Say Anything takes me to task for my earlier post:
Bad news for Bush? In what way? Did Bush somehow infect the cow with the disease? I certainly don't understand that assertion. Things like this happen, I don't see how it can be directly blamed on the President.
Bad news for two reasons.
First, regulation is not a good issue for Republicans. Public concerns about the food supply and the need for greater oversight gives the Democrats an issue when they haven't had many.
Second, the economic fallout will be concentrated in states that are part of the GOP base. Bad times in the farm belt will be a drag on his electoral momentum.
In my first post that Craig is referring to above, I said that the emergence of Mad Cow Disease in the U.S. is not directly Bush's fault.
Craig is right, however, when he says that the news isn't going to help Bush any. It does indeed give the Democrats something to rant about and the diminished beef market won't help the economy along on its rebound. I do stand by my first assertion, however, when I say that this is not Bush's fault. Let's not forget who was President when the original "Mad Cow Scare" was discovered in the U.K.
As much as the Democrats would like to make a political issue out of this it simply isn't that big of a deal. A lot of ranchers in my area feel that the emergence of BSE in the U.S. was just a matter of time anyway. The ranchers I've spoken to are more angry about the sensationalized press coverage the disease is receiving than about the disease actually getting into our borders.
In truth, if Bush handles the matter right he can gain the trust, and votes, of a lot of ranchers. This situation can still be a positive one if Bush takes a leadership role in ensuring that our beef supply is safe and doing what he can to prevent hysteria over the disease from killing our cattle market. That's a pretty big "if" but I have confidence in our President.
The real crime in this whole situation is the media hysteria over the disease. BSE may be detrimental to human health and may lead to some deaths, but its not exactly anthrax. The human form of BSE has been linked to approximately 120 to 140 deaths, depending on who you ask. The link between the human form of BSE and the bovine form is still not understood. So lets think about these facts for a moment. Among the billions upon billions of people who have consumed beef in the last decade or so since BSE has been discovered approximately 140 people may have died from it.
This doesn't exactly seem like an epidemic people. You have a better chance of winning the lottery than you do of dying from BSE.