The Politicization of Suffering in Haiti

That ignorant windbag Pat Robertson's theory as to why Haiti was struck by yesterday's devastating 7.0 earthquake is not surprising: the country made a pact with the Devil.
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That ignorant windbag Pat Robertson's theory as to why Haiti was struck by yesterday's devastating 7.0 earthquake, which has tragically taken hundreds of thousands of lives, is not surprising: the country made a pact with the Devil to escape French colonialism, of course! (Crikey. Let's not forget that this man and his evangelist buddy, Jerry Falwell, once blamed the 9/11 attacks on gays and the ACLU.)

And it's hardly shocking the Rush Limbaugh discouraged Americans from contributing to relief efforts, at least those linked at the White House "propaganda" website:

At 00:44 of the video above: "We've already contributed to Haiti. It's called the U.S. Income Tax!"

Similarly, Fox News was fast to criticize President Obama's quick response to the natural disaster (clearly they would have preferred Obama finish a nice vacation, meander down four days later with dog in tow, tell the FEMA director he's doing a heck of a job, and fail miserably at understanding the devastation before shifting his focus back onto the Iraq war), arguing that the Commander-in-Chief spoke to the Haiti situation faster than the Christmas bombing attempt. The Fox Nation commenters have already gone to town on the manufactured issue, already producing such race-based gems as: "Gee.... you wonder why? It's his "bros" down there and he doesn't want to take the chance of having a relative stuck under some outhouse. Obama is a fool and worthless as a mule."

Never you mind that President Obama spent three solid days after the bomb attempt collecting intelligence before assessing and communicating with the American people (Do we need intel to understand that a country rocked by nature needs our help quickly?). Never you mind.

Sigh. For those listed above to use the shock, utter devastation, and human suffering in Haiti as an excuse to further political agendas is in no way surprising.

But man, it sure is bullshit.

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