Back in July when thousands of illegal aliens were flooding the US-Mexican border and conservatives were understandably concerned about the threat to public health from a porous border, MSNBC's Steve Kornacki compared this to hysteria in California in the late 19th century over Chinese immigrants.
As an example of the alleged current hysteria over illegals from Latin America, Kornacki, guest hosting for Rachel Maddow, showed a clip of NBC reporter Luke Russert engaging in a would-be ambush interview with GOP House member Phil Gingrey --
RUSSERT: I wanted to ask you about the letter you sent to the CDC about the children from Central America possibly carrying Ebola. Where is your evidence on that?
GINGREY: The Border Patrol gave us a list of the diseases that they're concerned about and Ebola was one of those. I can't tell you specifically that there were any cases of Ebola, I don't think there were. But, of course, tuberculosis, Chagas disease, many of, smallpox, some of the infectious diseases of children, all of these are concerns and, of course, the letter to the CDC in my great home state of Georgia, hometown of Atlanta, was just to tell the director of the CDC to make sure that the people, the public is aware, that you guys are on top of this and you're advised ...
RUSSERT: But the Border Patrol told you that there is Ebola, a threat of Ebola, at the border?
GINGREY: They said they were concerned about that, yes.
RUSSERT: At the Mexico/US border?GINGREY: They did say that, they absolutely did.
RUSSERT: The Border Patrol said that to you?
GINGREY: To my staff, yes.
Kornacki reminded viewers that Russert had interviewed Republican congressman Phil Gingrey of Georgia -- "and by the way, he's a doctor, he's an OB/GYN." (Or as Obama describes this line of work ...)
Then came the intended coup de grace --
KORNACKI: And he told NBC's Luke Russert just today, yes, we are under threat from a slew of infectious diseases coming from children across the border, including Ebola. And we should probably point out that Ebola is only found in Africa, not in Mexico, not in Central America, in Africa.
While Kornacki said this, a source was cited -- an NBC News report titled, "Vectors or Victims? Docs Slam Rumors That Migrants Carry Disease," with a pullout quote shown for emphasis -- "Ebola -- which is only found in Africa."
Here is the excerpt in context from the story, written by NBCNews.com health reporter Maggie Fox --
A spokesman for Gingrey said there (sic) were worried that West African immigrants may be in the mix somehow, and that explains the worries about Ebola -- which is only found in Africa. There is an ongoing outbreak in West Africa, but health experts note that Ebola makes people so ill that they are very unlikely to travel far while infected.
More accurately, Ebola was only found in Africa ... to that point. What a difference a mere two months can make. In that short timespan, a disease that NBC News claimed was found "only" on a single continent has since spread to two others, North America (specifically, Dallas) and Europe (Spain).
Inexplicably, the US government announced today it will begin screening air travelers from West Africa at five American airports for symptoms of Ebola -- which is clearly a waste of taxpayer money because, as NBC and MSNBC confidently assured us last summer, it is simply not possible for Ebola to break free of its geographic confinement to Africa. Except, as we've since learned, when it also spreads to North America and Europe. But hey, look at the bright side, you're still safe from this dreaded disease if you live in Asia, South America, Australia or Antarctica. So far.
Don't hold your breath waiting for MSNBC to invite Phil Gingrey to comment on this.
