Even though she was the first woman to serve as US ambassador to the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrick is probably better remembered for a witheringly accurate criticism she leveled at liberals during her speech at the 1984 Republican convention. Somehow, Kirkpatrick observed, "they always blame America first."
Three decades later, this truism is nowhere more obvious than on MSNBC, with the occasional exception of its weekend prison fodder.
On her eponymous show last night, Maddow put both a liberal and globalist spin on the ominously burgeoning Ebola epidemic that has now reached the United States, despite the condescending assurances of the Obama administration that this could never possibly happen.
Maddow was describing how the outbreak has so far been largely confined to the West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, although there was a minor flareup in Liberia during the summer that was apparently contained --
Nigeria is big, it's cosmopolitan, it's fairly well off compared to other countries in the region in part because of its oil wealth.
A historic moment -- quite possibly the only time the words "oil wealth" are ever uttered on MSNBC. Then again, it's in the context of referring to an African nation. Had Maddow been reporting on the Koch brothers or other American energy barons, the "filthy lucre" stolen by these "climate criminals" would have been condemned instead --
But most importantly, you can tell from seeing it on a map, it does not touch those other countries, right? So, Sierra Leone and Guinea and Liberia, God bless 'em but part of the problem that those three countries are having in fighting Ebola is that it has been crossing borders there, easily among those three contiguous countries. Those three continguous, very poor countries with relatively rudimentary health systems, they've just had a helluva time trying to beat back this epidemic.
Nigeria is not like any of those countries and it does not touch any of those countries. So how did Nigeria get Ebola? Nigeria got Ebola (finger held up for emphasis) from an American guy. They got it basically the same way that Dallas, Texas got Ebola -- one guy flew in from Liberia who happened to have the disease. That's what happened in Nigeria. That's what happened in Dallas, Texas.
More accurately, Dallas got Ebola from a Liberian "guy", not an American, though Maddow conveniently neglected to cite this detail about Thomas Duncan at any point during the segment, while also deciding against mentioning his name. Also worth noting is Maddow pointedly stating that it was a "guy" who brought this scourge to our shores, the ogre-led "war on women" having apparently opening yet another front.
Maddow is correct in her insinuation though not in the way she implies. It is an American who is responsible for allowing Ebola to breach our porous borders -- and his name is Barack Obama. The president allowed this to happen by not prohibiting air passengers from West African nations unable to contain the epidemic from being allowed to enter the United States.
Instead, Obama relies on the "relatively rudimentary health systems" in those countries -- Maddow's words -- as our first line of defense.
