President Obama, the living breathing antidote to the Republican fear mongering over Ebola.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

"The best way to protect Americans from Ebola is to stop the outbreak at its source," Obama said in an East Room ceremony honoring doctors and nurses who have been or are going to West Africa. 

"If we are not dealing with this problem there, it will come here," Obama said. 

The president lauded his guests for their "sense of duty," and of "serving a cause greater than themselves." He called them "shock troops" who should be applauded. 

"And when they come home," Obama said. "they deserve to be treated properly. They deserve to be treated like the heroes that they are." 

Obama and aides have criticized New Jersey, New York and Illinois over quarantine policies for returning workers. 

These doctors and nurses can help explain the challenge of Ebola to Americans, and how to beat it. "We respond with common sense and skill and courage," he said, and not "fear," "hysteria" or "misinformation." 

Obama seemed to nearly choke up as he discussed his frustration with state officials who have called for quarantines of health care workers from Africa. 

"I put those on notice who think that we should hide from these problems," Obama said. "That's not who we are, that's not who I am, that's not who these folks are. This is America, and we do things differently."

I listened to this speech live earlier today during the Alex Wagner show, and I was incredibly proud of my President for standing up to the  Right Wing over this issue.

I especially loved this part:  

"The reason I am so proud of this country is because when there are times when we need to step up and do the right thing, we do the right thing. That's who we are. That's what we do. No other nation is doing as much to help in West Africa as the United States of America. When I hear people talking about American leadership...and then are promoting policies that would avoid leadership...and have us running in the opposite direction...and hiding under the covers, it makes me a little frustrated."

That must be the very definition of an understatement.

His cool, calm, and intellectual response to this issue stands in stark contrast to the fear mongering, the sky is falling, hysterics of those on the Right.

Fox News has Sarah Palin weigh in on how we are handling Ebola cases in America. For reasons that completely escape me. Update!

Courtesy of Politico: 

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin agreed Monday that there should be a quarantine for medical workers coming from West Africa as she took President Barack Obama and his administration to task over its “incompetency” in handling the Ebola crisis. 

“I do think that there needs to be that quarantine but, see, this is par for the course that Obama’s incompetency, his administration’s incompetency, is really shining bright in this one,” the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee said on Fox News’ “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.” 

Palin added that Washington is “trying to call the shots for these governors. There is a void of leadership here and the governors need to step up and step in.” 

“We’re going to demand of our leadership in Washington and on the state level to get politics out of this and allow the medical community to tell us factually, what needs to be done,” Palin said. 

Palin said she would talk to other governors about enacting a quarantine, if she were still serving in that role in Alaska. 

“And I betcha we would come to the conclusion that you can’t trust the Obama administration,” she said, adding that liberals are using “Saul Alinsky tactics” to capitalize on crisis. 

Who in the HELL would ever ask this woman about contagious diseases or how the government should  respond to an outbreak in this country?

She is not only completely fact free in this completely unnecessary interview, she is also histrionic and attempts to drum up panic from Fox viewers in order to undermine the President.

A President, who by the way, has this completely under control.

Look I live in a state where Sarah Palin had to deal with crisis. Her never wavering approach was to first pretend that there was no problem, slowly respond after being pressured by constituents and the media, and finally have Franklin Graham fly up here and go with her to deliver cookies.

If we had an Ebola outbreak in Alaska while Palin was in charge, we would all be dead right now.

Update: Perhaps somebody should show Princess Panic Attack this:  

As the number of ebola cases in the U.S. dwindled to one Tuesday, a new CNN/ORC poll found the American public surprisingly confident in the federal government’s response to the virus in the U.S. 

54% of those surveyed said the government had done a good job in handling the virus, while 71% were confident the government could prevent a widespread outbreak — somewhat contradicting the punditry that decried the public’s despair in the face of institutional failures.

Yeah, the American people know that the President has got this.

But hey, nice try Fox news.