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You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / Please Stop Being So Damned Stupid

Please Stop Being So Damned Stupid

by John Cole|  April 30, 20091:52 pm| 119 Comments

This post is in: Republican Stupidity

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If you want to point to a gaffe, look at this:

A spokesman for Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said Wednesday night that Franks believes the border should be closed right now except in critical cases or situations involving emergency personnel.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said all options should be considered to end the crisis involving swine flu, “including closing the border if it would prevent further transmission of the deadly virus.”

In a twitter message early Wednesday, McCain wrote “I said to Napolitano, ‘We need to be prepared to close the border with Mexico if the swine flu outbreak escalates further.’”

Yeah. That makes sense:

The alarm level, raised to 4 from 3, is at its highest since the warning system was adopted in 2005, and the virus has been confirmed in the U.K., Mexico, the U.S., Canada and Spain. The emphasis for health officials worldwide should be treating patients and strengthening preparations for outbreaks, said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general for health security and environment. The Geneva-based WHO isn’t recommending travel restrictions.

How come the Mexican Olympic swim team never wins any gold medals, what with their ability to swim to the UK and Spain in several days while suffering from the flu? Republicans are just completely lost when the solution to any problem is not “cut taxes” or “commence bombing.”

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Reader Interactions

119Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Kevin

    April 30, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    They can’t help themselves when they see an opportunity to demonize the brown hordes from south of the border.

  2. 2.

    El Cid

    April 30, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    By the way, I’m curious as to the method by which this border will be closed. Do they mean all formal entry points, such as roads, or do they mean the deployment of several million guards along the entire border, or what?

  3. 3.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    @Comrade Kevin:

    They can’t help themselves when they see an opportunity to demonize the brown hordes from south of the border.

    You should hear the claims that this is a bio-terrorist attack.

    Party-on Garth!

  4. 4.

    Will

    April 30, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    Closing the gates worked so well in the Resident Evil (movie) sequel.

    These are the same people who use 24 as proof that torture works & I thought I watched too much TV.

  5. 5.

    Dennis-SGMM

    April 30, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    Because our border is so airtight in the first place. I guess that we don’t need to ban airline travel between Mexico and the US because no one brought the flu to say, New Zealand, via an airline flight.
    Tools. Have they posted a graph of the current case count with Obama’s picture on it yet?

  6. 6.

    random asshole

    April 30, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    Does this mean we can bomb Mexico now?

  7. 7.

    Keith

    April 30, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    I’m looking forward to hearing how reducing/eliminating the capital gains/estate taxes will also help prevent the spread of the flu into the US.

  8. 8.

    cleek

    April 30, 2009 at 2:03 pm

    OT (and reposted from Open Thread):

    shorter erikerikson:
    the teaparty scene was so much cooler when it was all about the fans. now it’s all about the greedheads and their self-serving corporate agenda! uncool !

  9. 9.

    JL

    April 30, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    It’s all about politics. Rush says close the border and repubs want to impress the great master.

  10. 10.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    @Keith: People will get to keep their inherited, um, hard-earned, wealth and use it to to keep the sneezing, coughing masses away from the estate.

    Simple.

  11. 11.

    JL

    April 30, 2009 at 2:07 pm

    Uh oh.. I just turned on TV and it appears that some one who traveled to Mexico with Obama, missed who, developed the flu. The press is now all concerned about the President. Gibbs is now explaining that the incubation period has passed twice fold now. Tapper looks concerned.

  12. 12.

    JK

    April 30, 2009 at 2:08 pm

    Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said all options should be considered to end the crisis involving swine flu, “including closing the border if it would prevent further transmission of the deadly virus.”

    I wish the good people of Arizona would get rid of this doddering fool so that he can retire to his 12 homes.

  13. 13.

    HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker

    April 30, 2009 at 2:08 pm

    Republicans are just completely lost when the solution to any problem is not cut taxes or commence bombing.

    Fortunately, I don’t have to refer to them as “my former party.”

    Heh.

    I like to call them “the party of people who think the earth is 6000 years old, and that intelligent design created leprosy.”

  14. 14.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    @cleek: Its always nice to see people learning how to protest. The ups and downs, the highs and lows, the thrill of standing up for something and the despair of realizing nobody else cares, and of course the final realization that your group is just as political and overrun with wankers as any other group. Of course from my vantage point is just fun theater.

  15. 15.

    Napoleon

    April 30, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    I am surprised no one mentioned this, but using those guys logic, and keeping in mind that currently very few countries have confirmed cases, then the smart thing for the other 145 countries that do not have confirmed cases is to close their borders to anyone from the US.

    Of course if anyone actually did that the Republicans would be the first to push to break off diplomatic relations with that country or worse.

  16. 16.

    Jason

    April 30, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    Bet it’s easier to close that border than to reopen it without the huge tantrum they’ve surely got planned. Third plank of the new majority platform, alongside teabagging and coming out of the conservative closet: back-door immigration reform.

  17. 17.

    Zifnab

    April 30, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    Republicans are just completely lost when the solution to any problem is not cut taxes or commence bombing.

    They added “build a border fence” to the play book years ago.

    That said, I would – just as a rhetorical exercise – love to see an alternate world in which McCain was President. I could totally see him shutting down the border between New York and Mexico.

  18. 18.

    asiangrrlMN

    April 30, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    Yeah! Let’s stop those damn high school students in New York from going to Mexico on their spring breaks! That’s how the kids in that one school got sick.

    It’s all about politics and window dressing. Bah. Wake me up when the grownups are in charge of the GOP again.

  19. 19.

    JoyceH

    April 30, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    Hey, does it occur to any of these morons that the flu is in the US now, and if the rest of the world decides to impose a travel ban on people and goods from the United States, our economy would probably head past Great Depression without even slowing down and not stop till it hit Mad Max?

  20. 20.

    tc125231

    April 30, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    @Keith:

    I’m looking forward to hearing how reducing/eliminating the capital gains/estate taxes will also help prevent the spread of the flu into the US.

    You mean it won’t?

    Bummer….

  21. 21.

    Left Coast Tom

    April 30, 2009 at 2:13 pm

    I think John McCain should demonstrate his “leadership” by suspending his appearances in front of television cameras for the duration of this crisis.

  22. 22.

    bcinaz

    April 30, 2009 at 2:13 pm

    Are you kidding? Wait til you see the wall we build to keep jet planes from landing at Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix.

    I am sooooo hoping Napolitano decides that she hates her job and comes back to run against McCain in 2010. The world and all it’s wonders are just too important to trust to Old White Men.

  23. 23.

    Zifnab

    April 30, 2009 at 2:13 pm

    @asiangrrlMN:

    It’s all about politics and window dressing. Bah. Wake me up when the grownups are in charge of the GOP again.

    Rip Van Winkle says to find a comfy pillow.

  24. 24.

    chuck

    April 30, 2009 at 2:14 pm

    It’s those damn Mexicans again, gotta keep them out.

    Hispanics used to be the one large ethnic group that Republicans could at least somewhat count on. What’s next on the suicide list, alienating white people?

  25. 25.

    tc125231

    April 30, 2009 at 2:16 pm

    @HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker:

    I like to call them “the party of people who think the earth is 6000 years old, and that intelligent design created leprosy.”

    Good one. I think I’ll steal it.

  26. 26.

    Cat Lady

    April 30, 2009 at 2:16 pm

    Republicans are a headless body that only twitches to certain stimuli like the sound of Rush’s voice and the word immigrants.

  27. 27.

    Dennis-SGMM

    April 30, 2009 at 2:18 pm

    What’s next on the suicide list, alienating white people?

    Only those who don’t know all lyrics to “Dixie”.

  28. 28.

    Violet

    April 30, 2009 at 2:18 pm

    @JoyceH:

    Hey, does it occur to any of these morons that the flu is in the US now, and if the rest of the world decides to impose a travel ban on people and goods from the United States, our economy would probably head past Great Depression without even slowing down and not stop till it hit Mad Max?

    No. Things like that never occur to these people. They’re too busy talking about “American Exceptionalism” to think anyone might not think we – and our goods – are all that special.

  29. 29.

    Comrade Dread

    April 30, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Republicans are just completely lost when the solution to any problem is not cut taxes or commence bombing.

    Shh. Don’t give them ideas.

    They’re already pissed at Mexico for illegal immigrants and not stopping the supply of drugs our people demand, but the government disapproves of.

    This swine flu might just push them over the edge into supporting a Second Mexican-American war.

  30. 30.

    anonevent

    April 30, 2009 at 2:22 pm

    The problem is that New Zealand and New York forgot to make sure all of those tunnels from Mexico were closed. How else could this evil Mexican flu have gotten in?

  31. 31.

    Comrade Dread

    April 30, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    Do they mean all formal entry points, such as roads, or do they mean the deployment of several million guards along the entire border, or what?

    A giant moat filled with crocodiles.

  32. 32.

    asiangrrlMN

    April 30, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    @Zifnab: Yeah, well, I need a long nap, anyway.

    @chuck: They are working very hard at it.

    @Cat Lady: Thank you for that disturbing mental image. How am I supposed to take a nap now?

    Comrade Dread, I am not sure if you’re being sarcastic, but this was actually a suggestion somewhere. Let’s import crocs from Florida and dump in nearby bodies of waters. Nice.

  33. 33.

    Michael

    April 30, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    Let’s stop those damn high school students in New York from going to Mexico on their spring breaks!

    Absolutely. That’s what goin’ to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge for all that rootin’ tootin’ high ‘Murkan culture is for.

    Why should they go somewhere foreign that is reasonably priced when they can spend way more money to look at gaudy billboards, ride go-karts, buy tshirts and pig out on nastyass pancakes and bacon at the 692 pancake joints they’ve got in Wingnutopia’s Vacation Paradise.

  34. 34.

    Dennis-SGMM

    April 30, 2009 at 2:26 pm

    A giant moat filled with crocodiles.

    With frickin’ lasers on their heads (Thanks, Newt!).

  35. 35.

    TenguPhule

    April 30, 2009 at 2:26 pm

    So the solution is to close the border when the flu is already here.

    Brilliant.

    Next we shall shut the barn door after the horse was stolen.

  36. 36.

    evie

    April 30, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    So saying we should close the border is a gaffe, but saying people should not go to school, should not fly on a plane and should not board a bus or train makes sense?

    Bizarre.

    They are in the same category: stupid ideas at this stage of the crisis. In the case of closing the border, it’s too late. In the case of shutting down cities, it’s too early.

  37. 37.

    TenguPhule

    April 30, 2009 at 2:28 pm

    A giant moat filled withcrocodiles. irate sea bass

    Fixed.

  38. 38.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    April 30, 2009 at 2:29 pm

    I guess our GOP buddies didn’t get the “don’t eat the brown acid” memo.

  39. 39.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 2:30 pm

    The Simpsons take on immigrants, taxes and panic predicted the current GOP policy position. What does that say about the Grand ‘Ol Party.

  40. 40.

    Wisdom

    April 30, 2009 at 2:30 pm

    Stupid? CNN is reporting a White House staff member has swine flu.

    That still would not explain Biden being crazy.

  41. 41.

    Michael

    April 30, 2009 at 2:30 pm

    Do they mean all formal entry points, such as roads, or do they mean the deployment of several million guards along the entire border, or what?

    They mean allowing a bunch of fat-assed trailer trash rednecks, their Confederate flags and their machine guns to wander around the border with “shoot to kill” authorization.

    Half will be too drunk to aim right, and a sizeable percentage will be whirring around in gummint paid “fattie” scooters, all while bitching about “that goddm Kenyan marxist muslim atheist n****r tool of Wall Street”, followed by shouts of “PORKULUS”.

  42. 42.

    JK

    April 30, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    @Cat Lady: Don’t forget the word Socialist and the phrase Drill Baby Drill

  43. 43.

    Corner Stone

    April 30, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    @Jason:

    back-door immigration reform.

    Nicely played.

  44. 44.

    Rick Taylor

    April 30, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    Republicans are just completely lost when the solution to any problem is not cut taxes or commence bombing.

    I’ve learned reading right wingers that for a true conservative, the solution to any problem is always to cut taxes, commence bombing, and to close the borders. Bush only managed two out of three, so he was actually liberal, which is why Republicans are doing so poorly. But once the liberal Republicans who’ve been bringing down the party have been kicked out, and especially after the public has gotten to see how Democrats do with a filibuster-proof majority, the public will flock to them. It’s all part of the plan.

  45. 45.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    @evie: WTF!? Closing the border has no effect, prevention has an effect so you’re not even comparing apples to oranges, but rocks to hummingbirds.

  46. 46.

    JL

    April 30, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    Please Stop Being So Damned Stupid

    Stupid is as stupid does.

  47. 47.

    Dreggas

    April 30, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    What amuses me even more with this is the swine flu, and heck the flu in general is a great example of another thing the wing nuts hate…evolution. After all mutation of the flu is one reason for new vaccine’s every year and at some point the swine flu evolved to be able to be passed to humans.

  48. 48.

    Ash Can

    April 30, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    OT but still on the subject of GOP flailing: Michael Steele says it’s “disingenuous” to blame the Democrats for damaging the economy when it was the Republicans who tanked it in the first place.

    I’m sure this has nothing to do with that little incident regarding control of the RNC’s finances.

  49. 49.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 2:39 pm

    @Rick Taylor:

    I’ve learned reading right wingers that for a true conservative, the solution to any problem is always to cut taxes, commence bombing, and to close the borders.

    These are the Big 3 (bear bombing, bear patrol taxes, blame the immigrants) in the Simpsons “Much Apu About Nothing”.

  50. 50.

    asiangrrlMN

    April 30, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    @Michael: You made me laugh. For that, Jebus loves you.

    Bootlegger. Thank you for putting that so succinctly. I was trying to find a way to do the same, but I FAIL’ed.

  51. 51.

    evie

    April 30, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    bootlegger — of course prevention has an effect, that’s why the advice is to wash your hands frequently and if sick, stay home.

    Closing the border would certainly stop some additional sick people from coming into the U.S., just like living in a bubble would likely keep people from getting sick. Both options are still ridiculous compared to the downsides.

  52. 52.

    MattF

    April 30, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    McCain is the artiste of panic. Bar the door! Clear the room! I’m in charge! I’m not screaming!

  53. 53.

    someguy

    April 30, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    So saying we should close the border is a gaffe, but saying people should not go to school, should not fly on a plane and should not board a bus or train makes sense?

    Yeah, that’s about right. You can’t control the borders in any meaningful sense or stop a pandemic itself, but individuals can take common sense steps to keep from getting the flu or at least cut down on spreading it. You can’t drink the ocean, but you can down a few glasses of water.

    Thank goodness the grownups are in charge. If this flu had hit under the Bushies, we wouldn’t have been prepared for it and we’d have faced widespread panic. A near miss by 99 days.

  54. 54.

    ChrisB

    April 30, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    @JL:

    It’s all about politics. Rush says close the border and repubs want to impress the great master Grand Wizard.

    Fixed.

  55. 55.

    Dreggas

    April 30, 2009 at 2:43 pm

    @MattF:

    I just heard McCain suspended his campaign to go work on a solution to swine flu.

  56. 56.

    asiangrrlMN

    April 30, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    I ran out of time to edit.

    Bootlegger, my thanks to you was in response to your response to evie.

  57. 57.

    gwangung

    April 30, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    @someguy: Yeah, but too bad the Bushies were in charge the previous eight years. Thanks to them, public health resources are stretched to the breaking point (did you know it’s common for emergency rooms to be at 150-200% of capacity?), and they made absolutely no move to beef it up, even after the anthrax attack????

  58. 58.

    clone12

    April 30, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    I think we should apply the “flytrap” theory of foreign policy to this by sending 300 million Americans to Mexico.

    Because we can then fight the virus over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.

  59. 59.

    Comrade Dread

    April 30, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    @asiangrrlMN

    I was being sarcastic, but now that I realize that I can pull the most outlandish suggestions out of my ass and Republicans would actually take me seriously and follow me, I think I’m going to go re-register, get involved with the party and lead them forward on a platform of digging giant crocodile filled moats and launching a first strike against New England for being a little too much like the Old England and not enough like America to suit my taste.

  60. 60.

    Mike G

    April 30, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    Hey, does it occur to any of these morons that the flu is in the US now, and if the rest of the world decides to impose a travel ban on people and goods from the United States, our economy would probably head past Great Depression without even slowing down and not stop till it hit Mad Max?

    They can’t wrap their tiny little skulls around the concept of ‘retaliation’, or that US actions may lead to similar actions by other countries. That would require concepts like empathy and putting themselves in the shoes of furriners which is soooooooo boring and less self-indulgent than TURNING RUSH UP LOUDER.
    The other nations of the world are supposed to be eager supplicants before the inherent superiority of Confederate Jesus Murka, and to sit quietly and take their punishment whenever we choose to dish it out.

  61. 61.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    April 30, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    John, you should take the day off like me.

  62. 62.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    @evie: “Sealing” the border is not comparable to “living in a bubble” because in the bubble it is at least possible to seal it off but its impossible to seal the border. Yeah, you may turn back a few infected people, but that doesn’t stop the spread of disease, the quarantine has to be absolute and that just isn’t possible for any frontier. So no, not the same at all.

  63. 63.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    @gwangung: Obama did credit the Bushmen for having the current resources in place.

  64. 64.

    Michael

    April 30, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    Beck does Limbaugh. I think he even swallowed, as he figured out how to wax rhapsodically about Rush’s voice while using the word “intimate” in the same article.

    Rush Limbaugh By Glenn Beck

    …

    When Rush wants to talk to America, all he has to do is grab his microphone.

    He attracts more listeners with just his voice than the rest of us could ever imagine. He is simply on another level.

    No matter how many new technologies pop up, nothing will ever surpass the intimacy of radio. And nobody will ever be better at utilizing it than Rush. His consistency, insight and honesty have earned him a level of trust with his listeners that politicians can only dream of. And that is why the more irrelevant critics try to make him, the more relevant he becomes.

  65. 65.

    kay

    April 30, 2009 at 3:06 pm

    I would go the other way. I understand Mexico is running out of masks, and the rural areas have no public health system.

    We have a lot of masks, right? Can we give Mexico some?

    Certain Senators, certain House members and Frances Townsend can deliver the masks. We can close the border once they’re in Mexico.

  66. 66.

    R-Jud

    April 30, 2009 at 3:06 pm

    @Comrade Dread:

    launching a first strike against New England for being a little too much like the Old England and not enough like America to suit my taste.

    Place names notwithstanding, New England would need to seriously bump up its supply of old guys in tweed suits, kebab shops, and CCTV cameras before it’s anything like Old England.

  67. 67.

    Dreggas

    April 30, 2009 at 3:07 pm

    @Michael:

    beck needs to wipe the white goo off his face and the shit off his nose.

  68. 68.

    bloodstar

    April 30, 2009 at 3:07 pm

    errr

    the threat level is 5, not 4

    “The current WHO phase of pandemic alert is 5.”

    http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/index.html

    “Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short. “

  69. 69.

    Comrade Dread

    April 30, 2009 at 3:11 pm

    @ R-Jud

    Yes, I know that and you know that. But as a Republican demagogue, I would no longer be bound by such things as truth, reality, and sanity.

    I make my own reality now.

    Iraq IS safer than Detroit, damn it!

  70. 70.

    KG

    April 30, 2009 at 3:13 pm

    For fuck’s sake, this is not a crisis. There are 114 confirmed cases in the United States – population 306,000,000. That’s 0.00000038% of the population. Hell, I’m not sure this even qualifies as a “mild outbreak”.

    The stupidity of this whole thing is making me reach for the vodka I have conveniently stored in my bottom drawer.

  71. 71.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    @Dreggas: You sure the white goo wasn’t in back and the brown stain in front? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean, know what I mean.

  72. 72.

    KG

    April 30, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    @64: speaking as a Dodger fan and resident of southern California, I’d nominate Vin Scully as being miles, and miles, better at utilizing radio.

  73. 73.

    Dennis-SGMM

    April 30, 2009 at 3:16 pm

    @KG:
    I was told that dousing your tonsils with strong liquor is sovereign against the flu.

  74. 74.

    someguy

    April 30, 2009 at 3:16 pm

    Obama did credit the Bushmen for having the current resources in place.

    Another example of incredible graciousness from Obama that simply isn’t necessary, and which is probably going to result in him getting his hand bit by Republicans yet again despite his covering their fat asses on another area where they’ve screwed up. Congress rammed funding down the Executive Branch’s throat for that and made them do some preparations, 2006-2008. It was still inadequate. Why don’t you ask about how much antiviral they have on hand? Not nearly enough to treat even a third of the U.S. population. And let’s not pretend the Republicans would have done any of these preparations otherwise. Don’t forget their indifference to dead brown peepul here in the U.S. and abroad.

  75. 75.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 3:17 pm

    @KG: But it’s the flu and we’re ALL GOING TO DIE!!!

    Oh, wait, you mean it’s NOT 1918? Pass the bottle.

  76. 76.

    Bootlegger

    April 30, 2009 at 3:19 pm

    @someguy: I agree more with you, just saying our guy is, as you put it, gracious enough not to turn everything into an anti-Bush attack. But this is why he’s the adult and the brats at the back of the bus are flinging poo.

  77. 77.

    Dennis-SGMM

    April 30, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    @someguy:
    The shock of having a president who’s presidential hasn’t worn off yet for me. Every time that he’s gracious or magnanimous the opposition shrinks in stature.

  78. 78.

    gwangung

    April 30, 2009 at 3:31 pm

    @KG:
    Yah. No reason to panic.

    No reason to be stupid about it though; always better not to be sick than to be sick.

  79. 79.

    Jennifer

    April 30, 2009 at 3:32 pm

    @HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker:

    I like to call them “the party of people who think the earth is 6000 years old, and that intelligent design created leprosy.”

    I like “the party of people who think The Flintstones was a documentary.”

  80. 80.

    Zifnab

    April 30, 2009 at 3:32 pm

    @KG: It’s 114 confirmed cases in the United States of a highly contagious pathogen that didn’t even exist last month. So it’s not a reason to Go Galt, but I wouldn’t sneeze at it either.

  81. 81.

    Corner Stone

    April 30, 2009 at 3:35 pm

    @Dennis-SGMM: Does no one at all listen to me here?
    Don’t answer that.

    From the recent Open Thread:
    “Listen, there’s a simple solution here. Recently everyone in my extended family was hit with some version of walking pneumonia. Knocked the crap outta all 15 or so of them, they all had to get steroids and anti-biotics. Everyone but me. Never missed a beat. The reason?
    I’m close to four parts vodka by volume. I suggest it as a preventive remedy for everyone.”

  82. 82.

    John H. Farr

    April 30, 2009 at 3:36 pm

    Twitter #swinefluidiocy

  83. 83.

    Ash Can

    April 30, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    More off-flu-topic-but-on-stupid-topic: A sarcastic article in the San Antonio Current (h/t GOS) makes fun of Texas secessionists. As can be seen in the comments, not everyone is amused. But this comment stood out to me:

    Texas might secede and it might not. Most believe independence will improve citizen life. Certainly, driving out illegal aliens would be easier. And we’d no longer be subjected to the incompetence of a fast-talkin’ Chicago con-boy. And of course we could rejoin the union if and when it regains a modicum of sanity.

    Rejoin the…

    ::headdesk::

    I wonder if this person ever ventures outside his/her house, or decided years ago that finding the door was just too difficult.

  84. 84.

    KG

    April 30, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    @80: I’m not suggesting going Galt. I’m just saying that it’s not the end of the world. a little bit of perspective is in order. a statistically insignificant portion of the population has been confirmed to have contracted a new strain of an old virus (the flu virus has been around forever and mutates faster than just about anything else). according to wikipedia (i know, i know) we haven’t even reached 700 suspected cases in the US.

  85. 85.

    Wile E. Quixote

    April 30, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    Oh, and in other stupid Republican news Susan Collins is attempting to cover her dumb ass for voting against pandemic preparedness in the stimulus bill by grilling Janet Napolitano on why she’s not deploying largely ineffective thermal scanners at border crossings to pick out people who are potentially infected with swine flu.

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-04-29-insufficient_N.htm

    I’d really like to see Napolitano just go nuclear on the stupid bimbo and say “Look senator, is this a real question or are you just trying to cover your ass because you voted against those pandemic preparedness funds and are now taking heat for it?”

  86. 86.

    Svensker

    April 30, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    @Zifnab:

    Ha ha ha.

  87. 87.

    Jennifer

    April 30, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    @KG:

    Granted, no reason to panic. But from a biological perspective, the fewer people this flu infects the better, not only for the people involved but also for the rest of us. Fewer infections = less opportunity for viral mutation. It’s not unlikely that the reason a new virus variant like this one can become extremely virulent is that it’s new, no one has immunity and so it infects a lot of people very easily – some of whom are already infected with other flu variants and become petri dishes for the virus to re-combine into new forms – forms that can be radically different enough that they could infect people who had already had the original strain of the virus.

    Note that I say “could”. It’s also possible that such mutations could be less virulent. But it’s quite a crapshoot, and one we could well do without.

  88. 88.

    binzinerator

    April 30, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    @Michael:

    Half will be too drunk to aim right, and a sizeable percentage will be whirring around in gummint paid “fattie” scooters

    That’s pretty funny. ‘Gummit paid fattie scooter’. Snort1

    I wanna dig out my old Fender acoustic, practice a bunch, then form a band just so I can name it Gummit Paid Fattie Scooter.

  89. 89.

    Calouste

    April 30, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    @MattF:

    Considering McCain is such a panic artist, you wonder how he ever managed to fly a plane without crashing.

    Oh…, wait…

  90. 90.

    JM

    April 30, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    I see from your website that they’re having to give Ann Coulter away for FREE now.

    Heh.

    Much like the distribution of Limbaugh to local stations, btw.

    Marketshare my white ass.

  91. 91.

    os

    April 30, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKNbi-_Mxo8&feature=player_embedded

    this is a web ad from the House GOP asking if you feel safer after 100 days. with graphics of scary mooslems and explosions and scary music in the background. How original right?

  92. 92.

    gwangung

    April 30, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    @Jennifer: Fewer people it infects, the less stress on our health system. I don’t know how it could handle a strain that’s even a bit more than a severe standard flu infection.

  93. 93.

    JM

    April 30, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    I wanna dig out my old Fender acoustic

    THIS MACHINE KILLS FREEPERS.

    [explanation]

  94. 94.

    binzinerator

    April 30, 2009 at 3:46 pm

    @binzinerator:

    Gonna start right now working on my cover of D.O.A.’s Fuck You.

  95. 95.

    JK

    April 30, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    @Wile E. Quixote: Very disappointing to read those comments by Susan Collins. I once had hopes that she’d defect to the Dems like Specter.

    It looks like Collins has taken a swig of Michele Bachmann’s Oldtime Brain Damaged Republican elixir.

  96. 96.

    Bad Horse's Filly

    April 30, 2009 at 4:02 pm

    The stupid it hurts my head.

    I’m sure it’s been said before – haven’t had time to read all the comments (man I miss you guys). But I watched Biden on Today this a.m. and it was a no win situation – anything he would have answered would have been skewered – that was Matt L. whole point of the interview as far as I could tell.

    So by all means, let’s close the borders and quarantine the country. Of course that’s not going to stop the other 35, 000 deaths this year from the ‘normal’ flu. Whatcha gonna due about that McCain, huh?

  97. 97.

    Jennifer

    April 30, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    @gwangung:
    True as well.

    I was also trying to get at all the pooh-poohing over how the cases here have been so much milder, too, though. There could be several reasons for this – maybe the Mexican victims who died didn’t have access to care early enough, maybe they were less healthy to begin with due to nutrition, etc – but we don’t know. The 1918 flu was very violent and had a high mortality rate when it first emerged, then it settled down to be much less virulent, then mutated somewhere along the line in the next 2 or 3 months to become deadly. The fewer people it passes through, the less opportunity this flu has to do the same.

  98. 98.

    TenguPhule

    April 30, 2009 at 4:05 pm

    Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said all options should be considered to end the crisis involving swine flu,

    Mexican Flu Virii will be waterboarded until they confess to being an evil liberal plot to bring Socialized Government Healthcare to the USA.

  99. 99.

    omen

    April 30, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said all options should be considered to end the crisis involving swine flu,

    omg, are we going to nuke mexico?

    here’s another guy whose record needs to be checked to see how many times he’s voted against vaccine programs.

  100. 100.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    April 30, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    this is a web ad from the House GOP asking if you feel safer after 100 days.

    Actually I don’t feel safer. I think the govt. needs to be more active in dealing with the threat to my safety from heavily armed right wing extremists and the people in the GOP who are egging them on.

    Oh, wait…

  101. 101.

    Dreggas

    April 30, 2009 at 4:12 pm

    @Bootlegger:

    yeah it’s probably just a Santorum

  102. 102.

    robertdsc

    April 30, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    The shock of having a president who’s presidential hasn’t worn off yet for me. Every time that he’s gracious or magnanimous the opposition shrinks in stature.

    This

    He’s not perfect, but for the good parts, he’s -damn- good.

  103. 103.

    Cat Lady

    April 30, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    @Dennis-SGMM:

    Obama Fu.

  104. 104.

    Corner Stone

    April 30, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    @omen:

    omg, are we going to nuke mexico?

    Remember Motaba!

  105. 105.

    Bad Horse's Filly

    April 30, 2009 at 4:16 pm

    And who does McCain think is listening to him? The Repubs hate him and the Dems think he’s a doddering fool.

  106. 106.

    asiangrrlMN

    April 30, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    I think I have been jaded by the SARS threat we had a few years ago. I get that this is a different strain of virus. I get that we haven’t dealt with this strain before. I get we should all be cautious and careful and practice good hygiene. I just don’t like all the hyping going on about this particular virus. If I do all of the following, whatever happens, happens.

    Bad Horse’s Filly, oh, that’s easy. The media! They think John McCain is da bomb diggity.

  107. 107.

    A Ghost To Most

    April 30, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    with all due respect (meaning none) to Beck & Blowhard:

    The only difference between a brown-noser and a shithead is depth perception

  108. 108.

    binzinerator

    April 30, 2009 at 4:29 pm

    @kay:

    We have a lot of masks, right? Can we give Mexico some?

    Tried to get some at the Wallgreens here in Cheeseheadland a few days ago. Completely out, and was told ‘people are going crazy over this’ by the store manager.

    I already had a box left over from the SARS thing. I realized when the CDC upgraded the flu outbreak this week that having masks on hand in anticipation of a possible flu epidemic isn’t crazy.

    I recall looking at a photo taken in 1919 in Philidelphia of city’s 4th July Parade and everybody in the photo — marching band, crowds, cops on their horses — is wearing a mask. My wife’s great-grandfather died in that same epidemic. So did 20 million other people on the planet. (sorry no linky to photo, I think the image was in a book on the 1919 contagion I spotted at Powell’s some years ago.)

    If it ever gets that bad — and I’m not saying it will — having some masks for your own use make sense but you won’t be able to find any by then.

  109. 109.

    r€nato

    April 30, 2009 at 4:36 pm

    @Ash Can:

    Republicans being disingenuous? No way!

  110. 110.

    r€nato

    April 30, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Mexican Flu Virii will be waterboarded until they confess to being an evil liberal plot to bring Socialized Government Healthcare to the USA.

    I demand to see their birth certficates and kitchen countertops. Also.

  111. 111.

    John PM

    April 30, 2009 at 4:44 pm

    I have been reading a lot lately about World War I, and most books that talk about the Influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 seems to agree that the main reason it got as bad as it did was that so many people in Europe were severely malnourished and otherwise had weakened immune systems, such as injured soldiers. In the trenches and the hospitals, sanitation was not very good. Most German citizens were getting about 1/3 of the calories required. IIRC, the United States was not hit as hard as Europe and Asia, which makes sense given the distance between the US and Europe at that time. One would almost think that the epidemic was God’s little code on World War I to remind people never to do anything that harmful ever again, if it weren’t for the fact that the world was right back at it 20 years later.

  112. 112.

    omen

    April 30, 2009 at 4:44 pm

    @binzinerator:

    everybody in the photo—marching band, crowds, cops on their horses—is wearing a mask.

    the film on mcnamara, fog of war, documenting his early life, has archival footage of that.
    even the horses had masks.

  113. 113.

    Mike in NC

    April 30, 2009 at 4:57 pm

    I was told that dousing your tonsils with strong liquor is sovereign against the flu.

    How long before Glenn Beck shows up on TV wearing teabags to cover his mouth and nose?

  114. 114.

    Jennifer

    April 30, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    How long before Glenn Beck shows up on TV wearing teabags to cover his mouth and nose?

    Shades of the South Park episode where Butters goes on Montel Williams as “boy with nuts on his chin”.

  115. 115.

    J. Michael Neal

    April 30, 2009 at 5:34 pm

    Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said all options should be considered to end the crisis involving swine flu,

    You mean he’s going to support socialized medicine?

  116. 116.

    Hypatia

    April 30, 2009 at 5:38 pm

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Let’s import crocs from Florida

    You’ll run out quickly.
    I suggest alligators.

  117. 117.

    Bob In Pacifica

    April 30, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    Heard today that 800 people a week die of flu in this country. That’s not from swine flu, that’s flu.

    I worked in a hospital the last time we had a swine flu scare, in the seventies. Back then more people died of the vaccine than that variety of flu.

    I hear that only eight victims of swine flu in Mexico were confirmed to have died of it. The rest were of flu-like symptoms that might have been caused by swine flu, another flu, or something else.

  118. 118.

    Mary

    April 30, 2009 at 7:04 pm

    Hate radio talker Jay Severin was suspended indefinitely today for demonizing Mexicans and the swine flu. That’s got to send a chill out to the hate brigade.

  119. 119.

    HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker

    April 30, 2009 at 7:48 pm

    Whatcha gonna due about that McCain, huh?

    John McCain just called and announced that he is suspending his campaign.

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