Malkin fiddles while Colorado burns

Traffic trolling Queen of the Cons is suddenly singing a different tune about Big Government spending. It's all fun and games until your own house is burning down.

While Colorado burns, conservatives have looked for ways to blame it on President Obama.

Some of the same people who have bashed the president as a big government, big spending liberal now say a wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes in the conservative stronghold of Colorado Springs can be blamed on the president because he has been too slow to spend money to beef up the federal fleet of air tankers.

The meme began more than a week ago when pundit Michelle Malkin, who lives in Colorado Springs, wrote a piece for the National Review Online titled “Obama Bureaucrats Are Fueling Wildfires.”

Of course Our Lady of the Cesspool Commentariat doesn't see any hypocrisy in demanding big government services for herself after spending the last three years demanding local governments fire those lazy, overpaid public employees -- like firefighters -- so she can keep more of her money. And neither will her knuckle dragging fan club. But I'm reminded of this crowd's reaction to that poor family who lost their home because the fire department wasn't allowed to fight their fire, only the guy who lived next door. Because one paid a fee for protection and the guy who lost everything didn't cough up the hundred bucks or so in time to be covered by a municipal service that used to be available to everyone. That was in the dark ages when the civil in civil society still had some meaning.

The "small gummit" cons were all about personal responsibility then. So maybe Ms. Malkin should have taken her own damn advice. Don't wait for the government to help you missy. You don't want to pay taxes for firefighters who help other people. So take some personal responsiblity and hire a private fire fighting unit to save your house.

No, I'm not making light of this tragic situation. Neither do I wish that her house would burn down. I hope our "big government" manages to save it even though she's made a career and a lot of money out of undermining the common good. I just wish she would take this scare as a moral lesson and use her platform to advance civil discourse instead of fomenting hatred going forward. Not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]