Man, I think these media types have no idea what this baby is going to do. They think because it went from a Five to a strong Three that it will be a walk in the park.
If we didn't have Katrina to compare it with, it would be hard to downplay. It didn't end up as strong as possible at landfall, but there will be lots of damage. I suspect there will be early reports that it was 'nothing' as well. ;-)