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Story #1 - Swine Flu

The international H1N1 epidemic is a serious situation-in-flux that could rapidly become even more dire.  It is inappropriate for officials of the Obama administration, therefore, to play CYA games or to get political about swine flu at this time or at any time in the future.

 

Janet Napolitano's loose cannon utterance that "People will die in any flu epidemic..." is a purely political response to a completely non-political question.  Would the left and its news media have cut the Bush administration an inch more slack after Katrina's devastation had his surrogates made similar remarks about the potential deadliness of hurricanes before that storm made landfall?

 

"I would tell members of my family -- and I have -- [that] I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," was the ill-conceived statement of the administration's loosest cannon.  The Vice President in Charge of Oversight ended his remark with a more specific admonition about trains and airplanes that is sure to have a negative impact on tourism, commercial travel and airline ticket sales. 

 

How quickly liberals turn on public transportation once they get their own Air Force jets and quit commuting to work on Amtrak trains.

 

Story #2 - Swine Flew

Speaking of liberal flip-floppers, Arlen Specter -- too long in the tooth, too long in the Senate, too RINO/DINO -- to excite his own constituents, took the political capital and ran.  He ran directly to the other side of the aisle in a last ditch effort to retain his Senate seat after it became apparent that his re-election is in jeopardy from a primary challenge by another Republican.

 

Zombie Democrats will probably vote for Specter the Defector anyway (Obama released TV and radio endorsement spots for a 24-hour media blitz the day before and the day of our recent special 20th Congressional District election which obviously helped Wall Streeter Scott Murphy win the seat in a statistical dead heat over his Republican opponent) but the Pennsylvania senator certainly deserves a primary challenge from a loyal Democrat nonetheless.

 

Whomever runs against the jumper needs to show photos of Specter and President Bush early and often.  Someone also needs to ask him directly whether it was the cajoling by the Vice President or the campaign funding promised by Joe's boss that put him over the edge. 

 

We also need to follow the money in those donation refunds that many Republicans are demanding since Specter's betrayal.

 

Story #3 - Swine Flew II

Everyone from Big Brother on down agrees that an Air Force One look-alike with two F16 escorts making low-flying passes around Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty was anything but an innocent photo-op.  "Infuriating blunder" is what New York's mayor and local citizens on both sides of the Hudson River have called the flyover.

 

That no one died when people evacuated their buildings fearing that the jumbo jet could create another 9/11 is the most fortunate element of this ridiculous episode.  That it cost the taxpayers $400,000 or more during this time of recession and economic doubt has also been stressed by Americans of every political persuasion.

 

However, no one has asked how the photos and film clips were to be used. 

 

It is obvious that Obama is hell-bent on flying in his perk plane at every conceivable opportunity, presumably because he derives added status and PR benefits each time he is photographed coming down its staircase en route to a limousine or helicopter waiting to whisk him to yet another speech venue.

 

Images of the president inside Air Force One juxtaposed with flyover footage of the Statue of Liberty and other landmarks would make an excellent subliminal  re-election campaign piece.  For a guy who managed to get elected on a one-word slogan, a single picture is certainly worth a thousand words.