[UPDATED: ABC studied the GDP numbers and found science funding rose under Reagan. See here.]
When bird flu was the threat a few years ago, ABC blamed the Bush administration for being too late. Now when swine flu is the subject of scary headlines, ABC has begun by letting President Obama blame the Bush administration – and Republicans back to Reagan. From Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller on their Political Punch blog:
President Obama’s remarks – which were previously scheduled before the outbreak of the swine flu – focused on the necessary investments into science and research, and faulted not only the Bush administration for the plunging levels of science funding as a portion of the GDP, but farther back to the Reagan years as well.
"Federal funding in the physical sciences as a portion of our gross domestic product has fallen by nearly half over the past quarter century. Time and again we’ve allowed the research and experimentation tax credit, which helps businesses grow and innovate, to lapse…. And we have watched as scientific integrity has been undermined and scientific research politicized in an effort to advance predetermined ideological agendas."
Obama promised new investment into research and development by both public and private investments, calling for the US to surpass its record investment in 1964 at the height of the space race.
"I am here today to set this goal: we will devote more than three percent of our GDP to research and development," President Obama said.
Rewind back to 2005, when ABC's Brian Ross suggested that bird flu could kill a billion people, and experts found Bush was too late, and a Katrina-like disaster would be on his hands again. His story began in panicked terms:
It could kill a billion people worldwide, make ghost towns out of parts of major cities, and there is not enough medicine to fight it. It is called the avian flu.
This week, the U.S. government agreed to stockpile $100 million worth of a still-experimental vaccine, while at the United Nations Summit in New York, both the head of the U.N. World Health Organization and President Bush warned of the virus' deadly potential.
"We must also remain on the offensive against new threats to public health, such as the Avian influenza," Bush said in his speech to world leaders. "If left unchallenged, the virus could become the first pandemic of the 21st century."
According to Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Bush's call to remain on the offensive has come too late.
"If we had a significant worldwide epidemic of this particular avian flu, the H5N1 virus, and it hit the United States and the world, because it would be everywhere at once, I think we would see outcomes that would be virtually impossible to imagine," he warns.
Already, officials in London are quietly looking for extra morgue space to house the victims of the H5N1 virus, a never-before-seen strain of flu. Scientists say this virus could pose a far greater threat than smallpox, AIDS or anthrax.
"Right now in human beings, it kills 55 percent of the people it infects," says Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow on global health policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. "That makes it the most lethal flu we know of that has ever been on planet Earth affecting human beings."
Ross's article never mentioned that Redlener is a liberal activist who worked on Hillary Clinton's health-care task force. Then came the mandatory references to how the Bush administration failed the citizens of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina:
Redlener, who is stationed at Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, has been working with New York City officials to get ready for the deadly epidemic.
"The city would look like a science fiction movie," according to him. "It's extremely possible we'd have to quarantine hospitals. We'd have to quarantine sections of the city."
"I could imagine that you could look at Grand Central Station and not see much of anybody wandering around at all," Garrett agrees. "People would be afraid to take the subways, because who wants to be in an enclosed air space with a whole lot of strangers, never knowing which ones are carrying the flu?"
As for the hospitals, there would be scenes like the ones this past month in the stadiums of New Orleans and Houston after Hurricane Katrina.
"There wouldn't be equipment and personnel to staff them adequately that you could really call them a hospital," Garrett predicts. "You might more or less call them warehouses for the ailing."
And, as happened in New Orleans, there would be no place for the dead.
"If you look at the expected number of deaths that could occur in cities across the United States, we are wholly unprepared to process those bodies in a dignified and respectful way," asserts Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "We will run out of caskets literally within days."
The prospects have become so bleak that in planning meetings held in New York City, veteran emergency responders have walked away.
"They just don't know how we're going to get through," says Osterholm of those responders. "If we have a repeat of the 1918 life experience, I can't imagine anything to be closer to a living hell than that experience of 12 to 24 months of pandemic influenza."
At what point does ABC News have to apologize when they blow up a threat like this that utterly fails to materialize? Sentences like this begin to look ridiculous:
The draft report of the federal government's emergency plan, obtained and examined by ABC News' "Primetime," predicts as many as 200,000 Americans will die within a few months. This is considered a conservative estimate.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
GOP's Fault........HuffPo
April 27, 2009 - 13:23 ET by ConScottCheck it out........
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/27/gop-stripped-flu-pandemic_n_191732.html
This is right up there with folks who actually believe that the environment has become better since Obama was elected. (I know that the Internet speeds things up as far as information goes, but environmental change "you can believe in?")
Wasn't it the Clinton
April 27, 2009 - 13:24 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsWasn't it the Clinton administration that made flu vaccine financially undesirable to the drug companies? I seem to remember Clinton guaranteed a price that meant the drug companies couldn't recover costs for vaccine. Anyone have a link?
D
Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.
Activism as a substitute
April 27, 2009 - 13:24 ET by JeffC...Personally, I would blame the left for equating activism with research. They elevated AIDS activists way above the doctors and scientists who were actually in the trenches trying to find ways to stop the spread of the disease. Then, their lawyers chased the vaccine makers out of business.
Let's see them stop the spread of swine flu with activism. They can't shut down the borders because that would go against one of their other big things. The vaccine makers are gone (plus it takes a lot of time to make a vaccine anyway).
But it's still all Bush's fault.
"From Jake Tapper and
April 27, 2009 - 13:42 ET by Chris Norman"From Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller on their Political Punch blog:"
"Political Punch"? Is that short for Political Punching Bag - as in George W Bush?
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
hey chris, usually jake is
April 27, 2009 - 17:35 ET by kangaroohey chris, usually jake is the unsung hero of the right, he asks the hard questions to gibbs and obamma, usually gets a non answer cause they don't have an answer, havent read this story yet, but yea jake reams the white house when ever he can, he is on abc but rest assured, on his blog we beat the left down with facts, they usually come back with the name calling etc etc, I am surprised they havent banned him from washington yet :)
We missed the Bird Flu.
April 27, 2009 - 13:27 ET by clubchamp6Now Mexico has almost one hundred dead.
Now wouldn't you think the Governement would get off their fat arses and shut down the border to prevent this from spreading into the USA.
Oh that's right ...we need to be equal to other countries so lets leave it open and maybe we should bring some of these people here so we can catch up to other countries numbers.
"I bet the CIA loves him now"
Bring back PUNISHMENT for False predictions..
April 27, 2009 - 13:29 ET by upcountrywaterThe draft report of the federal government's emergency plan, obtained
and examined by ABC News' "Primetime," predicts as many as 200,000
Americans will die within a few months. This is considered a
conservative estimate.
Just like the 600,000 that died in Chernobyl.. etc. etc.
Reagan VS 0bama
I do blame the Bush Administration
April 27, 2009 - 13:31 ET by jefflebowskiand the Clinton one, and Bush I and even Ronald Reagan for not CLOSING OUR BORDERS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS! We didn't have a tuberculosis problem prior to illegals. Now it is a problem. The swine flu is rampant in Mexico and we are not even screening passengers arriving in airports from there? What is wrong with our leaders? If something makes sense or benefits Americans...we don't do it! If it makes no sense or hurts Americans...it is the talk of the town! Tell me I'm wrong!
Angry White Dude
www.angrywhitedude.c...
The Sky is Falling
April 27, 2009 - 13:36 ET by Kingfish17It's deje vu all over again. Just like the Financial Crisis of September 2008 was blown out of proportion by the government and the news media, and led to the a full blown economic panic, the Swine Flu crisis of April 2009 is being marketted as a "potential" worldwide catastrophe by governments and the news media.
I just heard a "journalist" on CNBC state, as fact, that 7% of the USA population was killed in the pandemic of 1918. The population of the USA was 92 Million in 1910 and 106 Million in 1920, so that would mean that over 7 million people in the USA died.
But all it takes is a minimum of research on the internet to find the actual number. http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/influenza%20phil%201918.htm , the actual amount being close to 675,000.
I'm not trying to say that the pandemic of 1918 was anything but terrible. But 7% of the population of the USA is way out of line. Saying something like that is totally irresponsible.
C'mon, Kingfish, everyone
April 27, 2009 - 13:39 ET by SickofLibsC'mon, Kingfish, everyone knows a catastrophe is really just another opportunity.
SoL, You get the feeling
April 27, 2009 - 13:48 ET by Chris NormanSoL,
You get the feeling that they're milking this for all it's worth and then some - trying to show everybody just how competent and "on the ball" they are? The next step will be for them to try to connect this with "global warming" and the "need" for national health insurance.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
You forgot to add
April 27, 2009 - 14:54 ET by ahusserstem cell research.
I was wondering how President Bush was going to be dragged into this and blamed. I always found it incredible, if not hilarious, that the left portrayed President Bush as incompetent, stupid, and moronic while also being evilly onmicscient and omnipotent at the same time.
"Somehow, I told you so, just doesn't quite say it." Will Smith in 'I, Robot.'
The Sky Is Falling Part 2
April 27, 2009 - 13:45 ET by Red JeepThe sky is falling!
100 people have died from pig
flu out of a world population of 6.7 billion people. Quick break out the 12.5
million doses of Tamiflu,, that’ll do it!
Remember: “When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!”
The MSM is doing the shouting, all we need to do is run in circles now.
(Meanwhile more people died in car accidents yesterday,in the United States,
than died from pig flu.)
Tomorrow's MSM Headline?
April 27, 2009 - 13:32 ET by ConScottRACIST PIGS
Surprise: it's Bush's fault
April 27, 2009 - 13:33 ET by SickofLibsI just saw Surgeon General Sandbag Gupta on CNN from Mexico City...oh, no, wait...
We don't have a Surgeon General, and we don't have an HHS Secretary, and we don't have those 18 HHS department heads, and we don't have anyone in charge of the CDC.
I guess that would be an A-, Tapper? Or should I call you Mr. Hyde. Or is it Dr. Jekyll today?
Sebelius.......GOP Blocking
April 27, 2009 - 13:41 ET by ConScottWell, maybe Sebelius would be in if the GOP wasn't blocking.
Not that the tax issue or contributions from Dr. George Tiller should have much to do with it.
Maybe a good swine flu is what we need to help overcome those "minor" problems involving Sebelius?
What's odd is that even the liberal Boston Globe carrier this story (and I kept as a favorite):
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/04/13/sebelius_lowballed_donations_from_abortion_doctor/
GOP
April 27, 2009 - 14:24 ET by SickofLibsYeah, I know, but Dumbo should have nominated someone a little less immersed in the culture of death, at least for this position.
another 3am phone call?
April 27, 2009 - 13:51 ET by katainkentAnd the phone just keeps ringing....
I am more than a little surprised this comes from Tapper's desk.
I've been watching this via drudge.... is it time to panic yet? (swine flu google map.) I'd think we'd at least be a bit more cautious.
I love to help the helpless but I'm not gonna help the clueless ~Dennis Miller
3 am
April 27, 2009 - 14:33 ET by SickofLibsCautious. Scholarly. Thoughtful. Measured.
Ready to lead on Day 1. No wait, make that Day 627, but don't hold him to it; things change.
And Tapper is like a yo-yo these days.
Idiots One and All
April 27, 2009 - 13:36 ET by ShanghaiRayIt doesn't matter at this point who get's the blame. I believe it was a combination of many Presidencies including Clinton, Bush and now Obama as far as vaccines and pandemic plans are concerned. However, the buck stops at Obama's desk right this friggin moment. We can assess blame tomorrow or the next day. In the middle of a crisis (not potential) and we are having to hear bullcrap like this. Close the borders, screen all planes coming from Mexico, better yet, ban all flights to/from Mexico. All other countries that have outbreaks, also scan those passengers or ban them all together. This is not a time for pussy-footing around, yet, I'll damn well guarantee you that is just what these idiots in Washington and the CDC will do. We don't wanna offend any Mexicans, do we? Nawwww....hell nawwww....we'd rather have a couple million people die first (on our side of the border). The Big O says it's not the time to panic or be too concerned. He's most definitely the leader of the pack as for as idiots go. Now, before the damn thing spreads in the perfect time to do it not after the damn thing takes a hold on the population. It's like shutting the friggin barn door after the horses run away.
GOD I CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS TOTAL AND ABSOLUTE INCOMPETENCE
In the town of Greensburg Kansas
April 27, 2009 - 13:37 ET by sevenObama noted 10,000 deaths from a tornado. The real number was 12. Now that Obama has proven he will lie on numbers, why should we believe his view or much less blame that he constantly shares and never proves?
I know obama will try to twist some popularity out of this.
10,000... or 12?
April 27, 2009 - 13:45 ET by SickofLibsHad to be a teleprompter malfunction.
Obama is incapable of lying; just doesn't have it in him. Ask his wife.
This just in ---The Swine Flu was cooked up in secret lab
April 27, 2009 - 13:44 ET by dark_dsThis just in ---The Swine Flu was cooked up in secret lab by Dick Cheney. The labs location is somewhere in Area 51. It is reported Cheney had some downtime from working on his Death Star 2.0 that he decided to experiement with viruses. Cheney is said to be dissapointed because the virus was supposed to be more virulent and was only supposed to attack middle aged women from San Francisco who have had Botox injections.
"_______ Him and the Unicorn he rode in on"
Oh Yeah...
April 27, 2009 - 13:47 ET by ShanghaiRayand one more thing (sorry, I'm livid today). I'll bet you this Swine Flu epidemic will cause a significant spike in illegal crossings to the USA in the next few weeks or however long it take to contain (God willing) this thing. Why? Because the Mexicans believe/know they can get better health care in America than in Mexico where they'll likely let people die or shoot them.
Dead On!!!
April 27, 2009 - 13:55 ET by ConScottIf we closed the borders and, being the humanitarians that we are, if we bused those in need to American hospitals, we'd be assured that once treated they'd be returning on the same or identical bus. Keep the border open and it would be just one more excuse to get in.........And Stay!
Who knew?
April 27, 2009 - 13:59 ET by KC Mulville"the research and experimentation tax credit, which helps businesses grow and innovate"
----------
Let's be provocative: why are we funding any scientific research at all?
Why should we fund anything? Don't just assume that because something is good that the government is therefore required to fund it. (That's what the authors of the article above assume. Government must fund it because it's ... uh ... good.)
wow
April 27, 2009 - 14:08 ET by candanceSo it's Bush's fault the Mexican governmnent could not contain their own public health.
You guys still think Obama will eventually have to answer for himself? All he has to do is keep on with this "inherited" stuff until next year, then if the GOP takes back Congress everything will be their fault.
Liberal tolerance on
April 27, 2009 - 14:10 ET by wiwfLiberal tolerance on parade
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
Forget Montezuma's Revenge -
April 27, 2009 - 14:34 ET by SickofLibsForget Montezuma's Revenge - now we have Bush's Revenge.
Having a director of DHS who
April 27, 2009 - 14:19 ET by snaggletoothieHaving a director of DHS who doesn't even know that it is against the law to sneak across the border might not be a contributing factor? Napolitano's focus on the Canadian border rather than where murders, kidnappers and disease enter couldn't be a factor?
Well, plywood smuggling IS a
April 27, 2009 - 14:35 ET by SickofLibsWell, plywood smuggling IS a pretty big deal on the northern border.
SoL...that it is...amoung
April 27, 2009 - 14:54 ET by bigtimerSoL...that it is...amoung other logging issues.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
And there's nothing scarier
April 27, 2009 - 15:13 ET by SickofLibsAnd there's nothing scarier than an unregistered cedar shingle in the wrong hands!
weyerhaeuser
April 27, 2009 - 15:19 ET by katainkentCutting jobs and consolidating plants (pun not intended) by the end of the month due to less demand for wood, and wood products. The plywood supply job you save might be your own. Just say no to imported wood.
I love to help the helpless but I'm not gonna help the clueless ~Dennis Miller
kata... Yep our son lost
April 27, 2009 - 15:25 ET by bigtimerkata...
Yep our son lost his job there at one of the plants he worked at for years and is pretty up....long story, but it has been happening all over the NW for decades now...nothing new to us, yet the logging industry never gets a mention...very rare if it ever does.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
The borders should be shut
April 27, 2009 - 15:22 ET by bigtimerThe borders should be shut down...with a few exceptions, but then again that should have been done years ago...as any normal person who loves this country knows full well...and I know that people know what I mean by that without going into details.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Have to keep all those Canadians
April 27, 2009 - 15:28 ET by ahusserfrom seeking health care in the U.S. as well as the pro hockey players slipping across our borders not to mention their virulent form of Football.
"Somehow, I told you so, just doesn't quite say it." Will Smith in 'I, Robot.'
He inherited everything.
April 27, 2009 - 14:39 ET by Willis_Leon_JohnsonBush inherited everything from the democrats in congress.
Anything that obama inherited from bush was garbage he didn't have time to fix and left it for the loser to cure.
http://gjresult.com
I am just holding out
April 27, 2009 - 14:40 ET by jistincaseI am just holding out against hope that this will be a liberal-swine flu and the house and senate will soon be cleared of all libs.
Slightly off the subject
April 27, 2009 - 15:10 ET by Kingfish17I grilled a pork tenderloin last night for dinner. I used to marinate it, but I have been experimenting with coffee rubs as of late. I use about 80-90% coffee and 10% salt and pepper. Freshly ground coffee, freshly cracked pepper, and coarse sea salt.
A rub is a fantastic way to grill things like pork tenderloin. The rub keeps the juices inside while it cooks.
Everyone loved the pork tenderloin. I guess you could say........yes..........here it comes.......That swine flew off the table!
Sounds great kingfish hope
April 27, 2009 - 15:31 ET by eaglewingz08Sounds great kingfish hope you enjoyed. Isn't it interesting that with the biggest pork fiends in control of three branches of government that there is an outbreak of swine flu? Instant karma they'd say if it were a republican holding those branches of government, I'd wager.
That's cute kingfish....
April 27, 2009 - 15:44 ET by BuxomAnnieMcGreggorThat's cute kingfish.... you know, I heard Folgers Labs are experimenting with a genetic hybrid of Arabica Beans and Wooly Pigs so we can have our morning coffee and bacon in the same cup..... ;~) that's just a rumor though....
"We retort..... you decide."
BAM ROFLMAO! Could be
April 27, 2009 - 15:59 ET by bigtimerBAM
ROFLMAO!
Could be on to something as long as it isn't what I named Rosie O.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
mmm pork
April 27, 2009 - 16:07 ET by katainkentwe also had pork (chops) last night with an orange marmalade / soy / and peanut oil marinade.
I am a big fan of the dry rub marinade but ever since my husband confused the brown sugar & cayenne dry rub I'd packed away with the plain brown sugar when he was making himself oatmeal (note to self : buy a label maker) ... I just haven't been able to bring myself to make anymore.
I love to help the helpless but I'm not gonna help the clueless ~Dennis Miller
~I'll bet
April 27, 2009 - 16:13 ET by choselife3xHe didn't need his coffee that morning. :-)
That high-pitched scream you hear is the troll under my heel.
Who's to blame?
April 27, 2009 - 16:21 ET by CobraManWho's to blame for the spread of the Swine Flu? It's people who are exposed to it and who fail to use even minimal hygiene practices. It's not the the Republicans, as I am pretty sure they all wash their hands at least once a day. The best prevention is hand washing, just as it has been throughout history. As for the need of "science" in "combating the spread," just how much science do it take to wash your hands? None!
"Most important for preventing the spread of flu is washing your hands". Link
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court
bugger! does this mean I
April 27, 2009 - 17:41 ET by kangaroobugger! does this mean I have to stop picking my nose for awhile
→ kangaroo
April 27, 2009 - 17:55 ET by Cool ArrowPick another one. This one's mine.
And it's booger, not bugger. This is America ;-)
Sorry, I just fell off the Turnip Lorry.
It's hard to talk when you're teabagging - Anderson Cooper
bugger, I can't pick
April 27, 2009 - 18:05 ET by kangaroobugger, I can't pick boogers, LOL
PS, aussie not pommey re: lorry, we just call them road trains
→ Blimey
April 27, 2009 - 18:08 ET by Cool ArrowTexans don't speak good Austrailian, but we love the accent.
So he tanned his hyde when he died, Clyde, and left it hangin on the shed.
It's hard to talk when you're teabagging - Anderson Cooper
tie me kangaroo down sport,
April 27, 2009 - 18:12 ET by kangarootie me kangaroo down sport, tie me kangaroo down,
got a florida accent to my family but an aussie one here in the states, and we love the american accent, especially texans,
→ My Aussie friend
April 27, 2009 - 18:15 ET by Cool ArrowCertainly wouldn't have don if I'd come at ya' with "Men At Work".
What with unemployment being what it is.
It's hard to talk when you're teabagging - Anderson Cooper
how about "who could it be
April 27, 2009 - 18:23 ET by kangaroohow about "who could it be now" a song about hiding from the tax man, LOL
→ Men Back at Work
April 27, 2009 - 18:35 ET by Cool ArrowGood to know. Fine mates there.
But for Ponzii schemes, I take you back to Rolf Harris:
Mostly forgotten here in the States, but I was already in 3rd grade.
It's hard to talk when you're teabagging - Anderson Cooper
Yeah
April 27, 2009 - 21:06 ET by RR GOPYeah and...Carter?...Clinton?
I found it amusing that the Fed is talking about more diligent screening of those coming up from Mexico...LOL...what, are they going to post physicians in field hospitals in the middle of the friggin' desert where they're sneaking across to test them?
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).
Could someone alert the media.
April 27, 2009 - 21:24 ET by JWFYou can't have 2 doom & gloom stories out at the same time.
Global Warmings will destroy the earth.
Piggys Flue will kill all teh peoples so there will be no one around to realize teh earth has been destroyed by all teh Global Warmings.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
an Eternal Champion after many exhausting trials and tribulations in the endless war between Law and Chaos
Chuckie Steps in it
April 27, 2009 - 21:44 ET by slickwillie2001Someone dug up video of Chuckie Schumer bragging that funding for 'the flu pandemic' (among other things) that had been put in the budget by the House had been taken out by the Senate. This is right around the time he made the famous and sarcastic 'porky items' quote.
Schumer Video About Cutting Pandemic Fund Surfaces: http://www.redstate.com