Georgia Voices
The "gloom, despair and agony" approach to leadership
As a Fox News poll last week reported, some 58 percent of Americans now feel that "the world is going to hell in a handbasket," a feeling that is particularly strong among Republicans at 71 percent. And the GOP strategy between now and the Nov. 4 midterms is to milk that sentiment for all it's worth, using Ebola as the centerpiece of their argument.
Or as Ed Gilgore at Washington Monthly aptly illustrated the GOP media approach:
I think it's important to remember a few things.
- Number of people who have died in this country from Ebola: One
- Number of people killed by Ebola that was contracted in this country: Zero
- Number of days since Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan went to a Dallas emergency room with a high fever later diagnosed as Ebola: 25
- Number of days in which a person might become ill after initial exposure to Ebola: 21
- Number of Duncan's close family members who were initially quarantined for Ebola: Four
- Number of days remaining in that quarantine: Zero
- Number of Duncan family members to contract Ebola after close exposure: Zero
- Number of people who had contact with Duncan prior to his hospitalization and were placed under observation: 48
- Number of people who had contact with Duncan prior to his hospitalization who have contracted Ebola: Zero
- Number of people who had contact with Duncan prior to his hospitalization who are still under observation: Zero
- Number of Americans to die in automobile wrecks since Duncan went to the Dallas emergency room: 2,260
- Number of Americans nonetheless scared silly by fear of Ebola: Way, way too many
