Republicans Haven't Embraced The Reality Of The Pandemic Yet-- So They're Giving Each Other COVID-19

Watch it again. It's a damn good ad. Send it to everyone you know. It's only be used in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan and it really does need to get out everywhere. Even Georgia.

Georgia state Senator Brandon Beach was elected in 2012 and he will face a Republican primary opponent on May 19. His Alpharetta-centered suburban Atlanta district, in the northern part of Fulton County and into Cherokee County is so red that the Democrats don't bother running anyone in the general election. The relatively wealthy district is 77.1% white, 7.2% Hispanic, 7.0% black and 6.1% Asian.

Beach is a complete Trump fanatic. His issues page includes a "Standing with President Trump-- Brandon Beach stands with President Trump and will make sure Georgia continues to do everything it can to support his America First Agenda." So when Trump declared that the coronavirus pandemic was a hoax, Beach internalized it... and came down with COVID-19. Don't say "good!" He's spread it to the whole legislature-- and everyone is now quarantined.

Beach was tested on Saturday for a cough and fever, told to self-isolate but went into the Senate to vote on Monday. On Wednesday his test result came back: positive.

The positive test triggered emails from Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and House Speaker David Ralston recommending that all 236 state lawmakers, as well as dozens of staffers from both chambers, quarantine themselves through March 30.

And [Gov.] Kemp, who said he would not self-isolate, said Thursday that Beach’s behavior is a “good example why people need to do what we’re asking them to do.”

... In the email from Senate officials, an aide to Duncan said that Beach, who wasn’t initially identified, had exhibited symptoms dating to March 10. That sparked outrage from some legislators infuriated by Beach’s decision.

“I’m shaking with rage. We were told if we had symptoms to refrain from going to the Capitol on Monday. Senator Brandon Beach knew he was exhibiting symptoms since MARCH THE 10TH!” wrote state Rep. Scot Turner on Facebook.

“I have an elderly hospice patient at home. He irresponsibly stayed all day at the Capitol on Monday and exposed all of us.”

...The governor, meanwhile, said Thursday he didn’t plan to get screened for the illness because he “severely limited” his recent interactions. He said he entered the Capitol on Monday from a first-floor entrance and went straight to his office.

“I never interacted with any legislators,” he said. “I was asked to come speak to the caucus meetings, I told them that was a bad idea. We ended up doing that by phone calls on Sunday night and Monday morning.”

Lawmakers indefinitely suspended the legislative session last week because of the growing pandemic, though they were unexpectedly summoned back to the Capitol by Kemp after he declared a public health emergency.

Another Republican state senator, Bruce Thompson from the district next door (14th)-- Cherokee and Bartow counties, with a tiny silver of Cobb is in intensive care awaiting the results of his coronavirus test.

Many Republicans are still making light of the pandemic. The oldest Republican in the House, senile Alaska congressman Don Young was yucking it top in Alaska last week, referring to COVID-19 as the "beer virus". He told a gathering of senior citizens at Mat-Su Senior Services, a Palmer nonprofit that provides housing and services for the elderly that COVID-19 is not as deadly as some past viruses. The 86 year old Republican said "They call it the coronavirus. I call it the beer virus. How do you like that? It attacks us senior citizens. I’m one of you. I still say we have to as a nation and state go forth with everyday activities."

That advice contradicts recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and information posted to Young’s own official campaign and congressional Facebook pages and his congressional website. The speech reflects how, as many elected officials work to calm their constituents, their messages sometimes lag behind or defy the advice of experts who are urging Americans, particularly older Americans who are most likely to die from the virus, to stay at home and avoid contact with others.

...Young said he’d flown into Alaska the night before and began the far-ranging talk by quoting Franklin Roosevelt: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

That was a time of war, Young told the crowd. “Whether you realize it or not, we are at war now. But mostly because of the presentations by the mass media.”

After the Friday luncheon, Young on Saturday attended an NRA fundraiser in the Mat-Su, according to posts on his campaign Facebook page. Meantime, he skipped a House vote in D.C. on a federal coronavirus relief package.

Young criticized the relief package in his remarks.

“We have to be aware of that because even the president’s proposal sounds good, $50 billion, $50 billion we don’t have. We’re gonna borrow that money from the future generations,” he said.

“We (would) solve a problem right now that's been created primarily by hysteria,” Young said.

“We can overcome this mess if we just be calm," Young said at one point. “We will prevail. You cannot prevail by hiding and responding to fear.“

Fielding questions from the crowd about international travel and testing, Young compared the illness to past epidemics: “Again, guys, this is blown out of proportion about how deadly this is. It’s deadly, but it’s not nearly as deadly as the other viruses we have."

It's not just old people who seem infected with brainlessness-- and not all these Spring Break partiers seem to be Republicans either, do they?





The first member of Congress to admit to testing positive to COVID-19 is Florida Republican, Mario Diaz-Balart. Too much time at Mar-A-Lago? Republican operative Stuart Stevens was a top Mitt Romney campaign strategist from Mississippi who had previously worked on the presidential campaigns of Bob Dole, George W. Bush, and John McCain, plus on campaigns for Thad Cochran (R-MS), Haley Barbour (R-MS), Tom Ridge (R-PA), Dick Lugar (R-IN), Mel Martinez (R-FL), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Bob Riley (R-AL). Yesterday Stevens wrote that all Republicans share the blame for the state of the union: "Don’t just blame President Trump. Blame me-- and all the other Republicans who aided and abetted and, yes, benefited from protecting a political party that has become dangerous to America. Some of us knew better. But we built this moment. And then we looked the other way. Many of us heard a warning sound we chose to ignore, like that rattle in your car you hear but figure will go away. Now we’re broken down, with plenty of time to think about what should have been done."