Somehow I missed the disaster in Haiti until right now. Unfortunately today was also the day that a lot of political commentators got a hold of it and did what they do best: take an awful human tragedy and twist into something even worse.
We have this quote from Rush Limbaugh:
I could sit here and be really cynical. I’ll hold off on the cynicism for a couple hours, I’ll hold off on it. I’m going to hold off on it, give the show’s flow a chance to establish, ’cause it’s going to be the Media Tweak of the Day.
….Yes, I think in the Haiti earthquake, ladies and gentlemen — in the words of Rahm Emanuel — we have another crisis simply too good to waste. This will play right into Obama’s hands. He’s humanitarian, compassionate. They’ll use this to burnish their, shall we say, “credibility” with the black community — in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country. It’s made-to-order for them. That’s why he couldn’t wait to get out there, could not wait to get out there.
And then there’s this little gem from Pat Robertson:
And, you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.” True story. And so, the devil said, “OK, it’s a deal.”
And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. Desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti; on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, et cetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now, we’re helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable.
So from two of the biggest conservative blowhards we have that the earthquake in Haiti, which practically demolished everything, is both a political boon for Obama (with African-Americans specifically mind you, us non-black people couldn’t possibly think highly of someone for rushing to the rescue of a country that has had some of the worst luck ever and just as they start getting on their feet have the freaking EARTH ripped out from under them) and that it is God’s punishment for some pact the Haitians made with the Devil to drive out Napoleon. Which of course is factually inaccurate in so many ways that it may just be a fantasy Robertson cooked up in his mind.
These statements are so outrageous that I just can’t find the words. So I’ll let Jon Stewart do it for me (you’ll have to go that link because apparently WordPress and Comedy Central don’t like each other…)
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