"Bush's Fault" Aug. 2007 (Updated x2)

Though lately it's easier to find "Bush's fault" mentioned at conservative blogs than liberal ones (thanks to the wonders of irony and sarcasm), I've decided to add a "Bush's Fault of the Month" from a liberal blogger. Since I decided on this course of action at the beginning of September, I'm going back to August to announce the "winner" (it's as much whim as it is competition, at this point).

"Bush's Fault" for August, 2007 is from "Liberal: Not an Insult," with a post from Richard Short.

We have had so many recalls of such a wide variety of products lately. Anyone wonder why? Surely this isn't Bush's fault right? While he may not have directly poisoned our food and children's toys, it was his lack of funding to domestic oversight programs that made it possible. The money that should have been used to pay people to inspect the organic ground beef that is now being taken off the market, has been given to Iraq and tax cuts that primarily help the rich.
(Liberal: Not an Insult)

Uh, Richard?

How do you think the lead in the paint and industrial solvent in the toothpaste were discovered? In hospitals after people were poisoned by them?

Surprise! It was the Consumer Product Safety Commission finding the lead in the paint (somehow able to function in spite of Bush withholding their paychecks).

And the FDA somehow managed to catch the diethylene glycol in some Chinese-produced toothpaste in spite of being controlled by corporate kingpins.

It's debatable whether there is any statistically significant rise in product safety problems since the Clinton era. All Mr. Short gives us in that department is Mr. Short's opinion. What we're definitely seeing is a trend toward a problem with China meeting product safety standards. That's China, a nation with exactly the sort of government power that Mr. Short could see using to help ensure the safety of the population. Yet the United States seems as able as other nations in ferreting out the malfeasance so far despite the attempt to blame Bush.

Update: Mr. Short deserves to have his mention of E. coli contamination treated, since it's the one thing he mentioned specifically.

A lot has happened since the largest ground beef recall in U.S. history, including a significant decline in E. coli contamination and illnesses. Since 1996, E. coli cases have trended downward, but in 2004 and 2006, E. coli cases are back up.
(E. coli Blog)

According to the E. coli Blog, the uptick in contamination comes from plant agriculture, not the meat industry.

The FSIS is doing more extensive testing than ever, from the look of it (warning, .pdf).

Does Short provide any empirical indication that such testing is actually less than it would have been if Bush were not president?

Update 2: I failed to note that Short also specifically pointed to a recent spinach recall. The oversight on my part doesn't help Short in the least, since the same criticisms apply to that issue.

Tough food safety precautions and produce-tracking systems implemented last year after a fatal E. coli outbreak were put to the test when spinach from a produce company came up positive for salmonella bacteria, prompting a new recall.

Metz Fresh LLC of King City issued the recall Wednesday, after salmonella was found during a routine test of spinach it was processing for shipment, company spokesman Greg Larson said.
(ABC News)

Same story again. Even though "[t]ough food safety precautions and produce-tracking systems were implemented last year" and the salmonella contamination was discovered "during a routine test of spinach" there's something wrong with the oversight of the Bush administration (in the eyes of Short).