fighters around you and tell the womenfolk you will feed and protect any female who agrees to participate without question in your plans to repopulate the earth with a race of gilled-supermen. It's never too soon to be prepared.

He was of course slammed around the blogosphere, surprise surprise, even by those he respects (which considering his loathing for his species, must be a very small number)

Here is his apology, which he should be even more ashamed of now, looking at the eyewitness testimony we have of what was really happening, or perhaps we'd better say what wasn't happening...

Doc Bainbridge chastises me for my insensitivity and implores my more mature colleagues to take me to task. He even goes so far as to call me Taranto-esque, for what that's worth.

Perhaps Professor Bainbridge -- of whom I am a fan -- thinks something really awful will befall the denizens of the Superdome and therefore making a joke at their expense is wrong. My guess is that it will simply be a really unpleasent time for the remainder of the day, but hardly so unpleasent as to sanctify them with refugee or some other victim status. I assumed the reference to gill-growing and whatnot made it clear where I was coming from. I'm sorry if we don't always fulfill the good professor's expectations around here. But it can't be all brandy-snifters and Latin puns in the Corner.

Maybe if he wasn't such a bastard...naw...he'll never learn to be a decent human. After all, he's what being a good republican is all about these days.