Blaming the President for the Mine Accident

Real Clear Politics Blog has picked up today on the "Blame Bush for the Mine Accident" theme that I mentioned here last night under "Katrina Freeway Overpass Syndrome."

RCP not only quotes some of the bloggers -- such as Andrew Sullivan -- putting this theme forward, but RCP writer Tom Bevan uses graphs to show that mining safety has continued to improve steadily over the years: "If the Bush administration has in fact undermined (no pun intended) the safety of miners in America over the last five years, it's not showing up in the numbers."

Bevan writes at RCP: "It just goes to show how distorted and dishonest the level of discourse has become in the country recently because of the left's insatiable hatred for President Bush."

Today on his program Rush Limbaugh played the audio of his statement warning the media would change the subject from questions about their coverage by blaming the President and said, "See, I told you so..."

Thursday Afternoon Update: The New York Times has already jumped on the bandwagon, writing in an editorial: "Whether or not that was a factor in the Sago mine's history, the Bush administration's cramming of important posts in the Department of the Interior with biased operatives from the coal, oil and gas industry is not reassuring about general safety in the mines."

In other words, the NYT is saying let's forget about the facts and go with our emotions and whether or not we feel "reassured."

Here's another chart which shows coal mine fatalities for the last decade, with 2005 having the fewest fatalities of the last 10 years. (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin.)