Sorry to interrupt all the liberal blogosphere’s unhinged GOP-bashing over conservative opposition to flu pandemic funding in the porkulus bill, but…

Well. Just an inconvenient reminder:

“All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic, they’re all out,” Schumer said.

“Porky things.” Er, a rather unfortunate choice of words then. And now.

Leaves a bad taste in your mouth, doesn’t it?

***

Wow. There is actually one sane person at the Daily Kos. Probably won’t be there for long, but give this person credit for pointing out that the left-wing attacks on Republicans over flu pandemic funding are utterly ridiculous. The money they are shrieking about was included in a different bill passed by the Senate — and in fact, was funding requested by George W. Bush:

(1) It’s a good point to make that Collins somehow thought pandemic preparation money was not an economic issue deserving of inclusion in the stimulus package. But Collins was for the money being included in some other form. Now, I think her reasoning is stupid — pandemic prevention is part of a recovery plan. But it’s not like she was against the very idea of it.

In fact she has voted for a number of bills that included pandemic prevention in the past, including the war funding bill of 2007. This undermines her point about which basket the funding is in, but also proves that she’s not against the idea of it.

(2) Relatedly, this money is actually the tail end of money ($7.1 billion worth) that President George W. Bush pushed for in 2005. So this is actually Bush money! To pin all this on the GOP is, thus, a little silly.

The blogger also pointed out Schumer’s opposition. And adds one more point:

(4) Importantly, the vast majority of the pandemic prevention money was passed in March’s omnibus bill, which passed the Senate by (uncounted) voice vote.

Statements like “thanks for the swine flu” or “I hope Susan Collins’ kids get swine flu” are crazy responses to her opinions and the reality of the current funding situation. Just asinine. Same as actually calling or writing Senator Collins. Why? Why are you doing this? Schumer went so far as to call the pandemic prevention funding a “little porky thing,” are you calling him? Are you yelling about him? Additionally, the money has been appropriated, so what’s the point?

Be truthful. Be fair. Be as comprehensive as possible.

Shhhhhh!