I kid you not.  John Nichols at The Nation actually is blaming this “pandemic” on Republicans.  He’s serious too.  Here’s some meat:

When House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who has long championed investment in pandemic preparation, included roughly $900 million for that purpose in this year’s emergency stimulus bill, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans.

Obey and other advocates for the spending argued, correctly, that a pandemic hitting in the midst of an economic downturn could turn a recession into something far worse — with workers ordered to remain in their homes, workplaces shuttered to avoid the spread of disease, transportation systems grinding to a halt and demand for emergency services and public health interventions skyrocketing. Indeed, they suggested, pandemic preparation was essential to any responsible plan for renewing the U.S. economy.

But former White House political czar Karl Rove and key congressional Republicans — led by Maine Senator Susan Collins — aggressively attacked the notion that there was a connection between pandemic preparation and economic recovery.

Now, as the World Health Organization says a deadly swine flu outbreak that apparently began in Mexico but has spread to the United States has the potential to develop into a pandemic, Obey’s attempt to secure the money seems eerily prescient.

And his partisan attacks on his efforts seem not just creepy, but dangerous.

The current swine flu outbreak is not a pandemic, and there is reason to hope that it can be contained.

But it has already believed to have killed more than 100 people in a neighboring country and sickened dozens of Americans — causing the closing of schools and other public facilities in U.S. cities.

Scared yet?

Dr. Anne Schuchat, the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Interim Deputy Director for Science and Public Health Program, explained to reporters on Saturday that, because the cases that have been discovered so far are so widely spread (in California, Kansas, New York, Ohio and Texas), the outbreak is already “beyond containment.”

On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that a national “public health emergency” had been declatred. Notably, the second question at the White House press conference on the emergency had to do with the potential impact on the economic recovery.

On Monday, the question began to be answered, as Associated Press reported — under the headline: “World Markets Struck By Swine Flu Fears” — that: “World stock markets fell Monday as investors worried that a deadly outbreak of swine flu in Mexico could go global and derail any global economic recovery.”

Before U.S. markets opened, the Wall Street Journal reported: “U.S. stock futures fell sharply Monday as the outbreak of deadly swine flu stoked fears that a possible recovery in the global economy could be derailed.”

That’s unsettling.

To many Americans, genuinely scary.

He’s got a point, there have been all kinds of headlines of swine flu disturbing the market.  Noatably, here’s one from Yahoo:

Wall Street Seesaws Amid Swine Flu Fears- Reuters

Wall Street is fluctuating amid investor worry over the possibility of a major swine flu outbreak. Investors were nervous that the flu could spread and thwart economic recovery; in later trade, they are scooping up shares of drug makers and pharmacies.

If you click on that headline, you get this:

Wall Street up as GM, techs outweigh flu anxiety

That’s right.  Within the time it took them to create the headline, other things became more important.  Nichols goes on and on and on about how Karl Rove did all this and he is the reason we are experiencing this catastrophe.  He sums it up with:

The bottom line is that there were no heroes in either party on the Senate side of the ugly process that ridiculed and then eliminated pandemic preparedness funding.

There is, however, a hero on the House side. Throughout the process, David Obey battled to get Congress to recognize that a pandemic would threaten not just public health but a fragile economic recovery.

OK, let’s get real for a second, shall we?

This “pandemic” in the United States has now involved twenty cases from California to New York.  That’s 20.  So far, deaths in the United States are zero.  All of the twenty are recovering.  This “pandemic” so far has had zero economic impact as far as workers having to stay home, etc..

Second, the Dow is down 16 points.  That’s about as flat as you can get.  This also includes the headlines that GM is shutting down plants and laying off 21,000 people.  The evidence so far is, regardless of the headlines, this “pandemic” has had zero impact on the US markets.

Obey was requesting a total of $1.3 BILLION according to this article.  Here’s what the CDC, who Nichols says would have gotten the money, says has to be done to safeguard individuals as much as possible from H1N1:

What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?
There is no vaccine available right now to protect against swine flu. There are everyday actions that can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza. Take these everyday steps to protect your health:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
• If you get sick with influenza, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

What is the best way to keep from spreading the virus through coughing or sneezing?

If you are sick, limit your contact with other people as much as possible. Do not go to work or school if ill. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick. Put your used tissue in the waste basket. Cover your cough or sneeze if you do not have a tissue. Then, clean your hands, and do so every time you cough or sneeze.

OK, Nichols and Obey, what part of those instructions requires $1.3 BILLION?  There is no vaccine.  There can’t be a vaccine until they know exactly how this has mutated.  They will know that once a few people have gotten it and survived.  That’s happening now, that process has been in place for decades.  They need no funding for that.  The instructions for avoiding swine flu are no different than avoiding ANY FLU.  So, what exactly do we need $1.3 BILLION for?  Soap?

So, even IF David Obey had gotten his $1.3 BILLION for pandemic control, what would they have done any different?  How would they have guessed that the first cases of swine flu in North America would have been in Mexico?  And, what would the United States Centers for Disease Control have done IN MEXICO?

The answer to all the above is nothing.  There is nothing that would have, or could have, been done differently.  Mexico, in case Nichols forgot, is outside the domain of the CDC.  What happened was a bunch of US citizens were explosed before anyone had a clue what was going on.  Once they realized they were exposed, they got medical attention and all will recover.  This is not a pandemic.  In this country, I doubt it ever will be.  Scientists have seen this coming for years.  I wrote about Avian and Swine spam four years ago.

Now, where this becomes absolutely inane is when you look at the most damning fact of them all:

The Democrats control the Senate, the House, and the White House.  The Republicans control NOTHING.  If Nancy Pelosi wanted this $1.3 BILLION to go to CDC, $1.3 BILLION would have gone to CDC.  It’s that simple Nichols.  Karl Rove, regardless of what John Nichols might think, HAS NO legislative powers at all.  Zero.  None.  Nada.  What Karl Rove thinks is irrelevant.  It’s what Nancy Pelosi does that counts.  And what Nancy Pelosi did was shoot down David Obey’s request.  She’s in charge of the appropriations process, not Karl Rove, and certainly not any elected Republican.  The only reason that funding was not put in place is because of floor leadership.  That is Nancy Pelosi.  Nancy Pelosi controlled every single penny that went into that emergency stimulus bill.  In case Nichols needs to be reminded, Nancy Pelosi is a  D-E-M-O-C-R-A-T.

To me, David Obey is pandering to public using the hysteria of swine flu as his audience, and John Nichols is practicing the absolute worst form of biased partisan reporting imaginable.

H/T: Michelle Malkin.

Quickie Update:

“All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic, they’re all out,” Schumer said.

Quickie update 2:  Pandemic funding was put in place in 2007.  In that vote, Nancy Pelosi, along with most Democrats, opposed the funding.  Included in that vote total that opposed pandemic flu preparedness, David Obey.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Tags: cdc, centers for disease control, charles, chuck, David-Obey, democrat, economic stimulus, influenza, john nichols, karl-rove, nancy pelosi, pandemic, pork, preparedness, republican, schumer, soap, swine flu, the beat, virus, wash your hands