Posted on 04/28/2009 5:51:50 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
Who would have thunk it? When Janet Napolitano made the morning-show rounds today, it was Ann Curry of Today who gave her—by far—the hardest time. Curry actually made Napolitano serve as a two-fer. Ann grilled her not only on the government’s handling of the swine flu epidemic, but also used her as a target of opportunity to address the ill-conceived photo op that had an Air Force One trailed by a fighter jet flying low over Lower Manhattan yesterday.
Here are excerpts from the Q. & A:
ANN CURRY: Other nations are taking very strong steps to flag people who may be infected with the swine flu, including temperature tests at airports in Asia and pilots to report on any sick passengers arriving in Australia. Yet people are being waved through when they arrive from Mexico. Is the United States doing enough to protect America from new infections?
View video here.
(Excerpt) Read more at finkelblog.com ...
Ann Curry flying swine ping to Today show list.
Of course, nothing about CLOSING THE BORDERS.
Flu has a habit of mutating, and if the source is in Mexico, and not just one of Obama's HHS laboratories in Bethesda MD, new varieties of Man-Bird-Pig-Pig-Pig flu could be contained there.
Not only border closings, but shutting down air travel in and out of Mexico, as well as any travel from countries that maintain air connections with Mexico, and the return of all persons who have been in Mexico any time in the last 5 weeks should be mandatory.
Half measures like shutting down only the legal crossings just won't cut it.
We'll know in a few days whether or not this variety is mutating.
In the meantime we probably need to initiate efforts to prevent migratory waterfowl and wild pigs from crossing that border as well. That might consist of tens of thousans of hunters armed appropriately, or possibly installing machinegun installations all along the border so that any ducks or pigs that wander into range may be stopped!
Oooooh, where have I heard THAT before?
First: Napolitano has done precisely nothing, but has a daily news conference to trumpet that something (a lot of talking, no action) is being done and set the impression that she is "managing" and "in control" of the crisis. This makes good fodder for the weak minded during the next campaign.
Second: Curry is doing something similar. She is actually attacking and criticizing a member of 0bammy's regime. This lets he claim that she has "posed hard questions", criticized, etc. WITHOUT attacking or criticizing the usurper himself.
People line up at the US-Mexico border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, Monday, April 27, 2009. President Barack Obama declared Monday that spreading swine flu infections were a concern but 'not a cause for alarm,' while customs agents began checking people coming into the United States by land and air.
“I think... I don’t think... we’ll consider that... we’re looking into that...”
Egads, this woman is an idiot. Good luck, folks. You’re on your own for the next four years.
JANET NAPOLITANO: I think so. We’ve doing passive surveillance at airports and at landports. But as you know, we already have the virus pretty widespread within the United States.
NAPOLITANO: Well, again, that’s something that always can be considered, but you have to look at what the costs of that are. We literally have thousands of trucks and lots of commerce that cross that border. We have food products and other things that have to go across that border. That would be a very, very heavy cost, as epidemiologists tell us, for what would be marginal, if any, utility in terms of actually preventing the spread of the virus.
Swine Flu Article Ping...
And, secondarily, here's a symptomatic attitude of the Obama administration:
"It's it the budget, we're the government, so we have money to burn." This photo op is done on money borrowed from our children. That it was stupidly put in the budget is irrelevant. You wouldn't run a business this way. At least, not for long.
CURRY: Let’s bring back in Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Janet, could you please tell us, you’re in charge of homeland security, how could you explain how a government has sanctioned a low-flying plane over Lower Manhattan which of course is still having the memory of 9/11?
NAPOLITANO: You know, there are a lot of questions to be answered there. My understanding is the FAA sanctioned it. But I share that concern. I don’t know how that happened. And we want to get to the bottom of that. Mistakes were made; mistakes shouldn’t be repeated.
CURRY: Are you embarrassed the government made this mistake, did not realize the panic this would cause in Lower Manhattan?
NAPOLITANO: Well, I don’t think it was the right thing to do and it certainly wasn’t intended as such. But again, we’re looking into that right now. What exactly happened here.
Janet is back on her heels here. The MSM is trying to ignore this as much as possible but it’s not FLYING! America’s are not pleased with O flying Airforce 1 over New York like that without notice. O is tone deaf politically.
Curry’s follow-up question, as contained in the video and at FinkelBlog, did allude to tougher measures: “Why is it not smart to stop people at the border?”
“My understanding is the FAA sanctioned it.”
Of course they sanctioned it but who asked for it? The WH requests the air space and the FAA is supposed to reject the request? What do the libs do, they look to blame one of the least liberal departments in the government.
Since I never watch/listen to the Old Media/Obominationites, I appreciate this thread. I wouldn’t have known there was a two-fer from Curry.
My pleasure, MM: I watch so that others don’t have to ;-)
"We're keeping an eye on it"
Why does Napolitano look like she's in WAY over her head?
sw
Yesterday, that idiot Shepard Smith was talking with somebody about this, and speculating that Zero's "administration" doesn't want to appear as inept as "Bush was with Katrina".
“that idiot Shepard Smith was talking with somebody about this, and speculating that Zero’s “administration” doesn’t want to appear as inept as “Bush was with Katrina”.”
Chris Matthews did precisely the same thing yesterday, even calling Bush a “bozo”: http://finkelblog.com/index.php/2009/04/27/matthews-bush-a-bozo-scooter-a-henchman/
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