Dan,

Although you do point out the contradiction between this post and preceding one, I'm at a loss to understand just why you think the administration will be any more competent in its approach to this problem than it has been to so many others. Particularly since this is a non-traditional security threat, rather than one at which you can simply throw the Pentagon and claim "mission accomplished." This is the administration that responded to an attack by non-state actors by invading and occupying two states, after all. I note that Bush is already talking about using the military to address this threat, which may or may not be a good approach, but seems simply reflexive, and hence not at all reassuring.

How about more intensive international cooperation on this isssue? Since this administration disdains multilateralism, I doubt that we'll make much progress on that front, although bird flu has spread far beyond Southeast Asia, into Kazakhstan and even Russia, for example. As the articles note, we haven't even established a national system for monitoring disease symptoms yet, much less an international one.

But these generalities aside, have you forgotten the flu vaccine debacle of last year, and the short-sightedness it showed? Do you really think that much has changed? And finally, according to this item, http://www.transparentgrid.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2005/10/05/1174/, also posted on TPM, an underqualified lawyer with political connections (sound familiar?), is the HHS Assistant Secretary in charge of coordinating the response to pandemic flu. If this story is accurate, then just like Harriet Miers, you've gotta wonder if this gentleman would make anybody's top 100 list of best qualified people for the post. Maybe Democrats are late to this party, but you're going to have to bring more than the word of one NYT reporter to the show if you want to convince me that this administration isn't even later. I would close by noting that despite administration rhetoric about plans and meetings, one of the independent experts quoted in the article says we are "phenomenally underprepared" for a pandemic. It seems to me there are more than enough reasons not to trust Bush on this one, either.....

Yeah, I’ll trust W (on the lighter side, trusting W is this week's theme).

And, No, I cannot trust most Dems. All they do is yell and run around in circles.

They do not and cannot lead.

However, if either party tries to score political points on this, they should be spanked early and hard.

Scary indeed.

If only there has been some advances in medicine and hygiene since 1918. Oh well, hindsight. We should probably start killing as many birds as possible.

Dan: "it's worth pointing out that Democrats are late to this party."

I think that it's also worth pointing out that the GOP controls all three branches of the government.

Your post on this story is further proof of your poor ability to articulate ideas in a thoughtful manner.

If its not obvious to other readers, my comment above was directed to Mark Buehner.

The possibility of flu pandemics is one of those things that makes me truly wish we had more than a handful of bipartisan politicians.

Bush administration officials have been talking about pandemic flu preparedness for years, and they say they will soon release a pandemic flu plan, in the works for more than a year.

This is not aimed at the Bush administration, but just a general comment: disaster preparedness plans should be released in draft form as soon as they are written down on paper, and subsequent drafts should be released on a rolling basis. Two reasons:

1) If you release drafts, and the disaster strikes tomorrow, everyone will know what the plan is. It may not be the best possible plan, but people will know what it is and understand what their responsibilities will be.

2) If you release drafts, people outside your working group will be able to point out errors and omissions before the plan is finalized (and, perhaps, your working group is disbanded).

I agree with Buehner. How many people died of SARS once it ran into a hospital that wasn't covered in flies?

"Bush administration officials have been talking about pandemic flu preparedness for years, and they say they will soon release a pandemic flu plan, in the works for more than a year."

Gee, a good place to start would be to make sure you have enough vaccine from relaible sources . . .

"Bush administration officials have been talking about pandemic flu preparedness for years"

Considering how they dropped the ball on flu vaccine last year, it appears all they've been doing is talking.