The swine flu story has captured the news cycle for three days and counting now and that's perpetuating the hysteria, according to Fox News Channel's Brit Hume.
Hume appeared on the FNC's "The Live Desk with Trace Gallagher" April 27 and blasted the media in general for hyping the swine flu story 24/7.
"I realize it's been a slow weekend in terms of news," Hume said. "The president went out and played golf on Sunday. The White House reporters don't have much to work with today, so they're trying to get a piece of this swine flu story, which you know, all the cable news channels are agog about, bug-eyed about. But so far, it doesn't amount to much in the United States of America."
Hume expressed his anxiety over the protectionist reaction from other countries over the hysteria surrounding the outbreak, most notably Russia's ban of U.S. agricultural exports.
"Russia canceled beef and pork imports from the United States of America, notwithstanding the fact that you can't get this disease from eating beef or pork either," Hume said. "Besides that, nobody has implicated beef in this. This isn't cow flu, it's pig flu. And, you can't get it from eating pork. I mean this is insane!"
Hume explained the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) briefing had summed the actual implications of the outbreak, which were minimal.
"The definitive briefing on this issue was given today, earlier by the Center for Disease Control," Hume said. "And what we know about that now is we've had, what several dozen cases of this ailment breaking out, only a fraction of which required hospitalization."
However, the declaration by the Department of Health and Human Services of a "public health emergency" was an issue of semantics meant to free up public funds, but has spurred a massive public reaction, Hume explained.
"So, while a public health emergency, which is an important term of art, has been declared - that is for the purpose of releasing funds for various preventive actions that could be taken," Hume said. "Is there a public health emergency like the rest of us laypeople, not government law writers, would consider that term? Absolutely not."
So far, the reach of the swine flu outbreak is small in comparison to seasonal flu the Fox News commentator explained.
"Consider this - tens of thousands of people, Trace, die every year from ordinary seasonal flu," Hume said. "Here we have a case of a few dozen - only a couple of which require hospitalization and no deaths. What this is, is much ado about - I'm afraid to say this - not very much."
The economic impact of the Russia ban on U.S. beef and pork products are uncertain, but the outbreak could really hurt the Mexican economy - already plagued with a drop in tourism over drug violence and now a health scare, in a time of a global economic slowdown.
"I question how long these bans on imports will last and how important economically they will be," Hume said. "I do have some sympathy for the country of Mexico, which has a struggling economy, a Titanic population and a kind of slowdown in tourism, which is being recommended by the State Department at this time and I suppose it's a necessary precautionary action to cover their hindquarters over there in case some people get sick. But that's going to be very damaging to the Mexican economy in the near-term and an economy already reeling like so many others around the world. Nothing much is helped by the kind of handwringing though that we see 24/7 in some quarters."
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Anything to distract the
April 27, 2009 - 16:22 ET by mattmAnything to distract the mind-numbed public from the fact the Oslamba is already a miserable failure at 100 days.
And they said Bush was dumb? Look at this buffoon.
swine flu
April 27, 2009 - 16:52 ET by Nearly NobodyGlobal Pandemic “ The Sky Is Falling”
2 days 39 min ago
by Nearly Nobody
OBAMA FLU
April 27, 2009 - 16:58 ET by MrShyShouldn't "Swine" Flu be renamed, accordingly?
:)
You're the next contestant on...
THE MESSIAH IS... LEFT !!
If the leaders response is to go play golf
April 27, 2009 - 16:50 ET by seventhen our response is fitting if we do the same. Ignore it and play golf. it is a newspaper issue and not a human inrterest issue.
"I realize it's been a slow
April 27, 2009 - 16:51 ET by Dano"I realize it's been a slow weekend in terms of news," Hume said. "The president went out and played golf on Sunday. (from Brit Hume)
This president doesn't do anything. He just goes around the world and runs down the Country and have thursday night partys at the white house.
Obama and the media may be
April 27, 2009 - 20:16 ET by nadadhimmiObama and the media may be hyping this "crisis" to institute a state of emergency and marshall law. I AM worried about a flu pandemic, but this ain't it, especially not in April May timeframe.
This is nothing
April 27, 2009 - 16:54 ET by KC MulvilleBut see how professionally and competently the White House is handling it!
They're good at handling ... nothing. When they have to handle ...something ... they just blame Bush instead of doing anything.
Hume is correct and if
April 27, 2009 - 16:59 ET by bigtimerHume is correct and if anybody with a brain-cell that works sees this too...my tag-line says the rest.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
BT
April 27, 2009 - 18:50 ET by DoktorFrankenYour tagline always says it best. Just as when Pat Garrett said to his 'biographer' when he was confronted by the Pinkerton men that were tasked to follow him in his search for Billy the Kid:
"Encumbered by idjits, we pressed on."
Beware the magician.
April 27, 2009 - 17:29 ET by pbthinkerI'm at the stage where I just don't trust Obama's Administration. If Brit Hume has noticed this, you can expect the Obama crew has also. Since we know Rahm Emanuel doesn't like to let a good crisis go to waste, I'd like to know what the left hand is doing here.
This group is already planning on running health care through a reconciliation process, to avoid the Republicans adding any amendments or filibustering the bill, so do they have any more tricks up their sleeves. Let's face it, if they pull some dirty tricks who, in the press, is going to have the time to listen to Republican complaints, their too busy covering the crisis.
The MSM will cover anything Obama lets them cover. By scheduling all these press conferences the MSM will happily do whatever he suggests.
Election 2008-God's way of showing us that elections count.
I watched the news briefing
April 27, 2009 - 17:34 ET by dscottI watched the news briefing with Gibbs, my sense of the bulk of the questions by reporters was more of concern for President Obama. He shook some guy's hand in Mexico and then the next day the guy died of the Swine Flu. The reporters were concerned that their Messiah may have been infected with Swine Flu by the guy that died. Gibbs responded repeatedly that the President has no symptoms and he is not sick.
Personally, I don't want Obama to get sick much less die, I confess my concerns are purely selfish, I don't want that big mouthed, lying, incompetent boob Joe Biden becoming President, Obama is bad enough. There is no upside to Obama becoming incapacitated or dying. Just remember, the Village Idiot would then either pick Pelosi or Clinton as his VP. NO UPSIDE, NONE!!!!
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.
→ Au Contraire dscott
April 27, 2009 - 17:59 ET by Cool ArrowThe press was in awe that the spirit of the Obama so easily discerned the man whose hand he shook was undeserving of his healing graces.
It's hard to talk when you're teabagging - Anderson Cooper
Re next day
April 27, 2009 - 19:53 ET by slickwillie2001That guy was Felipe Solis, an anthropologist that runs their museum in Mexico City. I have heard that he died anywhere from one day to ten days after meeting the Bamster, and from swine flu or something completely unrelated. It may not be Chinatown, but it is Mexico City.
contempt
April 27, 2009 - 22:42 ET by WesenRemember how the press treated Bush with contempt when he used hand sanitizer after shaking Barry's hand?
Maybe Borak learned something from the experience. Heck, I hear TOTUS washes regularly.
The news is really
April 27, 2009 - 18:38 ET by balboaThe news is really over-the-top on swine flu. But that's what newscasts do: sensationalize.
This sums it up: http://gawker.com/5229395/swine-flu-panic-bullshit
"Swine Flu Panic: Bullshit"
Among the great quotes in this story:
"This is a page B-3 story that's gone all A-1."
WH is in full progaganda mode
April 27, 2009 - 20:16 ET by doug1950I expect to see Obama administering flu shots on the South lawn any day now. Anything they can try to hang his sizable hat on they are doing it. When was the last time the POTUS took this kind of interest in the every single tidbit of news and had to make a speech or policy statement on it. Why, he is just solving all the world's problems up to and including the plague. People have been dying of the flu since Col. Sanders was a corporal and it was just a passing footnote in the news if even that.
I think that this should be
April 27, 2009 - 20:57 ET by jistincaseI think that this should be named the Mexican Flu. I mean we had the Hong Kong flu and the Spanish flu why not Mexican? Couldn't have anything to do with the fact that the collage professor is trying to ram amnesty down our throats and he wouldn't want to give all his potential voters a bad name would it? So from now on just call it the Mexican flu whenever you can and maybe it will catch on and start to make people think twice about wanting to make 25 million illegals American citizens so he can be dictator for life.
Re Mexican Flu
April 27, 2009 - 21:23 ET by slickwillie2001Agreed, in fact Mexico City flu is more appropriate. Here's a good article on the naming of it; there's little reason to call this one 'swine flu' since it has not been seen to affect swine in the least, let alone kill them, unlike other past variants that have been called swine flu. Calling it swine flu also hurts those that raise hogs, when there is zero evidence that hogs get this variety, or transmit it to humans.
Swine Flu or North American Flu: http://www.pork.org
(Yea yea, it's from a pork marketing organization.)
Not on his watch
April 27, 2009 - 22:38 ET by WesenSurely people remember when Bush was drawn and quartered for a flu epidemic. I guess it's not newsworthy on Borak's watch.
If people in the US die from this flu strain we will know for a fact that it was intentionally staged. Funny that it happened when the One visited Meheeco after saying the war on terror is over.
Bush's fault
April 27, 2009 - 23:18 ET by Jake6Somehow, somewhere, somebody is going to figure someway to blame Swine Flu on Bush. The only other question is how Ralm Emanual is going to use this crisis for furher mischief.
two words
April 28, 2009 - 08:49 ET by doug1950Health care
three words
April 28, 2009 - 08:48 ET by doug1950Univeral Health care. This is the perfect vehicle to justify the government to take over health care. Create a panic where none exists and captilize on it. Keep your eye on the ball! They are up to no good.
A crisis is a terrible thing to waste ...
April 28, 2009 - 06:47 ET by Jake6Did anybody notice that while the MSM is hyperventilating over swine flu, Obma's 2010 budget is fast tracked using "budget reconciliation." Only 51 votes needed to pass another humongus spending package.
And I'm sure they can get a
April 28, 2009 - 06:54 ET by motherbeltAnd I'm sure they can get a couple of "even Republicans" to vote for it.
My husband has been surfing around the morning shows, and everywhere is Swine Flu...interviewing "regular" people about it...why, I don't know...I saw one subtitle "A family on the edge...." this is going to be their full-time coverage...talking to people who know someone who knows someone who has it or had it...
Nothing on the budget that I saw....
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
Just waiting for the
April 28, 2009 - 07:07 ET by BuffNBoneJust waiting for the contestants in the next beauty pageant to be wearing the face masks before I'll consider this thing to be a real epidemic.
"Fighters are fun but bombers make policy"