Armchair Pundits

I'm an Elephant, not a Goat

I was joking the other day. I posted a comment on another blog about Hurricane Katrina. I poked fun at the "aluminum foil hat" crowd stated that Karl Rove was actually responsible for the Hurricane hitting New Orleans. Then I corrected myself. Since Bush and Cheney are "oil men" they diverted the Hurricane into the Gulf of Mexico so oil prices would go up and they could line their own pockets. I was having a little fun poking fun at my party. Yes, in addition to having Karl Rove transmit Republican talking points to us in our sleep via the tiny chip that we all have had surgically implanted in our heads, Republicans can also control the weather through use of our special weather control machine (although we have only figured out how to create bad weather ... give us some time). But I was just joking. Little did I know, however, that I wasn't that far off.

Almost all of Hugh Hewitt's show on Wednesday was devoted to hurricane stories. It focused on the relief effort and the tragic stories coming out of New Orleans. It was positive or at least as positive as hurricane news can be. Unfortunately, this was not the case across the political spectrum of talk radio. A couple times I checked out the left only to find that they were criticizing the President's response to the hurricane and discussing what a mess FEMA is because of improper appointments by prior Republican administrations. Whether true or not, I really don't think this is the time for such discussions. If it was next week, I probably wouldn't mind as much. But, this is just a bit too soon.

Now its one thing to criticize the administrations reaction or a government organization that might be mismanaged. But, surely, the left would not say anything similar to my joking comments. (Don't call me Shirley.) Although it took a little different avenue than I had humorously suggested, I have started to hear it. Many on the left are starting to say that the Republicans are responsible because of our stand on environmental issues. It isn't the same as our weather control machine, but it is just as absurd.

Now hurricanes are cyclical. There are years with high numbers of storms and years with low numbers of storms. Now while the earth may be warming, there are numerous additional factors behind the numbers. So to insinuate that because Senate Republicans failed to ratify the Kyoto Treaty during the Clinton Administration, Republicans caused the destruction of New Orleans is pushing it.

Let's just assume, for argument, that all of the left's science is correct. How long would it have taken to implement the Kyoto Treaty? Such a vast overhaul would have taken years. Of course while pollution emissions are being reduced in the U.S., China and numerous third world countries are continuing to pollute. And even if everything could have been implemented between 1997 and 2005, howmany years would it take to put the brakes on any warming and actually reverse the warming? I'm thinking it wouldn't have happened overnight. So, even the adoption of the Kyoto Treaty wouldn't have saved New Orleans.

Of course, the left would argue that there are numerous other examples and its still all the Republicans fault. They seem to think that the symbol of theRepublican party is the goat instead of the elephant.

posted by Squirrel @ 11:51 AM