This is one of those perfect examples of how blogs can drive the dead tree media’s coverage. Though I chided Carla Marinucci yesterday for failing to credit Dave for the concept of her post, I am more than happy to see the end result of Dave’s piece be a print article in today’s San Francisco Chronicle.
The basic theme of the article is that the Republicans are heartless for holding fundraisers in CA and failing to issue statements of empathy, while the Democrats have gone out of their way to change their plans and messaging around the fire. Not only that, but you get Republicans bashing each other. I love it!
The noticeable delay by the GOP candidates to formally recognize the California devastation, while still planning to raise money in the state, bothered even leading state Republicans.
“I find it very distasteful that while neighbors are dealing with these fires in their own way, whether directly impacted, or trying to empathize with those who have been - that they are being hounded by presidential campaigns - Republicans no less,” wrote Jon Fleischman, the Irvine-based publisher of the Flashreport (www.flashreport.org), a leading GOP Web site.
“How candidates and officeholders react in the midst of a tragedy tells you a lot about whether they are focused on themselves, or on the people around them,” he wrote.
Fleischman’s suggestion: Presidential hopefuls and local candidates alike should “wait a little while, and perhaps focus their efforts and those of their supporters, for a short time, toward relief efforts.”
Democrats also seized on the matter.
Karen Finney, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, said of the Republicans’ glaring lag in recognizing California’s woes: “Haven’t we already had enough of a president who is slow to respond to a crisis?”
And of course the DNC sent out a partnered email today with the local party structure in California and Democrats Work urging their list to help donate items and volunteer to help out fire victims.
Side note: I really wish the media was more thorough in identifying Jon Fleischman as being more than a simple blogger. He is after all the California Republican Party’s Southern Vice Chair.
