Politicizing Disaster

Politics seems to find its way into everything. In this day and age, even science and natural disasters have become partisan.

For the left to survive, it must rely on a vast population of victims, and what better place to find victims than in a natural disaster (Or a man made disaster, since Bush and Cheney created Hurricane Katrina and steered it into New Orleans)? Forest fires, bridge collapses, hurricanes, mine collapses – instead of working together and learning from mistakes, they want to take advantage of tragedies to demonize their opponents.

Opportunistic Democrats see the California wildfires as a great chance to appeal to their base. While we may see a tragedy – thousands of homes destroyed, deaths, almost a million evacuees, Democrats see an opportunity to score political points. Look at Katrina – the largest and fastest relief effort in U.S. history. Almost 100,000 aid workers were on scene within three days. The National Guard and the Coast Guard rescued 50,000 people in one week. By September 8, the waterborne rescuers from across the country had saved 20,000 more. But instead, we heard of the failure of the federal government and how Bush hates black people. Sure, there were things we need to improve on that happened in all levels of government, but there is much more to the story than blaming the Bush administration.

The government has responded very well to the wildfires, so Democrats must go to plan B. California’s Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi was on Hardball with Chris Matthews, where he said, “I got some doubt about the value of President Bush coming out here . . . I know – okay, President Bush comes out, we’ll be polite. But frankly, that’s not the solution. How about sending our National Guard back from Iraq? So that we have those people available here to help us?”

California Senator Barbara Boxer weighed in also, “…the ability of the state’s National Guard has been compromised because too much of their equipment and personnel is in Iraq.”

The opportunity to condemn the War in Iraq is sure to appeal to their base, whether it is true or not. The thing is, not having all of your National Guard units on hand because they are deployed is not the factor Garamendi and Boxer want you to think it is. Forest fires are not stopped by a show of military force – what exactly will a mechanized infantry battalion do to stop a fire that has scorched hundreds of square miles? This is just an attempt to score points with their anti-war base that is fuming at the Democrats for not pulling the troops out of Iraq.

2007 is one of the least active hurricane seasons in thirty years, so the left is scrambling for something else to link to their manmade global warming cause. When answering a reporter’s question about his energy bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “As you know, one of the reasons we have the fires burning in Southern California is global warming.”

When another reporter followed up on Reid’s global warming remark a few minutes later, he backtracked: “No. Here’s what I – I didn’t say the reason the fires were burning in Southern California was global warming…” It sure sounds like you did, Senator.

It would be interesting to listen to Reid explain how global warming relates to arsonists, arc-welders, and downed power lines that investigators have linked to causing these fires.

Forest fires have been around ever since the invention of trees. This is nothing new, and global warming is not to blame. Southern California is a desert. The Santa Ana winds that are feeding the fire are in fact later than usual this year, and their intensity is average. It is not the fault of George Bush and the Republicans. Believe it or not, raising taxes will not solve the problem.

Solutions that would help lessen the severity of these wildfires are actually contested by litigious environmentalist groups. The Forest Service estimates that half of their time and approximately $250 million is spent each year in preparation for court battles with activist groups. Some neighborhoods have been saved from conflagration due in part to “fuel breaks.” When not preparing for the courtroom, the Forest Service is busy working to save nature and mankind from wildfires. Fuel breaks are areas of forest where dead trees are removed, low-hanging branches are trimmed, and brush is thinned. The Forest Service cannot eliminate the threat of these fires, but forest thinning and fuel breaks can prevent them from growing out of control. How much wildlife is killed or displaced when hundreds of thousands of acres burn? Now how much wildlife would have been spared if the forest was managed? It sure seems as though they are shooting their cause in the foot.

When a bridge collapses in Minnesota, politicians rush to the scene (even before the bodies are recovered) to call for new taxes to repair our failing infrastructure. Never mind that there is already taxes in place for that very reason – but politicians would rather spend the money that was intended for repairing bridges on sexy mass transit programs and bicycle trails. That, they think, is what wins the hearts and minds of their constituents, not replacing rivets and trusses.

When coal miners are killed in a cave-in, liberals criticize the coal industry. That’s right, they attack the very Americans who risk their lives for energy that is not as attractive as wind farms or solar panels.

When a deranged boy walks around a college campus, killing students, liberals cry for gun control legislation, as if that would make us safer.

The good thing is that politicizing disasters can be a double-edged sword. Blaming the Bush administration during Hurricane Katrina did not get the Democrats the result they hoped for. Republicans are sweeping into power in Louisiana. 36-year-old Republican Bobby Jindal was just elected Governor and five out of six state seats up for election are expected to be won by Republicans when votes are counted next month. There were failures of government in the response to Katrina, but most of the blame goes falls on local and state governments. Apparently, the voters in Louisiana figured that out.

Without something to show voters what they have done (like withdrawing from Iraq), Democrats must keep our focus on the Republicans. Turning tragedies into political opportunity is disgraceful, but unfortunately, it is par for the course from today’s Democrat Party.

Chris Carter is the host of “Unto the Breach with Crushing Chris Carter.”
COPYRIGHT 2007 CHRIS CARTER