Ugh … Margaret Good tries to cash in on coronavirus scare

Margaret Good

While U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan was meeting with medical professionals this morning to discuss ways to combat coronavirus, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Rep. Margaret Good were trying to leverage the epidemic to boost her quixotic campaign.

Good wasted no time hounding the incumbent Republican for hosting Vice President Mike Pence at his home last week for a fundraiser benefiting the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Her statement: “In their attempt to save Vern, they’re risking the health and safety of the American people. They need to reorder their priorities, cancel this fundraiser, and focus on containing this virus.”

The fundraiser wasn’t for Buchanan, it was for the NRCC’s “Take Back the House” program.

As in, Good’s candidacy in Florida’s 16th Congressional District is such a long shot, Buchanan has the luxury of helping raise money for other Republicans rather than himself.

But let’s forget the fact that CD 16 seat was recently put in the “safe” category by a top political prognosticator and that available polling confirms that’s the case, the sheer arrogance of the claim — and the DCCC’s amplification of it — is dumbfounding.

Using coronavirus to score political points is reprehensible, even more so in a region hit with the state’s first presumptive cases of COVID-19.

And it conveniently ignores that Buchanan has been among the most aggressive members of Congress on coronavirus, declaring a public health emergency days before President Donald Trump and also calling for flight restrictions into the country from China. 

Worst of all, her critique was delivered in a fundraising email. Though that shouldn’t be surprising, given that her campaign also put out the call for donations on Giving Tuesday.

Still, what does it say about her priorities when she is literally trying to raise money off the coronavirus scare? If trying to skip in front of charities didn’t spell it out, this does.

If Good wants to do something right for a change, she would be wise to ask the DCCC to pull their ads and urge members of both parties at all branches of government to unite in attacking this disease.