Dr. Craig Spencer has been declared Ebola free, which means that there are no active Ebola cases in the U.S. right now. None of Dr. Spencer's fellow bowlers or Uber riders have contracted the virus. No one has contracted the virus in a U.S. medical setting since the case of Thomas Duncan, and the two nurses who became infected by him are now virus free. Oh, and Kaci Hickox, the nurse who drew the ire of Republican governors in two states, is now free of monitoring. She never got sick.
Ebola hysteria has clearly died down on the right. A lot of people think they know the reason for that, but I'm not convinced:
BE VERY AFRAID! ISIS TERRORISTS ARE BRINGING EBOLA OVER TH ... oh sorry, I forgot the election is over. Never mind. #crickets
— Jeff Tiedrich (@jefftiedrich) November 11, 2014Now they're reporting there's no Ebola epidemic in the US. Election's over. We don't need it anymore.
— Lance Mannion (@LanceMannion) November 11, 2014No Need For The Ebola Fear Now That The Election Is Over http://t.co/1meyQIauG5
— Ring of Fire Radio (@ringoffireradio) November 10, 2014Republicans don't let up on attacks just because an election is over -- that's what Democrats do. Republicans attack their opponents all the time. What do you think fills all those hours on Fox News? Incessant, unrelenting attacks are how they keep their voter base engaged, and thus willing to turn out in every election, not just presidential elections.
Republicans aren't talking about Ebola now because talking about Ebola now would require them to admit they were wrong. They'd have to acknowledge that the disease was never out of control in America and that government officials they hate -- President Obama, Tom Freiden of the CDC -- actually knew what they were talking about when they told us that the disease isn't easily transmitted, even if they may have underestimated certain risks. Republicans can't acknowledge this. Their brand is: Democrats and liberals put Americans at mortal risk 100% of the time. They can't admit that that isn't true in this case. They can't admit that anything was done correctly in Barack Obama's Washington (or Bill de Blasio's New York, for that matter).
Trust me: If Ebola comes back to America, they'll happily stoke fear. They won't wait for an election.
You're on the nose with this one. On the mother fucking nose.
ReplyDeleteI am still scared about all those Bellevue Doctors and Nurses that should have been quarantined. How are they any different than those dirty health care workers coming from ebolized West Africa!
ReplyDelete(Just trying to point out the illogic of quarantine for Hickox and no quarintine for US health care workers exposed to the disease.)
Ebola crisis in the US = One dead African without health insurance mis-treated by a private hospital.
Logical conclusion to fear of pandemics would be universal health care. Ha.
No doubt they were slavering over the prospect of more infections. But all's not lost; even if there is never another case n the US, the narrative will be that only conservative pressure forced the feckless one to get off the golf course long enough to put some proper measures in place. They'll take all the credit for the airport monitoring, you watch.
ReplyDeleteAnd if a soldier returning from Africa should be unlucky enough to get Ebola ... well, Benghazi will finally be relegated to second place in the lexicon of Obama catastrophes.
ReplyDeleteO quiet down! Ebola is so yesterday, it's not even worth our time. Fellow Republicans, let's get back to what really matters. How do we destroy universal healthcare?
ReplyDeleteYours crankily,
The New York Crank
We don't know they were wrong, but only that we don't know that they were right.
ReplyDeleteNo new reported cases, yet.
That's all we've got.
Philo, their message was OBAMA DIDN'T SEAL THE BORDERS AND QUARANTINE ANYONE WHO'S BEEN TO AFRICA AND NOW WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE OF EBOLA I MIGHT GET IT AT A COCKTAIL PARTY I HAD A LAYOVER AT DULLES WITH THOMAS ERIC DUNCAN ARGH ARGH ARGH ARGH!!!11!1!1!
ReplyDeleteThey were wrong. They were 100% wrong.