But never too soon for the Left to blame the Right

It is too soon after this tragedy to talk about Left's opposition to the dams that could save towns from drowning:

When asked by journalists about this issue, (Prime Minister Julia) Gillard responded that the focus should be on the immediate recovery effort from the floods: "Well, thank you for that question, and what I would say in answer to it is right now it's time to focus on this immediate crisis in so many parts of our nation and helping families and communities through, so that's where my focus is..."

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has dismissed the role of dams in mitigating extreme weather events.... The senator went on to say that having this debate now is "ineffective, inappropriate, and highly insensitive".

It was - and remains - too soon after the tragedy to talk about the Left's policies that had lured another 50 boat people to their deaths:

Dear Editor,…

Andrew Bolt's call, while bodies were still in the ocean, for Julia Gillard's resignation ... lacked human decency. He should resign.

Senator Bob Brown

But it's not too soon after the tragedy for the Left to push its dodgy claim that global warming caused the Queensland floods:

The Queensland floods are another reminder of what climate science has been telling us for 25 years, like the recent long-running drought, the 2009 heatwaves and the dreadful Victorian bushfires. As well as a general warming, increasing sea levels and altered rainfall patterns, climate modellers confidently predicted more frequent extreme events: floods, droughts, heatwaves and severe bushfires.

And it's not too soon after the tragedy for the Left to blame Sarah Palin for inciting the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords:

The New York Times wastes no time in finding the Palin angle to the attempted assassination of Democrat Representative Gabrielle Giffords, shot through the head by a lone gunman:

During the fall campaign, Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, posted a controversial map on her Facebook page depicting spots where Democrats were running for re-election; those Democrats were noted by crosshairs symbols like those seen through the scope of a gun. Ms. Giffords was among those on Ms. Palin's map.

Others were even more gleeful. DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas Tweeted, "Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin." Jane Fonda likewise insists Palin "holds responsibility" - "as does the violence-provoking rhetoric of the Tea Party".

Perhaps the best exemplar of this hypocrisy is the ABC's The Drum. It's editor, Jonathan Green, claimed to be appalled by the rush to a (correct) judgement on the Left over the deaths of boat people at Christmas Island:

Rushing to judgement in the face of tragedy…

Waiting until just after 3.30 this afternoon before fronting the media and addressing today's asylum seeker tragedy made Opposition spokesman Scott Morrison look the model of restraint. "A day of sadness as worst fears realised," he said.

The blogosphere was not so circumspect....None of this shook the confidence of the Herald Sun's Andrew Bolt, who at 12.45 told his readers that the Prime Minister and her Government had "Blood on their hands"....

"There wasn't a lot you could do but count heads," said an eye witness at Christmas Island, that or, at vast remove, rush to judgment and scramble for a political edge.

But Green did not hestitate to rush out this (wickedly false) judgement by the Left's Bob Ellis on the Right over the shooting Gabrielle Giffords:

Palin, who may be guilty of 'encouraging a terrorist act' is politically finished I would think now, and Donald Trump the automatic Republican front-runner, closely followed by his hair. And Fox News, which has done its fair share of enflaming domestic terrorists with its Tea Party war cries and yodellings, may lose some sponsorship and a lot of audience, fast… If Obama wanted to also, he could rescind Rupert Murdoch's US passport for using his media clout and world-wide microphone to advocate violent solutions to small political differences…

Gaby Giffords will seem, and seem with good reason, one of the Democrats' better angels, and the first martyred saint of the Health Care Wars of this century.