Like magic, Ebola is no longer a crisis Fox talkers have to go on about anymore, because the election is over and the fear factor can rest for awhile.
But we knew that, right?
Fear was what they used to drive their base to the polls. Ebola served that purpose. And so now, it's no big deal and there should be no appropriations to assist with the fight in Africa.
Betsy McCaughey: "The President May Be Exploiting" The "Man-Made" Sense Of Danger. During the same segment, Betsy McCaughey argued that President Obama is exploiting the so-called "sense of danger" in the U.S. caused by Ebola, which she called "a man-made problem." She went on to blame the World Health Organization and the White House for the spread of Ebola and reiterated calls for "travel restrictions" to and from West Africa:
MCCAUGHEY: The president may be exploiting the sense of danger right here in the United States. But the fact is, here in the U.S., the sense of Ebola as a danger is a man-made crisis. All previous Ebola outbreaks were confined to one continent, Africa. This virus does not have wings. But the World Health Organization and the White House are giving it wings, airplane wings, allowing it to spread to North America, Europe, Australia, other continents of the world. [Fox News Channel, Fox & Friends, 11/7/14]
If only it were simply Fox News. Alas, this came from Peter Coll at The New Yorker:
Before the midterms, amid public scares over Ebola and ISIS, approval of the President’s performance sank. He was late to lead in these crises and he failed to inspire swing voters with his successes: for one, his Administration is presiding over the fastest-growing economy in the industrialized world.
Wait. Slow to respond? Before there were any cases here, the President ordered 3,000 military personnel over there to fight the disease on its home turf. As for the successes, well...we've been through that. Until the economy actually starts having an impact on real people, it's just theory. Who cares if the stock market is high if jobs are still tight, after all.
But I digress.
Fox News is now rewriting the script for the new Republican Congress. They are perfectly fine with the possibility of Ebola spreading wherever it spreads and withholding funds to stop it in its tracks if it means making life just a little bit harder for the guy in the White House.
If you thought the two-year old tantrums were bad before, batten the hatches. Because we've got a budget and a debt ceiling coming up, and the hardliner Republicans (by which I mean all of them) aren't going to bend one whit for disease, or war, or anything else.
Because 2016 is far enough away that they can simply sit on everything. No need to rush, no crisis. That was then, this is now.
The rewrite isn't due for another 11 months or so, when 2016 starts ramping up.
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